Have you reached a point in your life where you had an "Ah-Ha" moment. When you knew for sure that God loves you, died for you and wants you to be a part of His family? You felt a huge tug at your soul and wanted to respond but didn't know how, or who to respond to. That feeling, that tug, is God. That's how the Holy Spirit works. You respond to Him.
But if you resist, you have no idea whether you will ever have another chance to respond. God's Spirit is not something you want to ignore. Don't ever say to yourself, "Later." Or, "Someday I'll look into that." In Acts, 7:51, Luke writes, "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit..." And again in Ephesians 4:30, " Don't grieve the the Holy Spirit of God... And in 1 Thessalonians 5:19, "Do not quench the Spirit."
When Jesus sent his disciples out to spread the good news, He told them that if a person didn't listen, to dust the dust off their shoes and go on to the next town. The message that those people wouldn't listen to was never sent their way again. They only got one chance to believe.
There are churches that say that if you are saved and then if you sin again, you have to be saved again. No. Jesus died for us once. If that wasn't good enough for the repentant heart, then why did he have to die? There was already a system of priests and sacrifices for sin. Why send Jesus? If He can't save us to the uttermost, then there was no reason for Him to die.
The problem with many folk is that they go forward in a service and say a bunch of words that are given to them--but they never do what is necessary for salvation. Repentance. That means you are giving up your old sinful will, and agreeing for the Holy Spirit to control you from then on. If you mean that, God knows it. Words don't save you. The Spirit of God, Jesus, does that. And once done, you will know it. Old behaviors fade away. New behaviors come into your life. You will love God, love your brothers and sisters and have a desire to do God's will. It is life changing.
If nothing is changed in your life, you should reexamine yourself. Who is running the show in your life? You, or Christ. I say to the women in my class, "If you aren't a better person than you were six months ago, something is wrong." I had an "Ah-ha" moment in 1966. It changed my life.
Thursday, January 31, 2019
Wednesday, January 30, 2019
There are moments in our lives that we look back on as turning points. One moment we think one way, and a moment later, we are changed. We are different. Something has happened to us.
It could be a decision you made to go to school and learn about something specific. Like when I was 27 years old, and had no answers to give to my class of 17 year old girls when they asked me if evolution was true or not. I just said that I believed what the Bible said. To be honest, I had no real understanding of exactly what the Bible book of Genesis said. I didn't know that evolution and evolution theory weren't the same thing.
But since Ken was in Viet Nam, and my three children were all in school, I decided to go find out what the scientists were teaching. It changed the direction of my life. I enrolled in everything I could find on the subject: Comparative Anatomy, Organic Chemistry, Bio-chemistry, Engineering Physics, and on and on. But it didn't satisfy me. I kept going. Degrees were not the reason I was going to school. I explored Statistical Probability and the laws of Physics. Statics and Strengths, Dynamics, etc. And other ridiculous stuff. But I had enough of the current known facts, and was eventually informed on what science knew, and what it theorized. I was now ready to examine what the Bible said in better detail. I had read Genesis before, but not from a scientific perspective.
Taking a bunch of classes does not make you smart. If anything, it teaches you just how dumb you are and how much more there is to learn. The only thing I became smart about was the Bible. I was amazed to find how accurate it was and how it agreed with known scientific facts--not theories.
Now, when someone asks me if I believe the Genesis story of creation, I can say, " Absolutely. And here's why."
Turning points are life changers. If you need to change your direction in life, find something you are passionate about. My passion was to be able to assure young people that the Bible was accurate. Because if one part isn't true, how can you trust the rest of it. I didn't want the people I was teaching to be in doubt of God's words--any of them. I ended up knowing a little bit about a lot of things, and a lot about the book of Genesis. It is accurate. I'll let one of "you out there" research the rest of it.
It could be a decision you made to go to school and learn about something specific. Like when I was 27 years old, and had no answers to give to my class of 17 year old girls when they asked me if evolution was true or not. I just said that I believed what the Bible said. To be honest, I had no real understanding of exactly what the Bible book of Genesis said. I didn't know that evolution and evolution theory weren't the same thing.
But since Ken was in Viet Nam, and my three children were all in school, I decided to go find out what the scientists were teaching. It changed the direction of my life. I enrolled in everything I could find on the subject: Comparative Anatomy, Organic Chemistry, Bio-chemistry, Engineering Physics, and on and on. But it didn't satisfy me. I kept going. Degrees were not the reason I was going to school. I explored Statistical Probability and the laws of Physics. Statics and Strengths, Dynamics, etc. And other ridiculous stuff. But I had enough of the current known facts, and was eventually informed on what science knew, and what it theorized. I was now ready to examine what the Bible said in better detail. I had read Genesis before, but not from a scientific perspective.
Taking a bunch of classes does not make you smart. If anything, it teaches you just how dumb you are and how much more there is to learn. The only thing I became smart about was the Bible. I was amazed to find how accurate it was and how it agreed with known scientific facts--not theories.
Now, when someone asks me if I believe the Genesis story of creation, I can say, " Absolutely. And here's why."
Turning points are life changers. If you need to change your direction in life, find something you are passionate about. My passion was to be able to assure young people that the Bible was accurate. Because if one part isn't true, how can you trust the rest of it. I didn't want the people I was teaching to be in doubt of God's words--any of them. I ended up knowing a little bit about a lot of things, and a lot about the book of Genesis. It is accurate. I'll let one of "you out there" research the rest of it.
Tuesday, January 29, 2019
The story of man continues with Adam and Eve's son Seth. Like all people after Adam, he was born dead--that's the way the apostle Paul describes the human condition--we don't have the indwelling Holy Spirit to give us life. Ephesians 2:1 "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins." Paul repeats this theme in other letters that he wrote, and says that we are made alive in Jesus Christ.
Unlike Christians today, God did not dwell in their hearts after Adam. When God interacted with people, He "came upon them." Or sent a messenger, an angel, to deliver a message. People had to go to the tabernacle to meet with God--who dwelt in the "Holy of holies" behind the curtain. A curtain that was accessible only once a year by the high priest to seek atonement for the people. Later, when they built the temple, it was the same. The priest interceded to God for the people.
But the day that Christ took His last breath, the curtain was ripped from top to bottom. God was saying to us all, "Come on in. I have a big house. Big enough for all who repent. My son's blood has been spilt to atone for your sin--He is your sacrificial Lamb. You no longer need a priest."
And just as in the beginning, God breathes into us a living soul, declares us clean, and takes up residence in our hearts. My friend Jeanette and I went to lunch yesterday. Both of us marveled at the Love of God to die for our sins. It is almost impossible to believe that He would do that. But he did.
I love the verses in Philippians 2:5-8, I memorized them years ago because they reveal that God purposed in his heart to save us. "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon Himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men...he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."
Jesus was God. God was Jesus. He made a decision to die for our sins and put Himself into our hearts when we repent and accept the death of Christ, believe in Him and what He did for us. The result is the indwelling of God's Spirit, and a changed life. We serve Him because of the great love He had for us, and because we now have an overwhelming love for Him. Ken always said, "I want my children to obey me because they love me, not because they fear me." How true.
Unlike Christians today, God did not dwell in their hearts after Adam. When God interacted with people, He "came upon them." Or sent a messenger, an angel, to deliver a message. People had to go to the tabernacle to meet with God--who dwelt in the "Holy of holies" behind the curtain. A curtain that was accessible only once a year by the high priest to seek atonement for the people. Later, when they built the temple, it was the same. The priest interceded to God for the people.
But the day that Christ took His last breath, the curtain was ripped from top to bottom. God was saying to us all, "Come on in. I have a big house. Big enough for all who repent. My son's blood has been spilt to atone for your sin--He is your sacrificial Lamb. You no longer need a priest."
And just as in the beginning, God breathes into us a living soul, declares us clean, and takes up residence in our hearts. My friend Jeanette and I went to lunch yesterday. Both of us marveled at the Love of God to die for our sins. It is almost impossible to believe that He would do that. But he did.
I love the verses in Philippians 2:5-8, I memorized them years ago because they reveal that God purposed in his heart to save us. "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon Himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men...he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."
Jesus was God. God was Jesus. He made a decision to die for our sins and put Himself into our hearts when we repent and accept the death of Christ, believe in Him and what He did for us. The result is the indwelling of God's Spirit, and a changed life. We serve Him because of the great love He had for us, and because we now have an overwhelming love for Him. Ken always said, "I want my children to obey me because they love me, not because they fear me." How true.
Monday, January 28, 2019
So what do we know? We know that God created us. Put his breath, or Spirit, within us, and intended for us to live in Eden--heaven on earth. But man disobeyed his maker, and was thrown out of the garden. We know that Adam and Eve had two sons. Cain killed Able and was banished to Nod where he took a wife. There were most probably people out there because Cain asked God to put a mark on him so that "everyone" out there wouldn't kill him. We know that the serpent was cursed to crawl on the ground; the woman was cursed to have pain in childbirth and Able was cursed to have to till the earth--a new requirement--and the earth would work against him by growing weeds.
We also know that there may have been a number of restorations of the earth, and days back then can't be determined to be 24 hours. We know the dinosaurs died, the fish lived, some of the birds lived, and nothing much else lived except creeping things. Cockroaches, crickets, etc. And we know that the restoration of the world--as we know it--brought many new animals that aren't connected to the dinosaurs. We know that no "missing links" that have been found in strata of any species.
Basically, we know that evolution "theory" denys a Creator, and that the theory is full of holes. I have been researching this since the fifties, and have cut out literally hundreds of stories announcing the newest "find," only to read a few years later that the story was inaccurate. I can't tell you how many times published "truth" has been found to be inaccurate. But in 61 years, We have not had to change a word in the Bible. How the Biblical writers got it right is a miracle. They had nothing in the way of scientific knowledge years ago when it was written, but they got it scientifically correct.
On Nova last week I watched a science program on TV that finally got it right. It has taken them forever to put it all together, but they finally did it. I strongly recommend it. "The Day the Dinosaurs Died." They even know where the 3 mile wide asteroid hit. And when. I have always believed it was the Gulf of Mexico. To my surprise, they agreed and showed footage of the crater.
I finally felt vindicated for my belief that the Bible is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Watch it the program. And compare it to the Biblical account. I especially liked the part where they showed that the earth was in total darkness (!) and all the dinosaurs died and plant life died in the darkness. Gen. 1:2 "...darkness was on the face of the deep." Biblical truth. They should have just read the Bible in the first place. Google it.
We also know that there may have been a number of restorations of the earth, and days back then can't be determined to be 24 hours. We know the dinosaurs died, the fish lived, some of the birds lived, and nothing much else lived except creeping things. Cockroaches, crickets, etc. And we know that the restoration of the world--as we know it--brought many new animals that aren't connected to the dinosaurs. We know that no "missing links" that have been found in strata of any species.
Basically, we know that evolution "theory" denys a Creator, and that the theory is full of holes. I have been researching this since the fifties, and have cut out literally hundreds of stories announcing the newest "find," only to read a few years later that the story was inaccurate. I can't tell you how many times published "truth" has been found to be inaccurate. But in 61 years, We have not had to change a word in the Bible. How the Biblical writers got it right is a miracle. They had nothing in the way of scientific knowledge years ago when it was written, but they got it scientifically correct.
On Nova last week I watched a science program on TV that finally got it right. It has taken them forever to put it all together, but they finally did it. I strongly recommend it. "The Day the Dinosaurs Died." They even know where the 3 mile wide asteroid hit. And when. I have always believed it was the Gulf of Mexico. To my surprise, they agreed and showed footage of the crater.
I finally felt vindicated for my belief that the Bible is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Watch it the program. And compare it to the Biblical account. I especially liked the part where they showed that the earth was in total darkness (!) and all the dinosaurs died and plant life died in the darkness. Gen. 1:2 "...darkness was on the face of the deep." Biblical truth. They should have just read the Bible in the first place. Google it.
Friday, January 25, 2019
An interesting point in Genesis 2:4, "These are the [generations] of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, [in the day] that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens." I'm not sure what a generation of that kind is. How can the earth or heaven have generations. Unless it is repeated restorations. And also, the phrase, "in the day." Seems like a poor translation??? Which sometimes happens. I try to look at things that I don't understand in a number of Biblical translations.
The four trees in the garden of Eden were important. Two were for us to enjoy. The flowering trees (pleasant to the sight), and fruit trees--food to eat. Genesis 2:17, "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die." The reason that God cast them out of the garden when they disobeyed is because God didn't want them to eat from the tree of Life. "And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he puts forth his hand, and takes also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever." 3:22
You may wonder why Adam and Eve didn't physically die when they disobeyed. God wasn't talking about physical death. He was talking about Spiritual death. Remember he had breathed into man the breath of Life. A living soul. After sin, they would no longer have the Spirit within. Paul said, "And he has quickened you who were dead in trespasses and sins." Ephesians 2:1
Quickened: Made alive. God intended to live within the soul of man. The Old Testament tells of a coming Messiah. It assures us that God will restore us. He, Himself will come as a sacrifice for our sins. Jesus. The Spirit of God will once again inhabit us. Why would He do that? The only possible answer is love. He loves us. Why in the world does He love us? That's the real question.
When Adam and Eve ate of the tree, they saw that they were naked. They didn't know they were naked before that. So they covered their sexual parts with an apron of leaves. When God came to confront them, He sacrificed an animal to cover them. That was the first sacrifice. Up till that moment, no animal had been killed. God said, "Who told you you were naked?...What have you done??" Then, "...the Lord God made them coats of skins, and clothed them." From that point on, a sacrifice was required for sin. Goats, sheep, doves, and eventually Christ. God himself.
The four trees in the garden of Eden were important. Two were for us to enjoy. The flowering trees (pleasant to the sight), and fruit trees--food to eat. Genesis 2:17, "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die." The reason that God cast them out of the garden when they disobeyed is because God didn't want them to eat from the tree of Life. "And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he puts forth his hand, and takes also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever." 3:22
You may wonder why Adam and Eve didn't physically die when they disobeyed. God wasn't talking about physical death. He was talking about Spiritual death. Remember he had breathed into man the breath of Life. A living soul. After sin, they would no longer have the Spirit within. Paul said, "And he has quickened you who were dead in trespasses and sins." Ephesians 2:1
Quickened: Made alive. God intended to live within the soul of man. The Old Testament tells of a coming Messiah. It assures us that God will restore us. He, Himself will come as a sacrifice for our sins. Jesus. The Spirit of God will once again inhabit us. Why would He do that? The only possible answer is love. He loves us. Why in the world does He love us? That's the real question.
When Adam and Eve ate of the tree, they saw that they were naked. They didn't know they were naked before that. So they covered their sexual parts with an apron of leaves. When God came to confront them, He sacrificed an animal to cover them. That was the first sacrifice. Up till that moment, no animal had been killed. God said, "Who told you you were naked?...What have you done??" Then, "...the Lord God made them coats of skins, and clothed them." From that point on, a sacrifice was required for sin. Goats, sheep, doves, and eventually Christ. God himself.
Thursday, January 24, 2019
God intended for them to be vegetarians. That changed when Noah landed the ark. God made a covenant with Noah saying, "Every creature that lives and moves will be food for you; as I gave the green plants, I have given you everything. However, you must not eat meat with it's lifeblood in it." They had to kill, and drain the animals of blood before they cooked them. (I hope that doesn't cover a medium rare ribeye steak???) Food. My favorite subject. I dearly love to eat. Almost anything. Except ice cream and milk. God gave us so many foods. Variety, and lots of different tasty things.
The first chapter of Genesis ends with this verse, "And God saw everything that he had made and behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day." The previous days ended with, "...it was good." But when God creates man, and finishes His "creating, letting and making"--it is "very" good. How could it be otherwise.
As Chapter one of Genesis ends, Chapter two begins with, "Thus, the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them." Earth as we know it was complete. God was done. "And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it..." A few years ago, I realized that I had allowed every day of the week to meld into one another. Aside from church, my days were the same. I didn't have a day in which I rested. In which I did pleasant, restful things. I had become compliant to the world as far as shopping was concerned. So I decided that I would never shop on Sunday ever again. And I haven't. It wasn't that hard. Everyone needs a day that is different from the others. A day you recognize as a day of rest. If I don't have any eggs, I don't go get them on Sunday. I eat cereal.
Genesis 2:4-6, "These are the generations of the heavens and...the earth when they were created, every plant...herb...before it grew...God had not caused it to rain...and there wasn't a man to till the ground. But...a mist went up from the earth and watered...the ground." No rain until Noah.
In verse 7, God reviews His creation of man. Then, in verse 8, God plants a garden in Eden and puts Adam in it. Then He makes trees to grow in four named categories. 1. Pleasant to the sight--in Oklahoma that would be redbuds. 2. Good for food. 3. The tree of Life. 4. The tree of knowledge of good and evil. "And a river went out of Eden to water the garden...." It sounds like paradise. Mangos, pears, peaches, and every pretty blossoming tree. Cherry blossoms. Dogwoods. Plums.
The first chapter of Genesis ends with this verse, "And God saw everything that he had made and behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day." The previous days ended with, "...it was good." But when God creates man, and finishes His "creating, letting and making"--it is "very" good. How could it be otherwise.
As Chapter one of Genesis ends, Chapter two begins with, "Thus, the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them." Earth as we know it was complete. God was done. "And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it..." A few years ago, I realized that I had allowed every day of the week to meld into one another. Aside from church, my days were the same. I didn't have a day in which I rested. In which I did pleasant, restful things. I had become compliant to the world as far as shopping was concerned. So I decided that I would never shop on Sunday ever again. And I haven't. It wasn't that hard. Everyone needs a day that is different from the others. A day you recognize as a day of rest. If I don't have any eggs, I don't go get them on Sunday. I eat cereal.
Genesis 2:4-6, "These are the generations of the heavens and...the earth when they were created, every plant...herb...before it grew...God had not caused it to rain...and there wasn't a man to till the ground. But...a mist went up from the earth and watered...the ground." No rain until Noah.
In verse 7, God reviews His creation of man. Then, in verse 8, God plants a garden in Eden and puts Adam in it. Then He makes trees to grow in four named categories. 1. Pleasant to the sight--in Oklahoma that would be redbuds. 2. Good for food. 3. The tree of Life. 4. The tree of knowledge of good and evil. "And a river went out of Eden to water the garden...." It sounds like paradise. Mangos, pears, peaches, and every pretty blossoming tree. Cherry blossoms. Dogwoods. Plums.
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
In talking about the face that there were people in the land of Nod when Cain left home, I skipped two chapters of Genesis. I need to go back to the garden of Eden.
Eden was a perfect place. Everything Adam and Eve needed was there. (They didn't have to till the earth--until God cast them out of the garden.) God provided everything they needed. There was only one thing their Creator told them that they were forbidden to do. Which, of course, is what they did. Simply put, all sin is disobedience. But if you don't know the rule, there can be no sin. Adam and Eve knew the rule.
A discussion on Lucifer, and how he was thrown out of heaven and ended up in Eden, I'll have do some other time. For now, he was on earth. And he was a serpent--which was the most beautiful of all creatures. Eve would have never have been tempted by a snake. God cursed the serpent "...above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life." Genesis 3:14. So the beautiful creature became the most cursed of animals--a snake. We now call snakes serpents. But really it was the other way around. The serpent became a snake. They were two different things. We are tempted by things that look good at the moment.
After God created us, and gave us dominion over every living thing, He told us what He had provided for us to eat. Fruits, and vegetables. Genesis 1:29, "...Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed...and in every tree is the fruit...to you it shall be for meat." God went on to say that all other kinds of life would be, "given every green herb for meat..." This made me think of heaven where the lion would lie down with the lamb. Nobody ate anybody else.
The very last chapter of Revelation 22: in verses 1-2, "...a pure river of water of life...proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb...and on either side of the river...the tree of life, which bore twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." I, for one, would like to see the nations healed. Only God can do it.
God gave Adam and Eve the tree of life in the garden of Eden. And in the end of time, we will once again have access to this tree. God's children will spend eternity with Him. Eden. Forever.
Eden was a perfect place. Everything Adam and Eve needed was there. (They didn't have to till the earth--until God cast them out of the garden.) God provided everything they needed. There was only one thing their Creator told them that they were forbidden to do. Which, of course, is what they did. Simply put, all sin is disobedience. But if you don't know the rule, there can be no sin. Adam and Eve knew the rule.
A discussion on Lucifer, and how he was thrown out of heaven and ended up in Eden, I'll have do some other time. For now, he was on earth. And he was a serpent--which was the most beautiful of all creatures. Eve would have never have been tempted by a snake. God cursed the serpent "...above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life." Genesis 3:14. So the beautiful creature became the most cursed of animals--a snake. We now call snakes serpents. But really it was the other way around. The serpent became a snake. They were two different things. We are tempted by things that look good at the moment.
After God created us, and gave us dominion over every living thing, He told us what He had provided for us to eat. Fruits, and vegetables. Genesis 1:29, "...Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed...and in every tree is the fruit...to you it shall be for meat." God went on to say that all other kinds of life would be, "given every green herb for meat..." This made me think of heaven where the lion would lie down with the lamb. Nobody ate anybody else.
The very last chapter of Revelation 22: in verses 1-2, "...a pure river of water of life...proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb...and on either side of the river...the tree of life, which bore twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." I, for one, would like to see the nations healed. Only God can do it.
God gave Adam and Eve the tree of life in the garden of Eden. And in the end of time, we will once again have access to this tree. God's children will spend eternity with Him. Eden. Forever.
Tuesday, January 22, 2019
Animals don't search for God. They don't make idols. They don't ask why they are here. Or what their purpose is. If man evolved from some life chain, how is it that no other animal in that chain searches for God? Or asks questions about life. Or purpose. Or eternity. Where is the evolution of a God sense? We are different from other animals. We have a soul. We are in the image of God.
A few years ago, a dedicated evolution theorist, who was an paleoanthropologist, was so eager to prove his theory that he lied about a human set of bones. Leakey named his fossil "Lucy," but later it was found that not all of the bones came from the same artifact. Not that it matters, because there are no "before and after" human fossils in any strata anywhere to show evolution of men. If you look around you at humans today, they have big heads, little heads. Big jaws, little jaws. Slanted eyes, big eyes, little eyes. There is no common human sample. We are all different. Some of us are four feet tall, and some are seven feet tall. Thousands of years from now if an anthropologist dug up one of us, he wouldn't know much about our size. And his theories made from the one set of our bones that he dug up would be false. Evolution theory is riddled with holes. If it were true, there would be men in all levels of strata. Sequential sets of bones.
Evolution, however, occurs. If you put a species in an environment that it isn't suited for, the ones that survive will produce others who survive. Birds will naturally select through their recessive and dominant genes for long or short beaks, etc., depending on the food that is available. This is natural selection. Evolution, however, is change within a species. Evolution "Theory" is change from one animal species into another species. Like a chain. But the links haven't been found for any of them. They are theorized. I've said all of this simply to say that I believe in Biblical facts. Although the Bible doesn't tell us much about all of this, what it does say is scientifically accurate.
I skipped two chapters of Genesis to discuss Cain and the land of Nod, and evolution "theory." There are scholars that say Cain married one of his sisters. But if that were so, why did the Bible say he took a wife from Nod? They theorize that their DNA was flawless, so there was no problem with procreation. I reject that interpretation. Cain would have had to take a sister who had not received the curse of God away from her parents. Cain was the one who was cursed. And he said, "everyone out there" would kill him. Everyone. Otherwise, only his sister-wife would be "everyone out there."
A few years ago, a dedicated evolution theorist, who was an paleoanthropologist, was so eager to prove his theory that he lied about a human set of bones. Leakey named his fossil "Lucy," but later it was found that not all of the bones came from the same artifact. Not that it matters, because there are no "before and after" human fossils in any strata anywhere to show evolution of men. If you look around you at humans today, they have big heads, little heads. Big jaws, little jaws. Slanted eyes, big eyes, little eyes. There is no common human sample. We are all different. Some of us are four feet tall, and some are seven feet tall. Thousands of years from now if an anthropologist dug up one of us, he wouldn't know much about our size. And his theories made from the one set of our bones that he dug up would be false. Evolution theory is riddled with holes. If it were true, there would be men in all levels of strata. Sequential sets of bones.
Evolution, however, occurs. If you put a species in an environment that it isn't suited for, the ones that survive will produce others who survive. Birds will naturally select through their recessive and dominant genes for long or short beaks, etc., depending on the food that is available. This is natural selection. Evolution, however, is change within a species. Evolution "Theory" is change from one animal species into another species. Like a chain. But the links haven't been found for any of them. They are theorized. I've said all of this simply to say that I believe in Biblical facts. Although the Bible doesn't tell us much about all of this, what it does say is scientifically accurate.
I skipped two chapters of Genesis to discuss Cain and the land of Nod, and evolution "theory." There are scholars that say Cain married one of his sisters. But if that were so, why did the Bible say he took a wife from Nod? They theorize that their DNA was flawless, so there was no problem with procreation. I reject that interpretation. Cain would have had to take a sister who had not received the curse of God away from her parents. Cain was the one who was cursed. And he said, "everyone out there" would kill him. Everyone. Otherwise, only his sister-wife would be "everyone out there."
Monday, January 21, 2019
Cain was afraid of the people "out there." Excavation of human remains through the years has been extensive. And those remains are far, far, older than 6000 years ago when Cain was alive. As of late, through our ever increasing knowledge of the human genome, scientists have found that all of us have some Neanderthal genes. This is not surprising since the person that Cain married was not a person from the garden of Eden. The Neanderthal was much older than 6000 years ago, and the people in Nod probably carried some of those genes. God doesn't tell us about those people.
You remember the story. Cain killed Able, and when God confronted him, Cain denied it saying, "I don't know where he is. Am I my brother's keeper?" Of course he knew where Able was. And he should have been smart enough to know that God knew. God placed a curse on Cain--cursed from the earth that held his brother's blood. "You will be a fugitive and a vagabond," God told him.
Cain told God, "My punishment is greater than I can bear...you have driven me out...from the face of the earth...and....everyone that finds me will slay me." So God set a mark on Cain lest any finding him should kill him. Who are these "everyone that finds me?" Who are these "any finding him?" Whoever they were, they lived in Nod, on the east of Eden. (That's where Steinbeck got the name for his classic book, East of Eden.)
The generations after Cain are in the fourth chapter of Genesis. All of Cain's offspring were from the land of Nod. Later, Adam had a son named Seth. We aren't told where his wife came from, but he had many descendants. The Bible follows the story of Seth's descendants, not Cain's.
So. Here we are. Although God created Eden for his perfect man and woman, they messed up, and from then on, things went downhill. But God had a plan to put his Spirit into the flawed people who were born in the following years. The people born after Adam didn't have God's spirit within. They had an empty place that longed to be filled. I once told you that scientifically, man had no instincts--but said that I personally believe he had one. All humans search for something to fill their emptiness. They search for God, or design a god, idol, made with their hands.
I believe humans were here before Adam, but that Adam was different. Unique. Spirit filled.
You remember the story. Cain killed Able, and when God confronted him, Cain denied it saying, "I don't know where he is. Am I my brother's keeper?" Of course he knew where Able was. And he should have been smart enough to know that God knew. God placed a curse on Cain--cursed from the earth that held his brother's blood. "You will be a fugitive and a vagabond," God told him.
Cain told God, "My punishment is greater than I can bear...you have driven me out...from the face of the earth...and....everyone that finds me will slay me." So God set a mark on Cain lest any finding him should kill him. Who are these "everyone that finds me?" Who are these "any finding him?" Whoever they were, they lived in Nod, on the east of Eden. (That's where Steinbeck got the name for his classic book, East of Eden.)
The generations after Cain are in the fourth chapter of Genesis. All of Cain's offspring were from the land of Nod. Later, Adam had a son named Seth. We aren't told where his wife came from, but he had many descendants. The Bible follows the story of Seth's descendants, not Cain's.
So. Here we are. Although God created Eden for his perfect man and woman, they messed up, and from then on, things went downhill. But God had a plan to put his Spirit into the flawed people who were born in the following years. The people born after Adam didn't have God's spirit within. They had an empty place that longed to be filled. I once told you that scientifically, man had no instincts--but said that I personally believe he had one. All humans search for something to fill their emptiness. They search for God, or design a god, idol, made with their hands.
I believe humans were here before Adam, but that Adam was different. Unique. Spirit filled.
Friday, January 18, 2019
Another phrase in that verse that gives me pause is, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." What exactly is "...the image of God...?" Could it be that we have a spirit that is eternal? Could it be because we have the ability to connect emotionally and interactively with other humans and that we have the ability to "know."
Something unique happened in the creation of a human, "God...breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." This is much different than the other biological life He had created. This human was different than any human that had lived before this. This human had capacity to be, to do, to think, to design, and many other things. They had "soul."
But the biggest difference is that he had the ability to communicate with his Creator. God deemed him worthy to walk in a garden with Him. Side by Side. To talk to his Creator. The animals weren't given that privilege--man was given dominion over them. The only thing that was above a human was God Himself. And man held God's spirit--the breath of God--within himself.
You may have been given pause to what I wrote about, "...different than any human that had lived before this." We can trace Adam to 6 to 8000 years ago through Matthew and Luke's genealogies. But in strata, bones of human remains have been found that are older than this. Through carbon dating (decay of radioactive carbon) we can find the age of those bones--and many are much, much, much older than Adam. If you want to know more about carbon dating, Google it. There is an entire course in college--Organic Chemistry--that studies carbon. (Yes, I've taken it.) Radioactive isotopes in carbon have what is called a half-life. And over a long period of time, dating can be accurate.
No problem. When Cain killed Able, he asked God to put a mark on his head so "...the people out there...) wouldn't kill him. Who were these people out there? We know that Cain went to the land of Nod and took a wife. So we have no Biblical contradiction with there having been people on earth before Adam, Eve, Cain and Able. But we have no record of them being in the image of God. No record of them "holding" the breath of God. God has not told us everything. But what he has told us agrees with scientific facts. Not scientific theories. I think you can rest assured that what God tells us will never contradict with truth. True truth. Verified, and actual. Not theorized.
Something unique happened in the creation of a human, "God...breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." This is much different than the other biological life He had created. This human was different than any human that had lived before this. This human had capacity to be, to do, to think, to design, and many other things. They had "soul."
But the biggest difference is that he had the ability to communicate with his Creator. God deemed him worthy to walk in a garden with Him. Side by Side. To talk to his Creator. The animals weren't given that privilege--man was given dominion over them. The only thing that was above a human was God Himself. And man held God's spirit--the breath of God--within himself.
You may have been given pause to what I wrote about, "...different than any human that had lived before this." We can trace Adam to 6 to 8000 years ago through Matthew and Luke's genealogies. But in strata, bones of human remains have been found that are older than this. Through carbon dating (decay of radioactive carbon) we can find the age of those bones--and many are much, much, much older than Adam. If you want to know more about carbon dating, Google it. There is an entire course in college--Organic Chemistry--that studies carbon. (Yes, I've taken it.) Radioactive isotopes in carbon have what is called a half-life. And over a long period of time, dating can be accurate.
No problem. When Cain killed Able, he asked God to put a mark on his head so "...the people out there...) wouldn't kill him. Who were these people out there? We know that Cain went to the land of Nod and took a wife. So we have no Biblical contradiction with there having been people on earth before Adam, Eve, Cain and Able. But we have no record of them being in the image of God. No record of them "holding" the breath of God. God has not told us everything. But what he has told us agrees with scientific facts. Not scientific theories. I think you can rest assured that what God tells us will never contradict with truth. True truth. Verified, and actual. Not theorized.
Thursday, January 17, 2019
We have earth, heaven, light, sun, moon, water, air, fish, birds, animals, reptiles, bugs--a world filled with life. And then, God performs his third creative act. "Let us (Us) make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them (them) have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth."
1. Fish------Water, 2. Birds------Air, 3. Cattle------Animals, 4. Earth-------Soil, and
5. Creeping Things----The clean up crew, pollinators and insects.
We are to have dominion over these five categories on earth. We are to protect fish, water, birds, air, living creatures, the soil, and bugs and bees, etc. that pollinate and clean up decaying things.
We've done a lousy job of it. We pollute everything we touch. Water, air, soil, and animal life. The earth would probably be better off without us. Look at each one of those categories and you can think of a dozen ways we have dishonored and polluted the job of dominion that God gave us.
But He created us. Gen. 1:27-28a: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created He him; Male and Female, created He them. And God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over..." everything. Fish, sea, fowl, air, "...and every other living thing that moves on the earth."
There are a number of words in this verse that give me pause. "Replenish," is one. This word must refer to what came before--to what is now gone. You otherwise would just stop at "Be fruitful and multiply." Replenish means to put back. It supports the concept of previous life on earth. And even though the Bible doesn't tell us about what kind of life came before this, it does let us know that there was life before this. Which we know from fossils in strata. We know scientifically that there was life before this, and the Bible supports scientific facts. Facts are facts. Re--plenish. Put something back.
A huge problem with evolution theory for Christians is that they attack the Genesis creation story as myth. Why? There is no contradiction in the Bible with facts of science. The contradiction is their theory of how it was done. Christians believe there was a Creator. Most evolution theorists don't. Note: I am not saying evolution (change) doesn't exist. Change by natural selection happens all the time--in each species gene pool. A Chihuahua and a St. Bernard have the same gene pool. Dog.
1. Fish------Water, 2. Birds------Air, 3. Cattle------Animals, 4. Earth-------Soil, and
5. Creeping Things----The clean up crew, pollinators and insects.
We are to have dominion over these five categories on earth. We are to protect fish, water, birds, air, living creatures, the soil, and bugs and bees, etc. that pollinate and clean up decaying things.
We've done a lousy job of it. We pollute everything we touch. Water, air, soil, and animal life. The earth would probably be better off without us. Look at each one of those categories and you can think of a dozen ways we have dishonored and polluted the job of dominion that God gave us.
But He created us. Gen. 1:27-28a: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created He him; Male and Female, created He them. And God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over..." everything. Fish, sea, fowl, air, "...and every other living thing that moves on the earth."
There are a number of words in this verse that give me pause. "Replenish," is one. This word must refer to what came before--to what is now gone. You otherwise would just stop at "Be fruitful and multiply." Replenish means to put back. It supports the concept of previous life on earth. And even though the Bible doesn't tell us about what kind of life came before this, it does let us know that there was life before this. Which we know from fossils in strata. We know scientifically that there was life before this, and the Bible supports scientific facts. Facts are facts. Re--plenish. Put something back.
A huge problem with evolution theory for Christians is that they attack the Genesis creation story as myth. Why? There is no contradiction in the Bible with facts of science. The contradiction is their theory of how it was done. Christians believe there was a Creator. Most evolution theorists don't. Note: I am not saying evolution (change) doesn't exist. Change by natural selection happens all the time--in each species gene pool. A Chihuahua and a St. Bernard have the same gene pool. Dog.
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
The animals began to reproduce in the manner that God intended. Each species procreated and began to fill the earth, just as God had blessed them to do.
Then, after the water life multiplied, and the birds filled the air, natural selection began to produce all kinds of fish and birds--fit to inhabit every type of climatic, and use every kind of food source--all of these birds and fish were different, but all were distinguished as fish, or birds.
Natural selection is the method by which the genes we carry--which are dominant, or recessive--give us all kinds of variation in a species. An example of among humans to explain selection would be the human eye. It is brown (dominate) or blue (recessive). Each parent can carry one gene of each. But if one parent has two brown genes--they will never have a blue eyed child. Even if the other parent is blue eyed. Both must have a blue gene to have a blue eyed child.
However, if each parent is brown eyed, but carries a blue gene, the odds are one out of four of having a blue eyed child. Further combinations require an education in genetics to explore. I've done that, and it is fascinating to see all the variations in nature that come from natural selection. But one thing stays the same, a bird is a bird. A dog is a dog. No matter what they look like.
The evolution theorist has only two ways to suggest that a species becomes a different species. Natural selection, or mutation. That's it. But natural selection doesn't produce new species--just variations in the given species. And mutation is almost always negative. And if there is a mutation that might be beneficial--what is it? Male or female. If if is male, where is its counterpart mutated female at that same moment in time? Mutation is so far fetched as to be ignored.
All of this fascinates me--as you can tell. I include only a tiny glimpse into the science of it all, simply to say that the scientist who says that evolution theory is a fact, is simply not honest. I watched a NOVA episode the other night on Quantum Physics--going beyond E=mc2 into the building blocks of all matter. The summation was that it is "Spooky." That it could only be seen "if you were looking at it." Now you see it, now you don't, or "entangled." What a "web" the subject of matter beyond molecules entails. You eventually get to something you can't explain. God?
Then, after the water life multiplied, and the birds filled the air, natural selection began to produce all kinds of fish and birds--fit to inhabit every type of climatic, and use every kind of food source--all of these birds and fish were different, but all were distinguished as fish, or birds.
Natural selection is the method by which the genes we carry--which are dominant, or recessive--give us all kinds of variation in a species. An example of among humans to explain selection would be the human eye. It is brown (dominate) or blue (recessive). Each parent can carry one gene of each. But if one parent has two brown genes--they will never have a blue eyed child. Even if the other parent is blue eyed. Both must have a blue gene to have a blue eyed child.
However, if each parent is brown eyed, but carries a blue gene, the odds are one out of four of having a blue eyed child. Further combinations require an education in genetics to explore. I've done that, and it is fascinating to see all the variations in nature that come from natural selection. But one thing stays the same, a bird is a bird. A dog is a dog. No matter what they look like.
The evolution theorist has only two ways to suggest that a species becomes a different species. Natural selection, or mutation. That's it. But natural selection doesn't produce new species--just variations in the given species. And mutation is almost always negative. And if there is a mutation that might be beneficial--what is it? Male or female. If if is male, where is its counterpart mutated female at that same moment in time? Mutation is so far fetched as to be ignored.
All of this fascinates me--as you can tell. I include only a tiny glimpse into the science of it all, simply to say that the scientist who says that evolution theory is a fact, is simply not honest. I watched a NOVA episode the other night on Quantum Physics--going beyond E=mc2 into the building blocks of all matter. The summation was that it is "Spooky." That it could only be seen "if you were looking at it." Now you see it, now you don't, or "entangled." What a "web" the subject of matter beyond molecules entails. You eventually get to something you can't explain. God?
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
This new kind of animal God is going to "create" suckles its young. "And God created great whales, (remember, whales are mammals) and every living creature that moves...which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind..." Earth animals, water animals, and air animals. How long did this take?
I'm reminded again of the verse in 2 Peter 3:8, "...do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day." Peter wrote that. And the Bible is the best commentator on itself. All scripture should agree. Even when written by dozens and dozens of different people. There is no error in God's word. Back in the Old Testament in Psalms 90:4--probably written by David: "For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night." In other words, a day is certainly not fixed at twenty-four hours as far as the Bible is concerned. "Time has no meaning for God."
There were also some animals left over from the dark earth from Genesis 1:1-2 as well: Armadillos, Crocodiles, and other "plated" animals that lived in darkness and dampness. Crickets, cockroaches, and similar exoskeleton types of creatures. Anything that could survive in darkness and wetness were able to survive whatever happened after Gen. 1:1. The Komodo dragon is an example. Notice how similar some of these animals are to dinosaurs. They probably are dinosaurs. But the new types of animals aren't connected to them, and certainly didn't evolve from them.
Up to now, in the first chapter, nothing has been blessed by God. But in Genesis 1:22, God speaks to His new creatures. He blesses the animals he has created out loud, and says, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth." Or, in other words, "Have sexual relations for the purpose of reproduction."
That is not sex with male and male; not sex with female and female. He created two distinct types of each species: Male and Female. Male and female whales, cats, hippos, camels, sheep...of every kind of animal. All at once. This sexual thing was blessed and made pleasurable for the purpose of reproduction. Generation after generation has abused this gift and treated it with deviance. We have become Sodom and Gomorrah. Which God destroyed with fire.
I'm reminded again of the verse in 2 Peter 3:8, "...do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day." Peter wrote that. And the Bible is the best commentator on itself. All scripture should agree. Even when written by dozens and dozens of different people. There is no error in God's word. Back in the Old Testament in Psalms 90:4--probably written by David: "For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night." In other words, a day is certainly not fixed at twenty-four hours as far as the Bible is concerned. "Time has no meaning for God."
There were also some animals left over from the dark earth from Genesis 1:1-2 as well: Armadillos, Crocodiles, and other "plated" animals that lived in darkness and dampness. Crickets, cockroaches, and similar exoskeleton types of creatures. Anything that could survive in darkness and wetness were able to survive whatever happened after Gen. 1:1. The Komodo dragon is an example. Notice how similar some of these animals are to dinosaurs. They probably are dinosaurs. But the new types of animals aren't connected to them, and certainly didn't evolve from them.
Up to now, in the first chapter, nothing has been blessed by God. But in Genesis 1:22, God speaks to His new creatures. He blesses the animals he has created out loud, and says, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth." Or, in other words, "Have sexual relations for the purpose of reproduction."
That is not sex with male and male; not sex with female and female. He created two distinct types of each species: Male and Female. Male and female whales, cats, hippos, camels, sheep...of every kind of animal. All at once. This sexual thing was blessed and made pleasurable for the purpose of reproduction. Generation after generation has abused this gift and treated it with deviance. We have become Sodom and Gomorrah. Which God destroyed with fire.
Monday, January 14, 2019
The phrase, "...let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth...", presents an interesting thought: whose seed is in itself upon the earth. Were these seeds caught in dry places? Inside rock formations, or caves, or were there places where earth was above the water? We aren't told. Suffice to say, that the plants sprang up at the command of God. Everything was there for plants to grow. Light, earth, water, warmth from the sun, and the life that exists inside a seed. You can't manufacture a seed that will produce life. It has to come from the mother plant maturing and developing seed.
Which I might as well insert here: I am itching for spring so that I can plant some of those seeds that contain life. They are miraculous things. Each seed I plant will produce fruit "after his kind." I won't get corn by planting tomato seeds. Seeds have a "kind." They are a miracle.
Three earth rotations have occurred. Then God rearranges things once again. "Let there be lights in the...heaven to divide the day from the night. And let them be for signs, for seasons, and for days, and years...to give light...upon the earth. God is flinging stars, and designing a moon, to give sailors a way to traverse the earth by navigating by the stars. He is regulating the tide by the gravitational pull of the moon. "He made two great lights...and set them in the heaven to give light upon the earth."
Then God said, "Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that has life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open skies...
You might want to pull your Bible out about now, and look at how many times the word "let" has been used. And how many times the word "made" has been used. After verse one, the word "create" isn't used again until verse 21. Not in all twenty verses in-between. In those 20 verses, God is re-arranging, re-doing, re-forming things out of other things. Or He is allowing, letting, things to occur. But the moment is coming that throws evolution theory off kilter. After a millennium of time, a new kind of animal is going to appear seemingly out of nowhere. You can understand why the theorist wants to say they evolved from water life. Because they can't find a connection in strata otherwise. God is going to create something. Out of nothing. That's what the word create means. You don't "let," you don't "make." When you create, you start with nothing at all.
Which I might as well insert here: I am itching for spring so that I can plant some of those seeds that contain life. They are miraculous things. Each seed I plant will produce fruit "after his kind." I won't get corn by planting tomato seeds. Seeds have a "kind." They are a miracle.
Three earth rotations have occurred. Then God rearranges things once again. "Let there be lights in the...heaven to divide the day from the night. And let them be for signs, for seasons, and for days, and years...to give light...upon the earth. God is flinging stars, and designing a moon, to give sailors a way to traverse the earth by navigating by the stars. He is regulating the tide by the gravitational pull of the moon. "He made two great lights...and set them in the heaven to give light upon the earth."
Then God said, "Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that has life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open skies...
You might want to pull your Bible out about now, and look at how many times the word "let" has been used. And how many times the word "made" has been used. After verse one, the word "create" isn't used again until verse 21. Not in all twenty verses in-between. In those 20 verses, God is re-arranging, re-doing, re-forming things out of other things. Or He is allowing, letting, things to occur. But the moment is coming that throws evolution theory off kilter. After a millennium of time, a new kind of animal is going to appear seemingly out of nowhere. You can understand why the theorist wants to say they evolved from water life. Because they can't find a connection in strata otherwise. God is going to create something. Out of nothing. That's what the word create means. You don't "let," you don't "make." When you create, you start with nothing at all.
Friday, January 11, 2019
We have space. We have the heavens. We have the earth. The dinosaurs are gone, but the waters are full of life. Then...God moves on the face of the water...."Let there be light." And there was light. When God moves, things happen. When He moves in your heart, you feel His presence.
God named the light "Day." And He called the darkness "Night." Night and day. The earth must be turning on it's axis for that to occur. How long was a turn? We don't know. But we do know it made a full 360 degree turn because the Bible says: "And the evening and morning were the first day. This first day is the beginning of a new work God is starting. Was the world spinning before this? Did something (meteorite) knock it off it's axis and subsequently stop rotation? I don't know. Neither does anyone else. It really doesn't matter. What matters is that something new is beginning to happen. We may assume that the sun was created in the beginning for there to be night and day--and for the dinosaurs to have had grass, hay, plants to eat. But that was eons ago.
The next thing God did was divvy up the water. Water above the earth, and water on the earth. He made the heavenly water and the earthly water. Then He gathered the water together and let the dry land appear. And named them. Earth, and Seas. Teutonic plates began to move, pushing up mountains. I think those days must have been very long--but God could have done it all in an instant. The reason I think the days were long is because we find fossils of water life in the mountains. Things lived, died, and were fossilized--taking time. That doesn't matter either. God did it.
Each time God did something, He declared it, "Good." Notice that He is not creating here, just rearranging. He is "letting" things happen. God does this work three ways: First he created. Then He used what was there to "make" things. Then he "let" things occur. Only three times in Genesis does he "create" anything. I'll cover that later.
On the fourth "day" He said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth." And it was so. God is "letting" something that is already there on earth do its thing. Sunshine. Water. Then plants grow. I'm a gardener. I can't make seed grow, but within that seed there is a miracle waiting to happen. Life. The very hand of God himself.
God named the light "Day." And He called the darkness "Night." Night and day. The earth must be turning on it's axis for that to occur. How long was a turn? We don't know. But we do know it made a full 360 degree turn because the Bible says: "And the evening and morning were the first day. This first day is the beginning of a new work God is starting. Was the world spinning before this? Did something (meteorite) knock it off it's axis and subsequently stop rotation? I don't know. Neither does anyone else. It really doesn't matter. What matters is that something new is beginning to happen. We may assume that the sun was created in the beginning for there to be night and day--and for the dinosaurs to have had grass, hay, plants to eat. But that was eons ago.
The next thing God did was divvy up the water. Water above the earth, and water on the earth. He made the heavenly water and the earthly water. Then He gathered the water together and let the dry land appear. And named them. Earth, and Seas. Teutonic plates began to move, pushing up mountains. I think those days must have been very long--but God could have done it all in an instant. The reason I think the days were long is because we find fossils of water life in the mountains. Things lived, died, and were fossilized--taking time. That doesn't matter either. God did it.
Each time God did something, He declared it, "Good." Notice that He is not creating here, just rearranging. He is "letting" things happen. God does this work three ways: First he created. Then He used what was there to "make" things. Then he "let" things occur. Only three times in Genesis does he "create" anything. I'll cover that later.
On the fourth "day" He said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth." And it was so. God is "letting" something that is already there on earth do its thing. Sunshine. Water. Then plants grow. I'm a gardener. I can't make seed grow, but within that seed there is a miracle waiting to happen. Life. The very hand of God himself.
Thursday, January 10, 2019
If you believe in the theory that one cell became two, became four...became an intricately complex human, well, I probably can't convince you otherwise. But think of all the complex changes in a cell to eventually become an eye. Or a heart, or an ear. All of the human senses are a miracle of design.
And almost all species have two different types--called male and female--appearing at the same time so that reproduction can occur. Think of how difficult that type of evolution would be!! And yet, here on earth, we have male and female of almost all species. Everyone of them evolving (supposedly) into zillions of species arriving in pairs at the same time. Every time an unusual occurrence like that occurs, the evolutionist must come up with a new theory. Their solution is that it takes billions of years for this upward, ever better, (never worse) series of events to occur. Almost like there is a divine plan--which is what they are trying to prove doesn't exist.
I choose God. When I look out into space, I always wonder, where am I? Where did this space that holds our earth come from? What is space anyway? Where is it? Why is it? Where is this thing called space existing? How far does it go? When we ask those questions, the miracle of life is a small question. The only answer is that it all came from somewhere, and the only reasonable answer is a "Creator." Something beyond our imagination. God. And he wanted us here. Why? Why would such a marvelous, unimaginable, supreme "Someone" want us? And when we failed His expectations, why would He want to rescue us from our failure?
It boggles the mind.
But when you accept a divine Creator, the explanation of Genesis is His communication of what He did and the order in which He did it. "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." And placed them in space. Only God Himself could do such a thing. You can't evolve space. You can't evolve Light. You can't evolve any of the things that exist in space. They are created by a mighty, supreme, magnificent hand--beyond our understanding.
"Oh come let us adore Him."
And almost all species have two different types--called male and female--appearing at the same time so that reproduction can occur. Think of how difficult that type of evolution would be!! And yet, here on earth, we have male and female of almost all species. Everyone of them evolving (supposedly) into zillions of species arriving in pairs at the same time. Every time an unusual occurrence like that occurs, the evolutionist must come up with a new theory. Their solution is that it takes billions of years for this upward, ever better, (never worse) series of events to occur. Almost like there is a divine plan--which is what they are trying to prove doesn't exist.
I choose God. When I look out into space, I always wonder, where am I? Where did this space that holds our earth come from? What is space anyway? Where is it? Why is it? Where is this thing called space existing? How far does it go? When we ask those questions, the miracle of life is a small question. The only answer is that it all came from somewhere, and the only reasonable answer is a "Creator." Something beyond our imagination. God. And he wanted us here. Why? Why would such a marvelous, unimaginable, supreme "Someone" want us? And when we failed His expectations, why would He want to rescue us from our failure?
It boggles the mind.
But when you accept a divine Creator, the explanation of Genesis is His communication of what He did and the order in which He did it. "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." And placed them in space. Only God Himself could do such a thing. You can't evolve space. You can't evolve Light. You can't evolve any of the things that exist in space. They are created by a mighty, supreme, magnificent hand--beyond our understanding.
"Oh come let us adore Him."
Wednesday, January 9, 2019
The evolution theorist has a problem. If all life came from nothing, they must get a chain of events that grows ever better until they have a human being. So they go back to the first two cells that split, that becomes an organism that mutates, or changes into a multi celled organism that is alive. From there, this thing grows ever better through magic. (Defying all the laws of physics which tells us that all things decay and become "worse.") These changes over huge periods of time become a human!!
The theorist uses fossil remains in strata to track this series of changes over time. Problem is, none of them have ever found a direct series of changes from one thing to another--of anything. It isn't a missing link that is the problem, it is billions and billions of missing links. There is not a single direct connective fossil of anything--anywhere.
And when the dinosaurs vanish, millions of years go by with nothing afterwards that could possibly connect to anything else. So how do they solve this problem? They go to the waters on the earth and start tracking fossil remains of water creatures. (These are the water creatures that I told you about yesterday. They have been here throughout recorded fossil time--never changing much more than the differences we see in any species. Blue eyes, brown eyes. Red hair, brown hair. Black skin, white skin. All human. Other species have similar differences.) So, what steps are necessary to turn a worm into a man?
You have to get the worm upright--which is impossible without a spine. Step one then, is find a creature that is worm-like that has something similar to a spine. An amphioxus is their solution. It has a notochord, or gelatinous rod like thing up it's back. Worm, then bam!, an amphioxus. Nothing fossilized nor strata fossils between the two. Over and over we are given a theory of what happened.
The reason for all of this convoluted reasoning--as to where we came from--is that the only other solution is God. Which is unacceptable. Either we evolved, or someone, something, created us.
From the moment that God said, "Let there be light," He had a plan. God goes about His plan in an orderly, organized, sequence of events. He is going to create a type of animal very different from the dinosaurs, and secondly, a create man to care for these creatures. That's a real "Bam."
The theorist uses fossil remains in strata to track this series of changes over time. Problem is, none of them have ever found a direct series of changes from one thing to another--of anything. It isn't a missing link that is the problem, it is billions and billions of missing links. There is not a single direct connective fossil of anything--anywhere.
And when the dinosaurs vanish, millions of years go by with nothing afterwards that could possibly connect to anything else. So how do they solve this problem? They go to the waters on the earth and start tracking fossil remains of water creatures. (These are the water creatures that I told you about yesterday. They have been here throughout recorded fossil time--never changing much more than the differences we see in any species. Blue eyes, brown eyes. Red hair, brown hair. Black skin, white skin. All human. Other species have similar differences.) So, what steps are necessary to turn a worm into a man?
You have to get the worm upright--which is impossible without a spine. Step one then, is find a creature that is worm-like that has something similar to a spine. An amphioxus is their solution. It has a notochord, or gelatinous rod like thing up it's back. Worm, then bam!, an amphioxus. Nothing fossilized nor strata fossils between the two. Over and over we are given a theory of what happened.
The reason for all of this convoluted reasoning--as to where we came from--is that the only other solution is God. Which is unacceptable. Either we evolved, or someone, something, created us.
From the moment that God said, "Let there be light," He had a plan. God goes about His plan in an orderly, organized, sequence of events. He is going to create a type of animal very different from the dinosaurs, and secondly, a create man to care for these creatures. That's a real "Bam."
Tuesday, January 8, 2019
Light. "...don't light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick...where it gives light to all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Matthew 5:15-16
The purpose of light is to be able to see. To see the world in which we live. The purpose of light is to cause growth in plant life. To provide food. The purpose of light is to warm our world. And on and on...light has a purpose. Without it, everything dies. Light. Christ is the ultimate light. "In Him was life, and the life was the light of the world." John 1:4
In Genesis 1:1, God created the heavens and the earth. All of it. But something happens, and the writer of Genesis picks up the story in Genesis 1:2. The earth that God created has become dark, void--or empty--and formless. And God waits. How long? Billions of years? There is no light reaching the earth. Light has been blocked by something. A debris cloud of ash? Nothing is growing.
The only surviving life is in the water. That life in the water goes on as it always had, it has not evolved! It looks today like it looked eons ago. The dinosaurs are gone. But not the life in the water. When we study strata, we see the remains of water life that goes back clear through the ages. Crickets are crickets. Sharks are sharks. Alligators are alligators. And a zillion other creatures.
Genesis 1:2b "...and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." I don't know what God was doing during all that time. He doesn't tell us. But the earth leaves clues in strata. Things die, and are covered by soil, and their bones become a record in that soil, strata. The layers are like a time clock. But when the dinosaurs died, the remains of dinosaurs in strata vanish. Only the remains of what was in the ocean are preserved--because that is all that is left.
And then, God speaks. For the first time in the Bible, we hear the voice of God. The first recorded words of our Creator. He says, "Let there be light." Hallelujah. And because He is God, because He is all powerful, because at His voice the universe exists, the Bible tells us, "...there was light." God spoke it into existence. And He continues to speak light into existence in hearts of mankind.
The purpose of light is to be able to see. To see the world in which we live. The purpose of light is to cause growth in plant life. To provide food. The purpose of light is to warm our world. And on and on...light has a purpose. Without it, everything dies. Light. Christ is the ultimate light. "In Him was life, and the life was the light of the world." John 1:4
In Genesis 1:1, God created the heavens and the earth. All of it. But something happens, and the writer of Genesis picks up the story in Genesis 1:2. The earth that God created has become dark, void--or empty--and formless. And God waits. How long? Billions of years? There is no light reaching the earth. Light has been blocked by something. A debris cloud of ash? Nothing is growing.
The only surviving life is in the water. That life in the water goes on as it always had, it has not evolved! It looks today like it looked eons ago. The dinosaurs are gone. But not the life in the water. When we study strata, we see the remains of water life that goes back clear through the ages. Crickets are crickets. Sharks are sharks. Alligators are alligators. And a zillion other creatures.
Genesis 1:2b "...and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." I don't know what God was doing during all that time. He doesn't tell us. But the earth leaves clues in strata. Things die, and are covered by soil, and their bones become a record in that soil, strata. The layers are like a time clock. But when the dinosaurs died, the remains of dinosaurs in strata vanish. Only the remains of what was in the ocean are preserved--because that is all that is left.
And then, God speaks. For the first time in the Bible, we hear the voice of God. The first recorded words of our Creator. He says, "Let there be light." Hallelujah. And because He is God, because He is all powerful, because at His voice the universe exists, the Bible tells us, "...there was light." God spoke it into existence. And He continues to speak light into existence in hearts of mankind.
Monday, January 7, 2019
Genesis is like a magnet for me. I am drawn back to it over and over. Genesis tells us that God did everything. The Apostle John starts his epistle by referring to Genesis, and adding additional information saying, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shone in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." John 1:1-5. Jesus is the Word, is God, and is the Creator God. Jesus, God, is the light of the world.
Light. It controls the universe. "Let there be light," is what God said in Genesis 1:3. And things started to happen. I watched the documentary on Apollo 8 the other night--again--and was so overcome with the first picture of the planet earth that was taken from space. It is alive with light. And color. What a great God we have. Oceans, land, ice, clouds...blue for water, green for grass!!
After there was light, darkness faded away. That darkness that was on the face of the deep (water) in Genesis 1:2, was gone. Was the earth rotating? Who knows. If it was not yet rotating, there was no measure for a day. And yet, the next few passages number the things that God did in "days." How long were these days? Without knowledge of rotation at that time, we don't know. Rotation changes. Every time there is an earthquake, volcano, tsunami, or meteorite impact, rotation speed changes. And the Arctic ice core drill samples show that these things have happened over and over again.
If you read Luke's account of the genealogy of Christ, he starts with His birth and traces Him through his ancestors all the way back to Adam. Around 6000 years. Some say that is the age of the earth. Which isn't true. We know that it is much older. (The subject of time depends on days and years--and that depends on rotation speed.)
You don't need to know about rotation to trust Christ as your Savior. The only reason to discuss it at all is because the Evolution theorists say that Genesis is a myth. It isn't. It is exactly, perfectly, ecologically in order. God's word is true. Our children and grandchildren need to know that the Genesis account is true. God started something called time. We define it. He didn't. All we know is "In the beginning...God."
Light. It controls the universe. "Let there be light," is what God said in Genesis 1:3. And things started to happen. I watched the documentary on Apollo 8 the other night--again--and was so overcome with the first picture of the planet earth that was taken from space. It is alive with light. And color. What a great God we have. Oceans, land, ice, clouds...blue for water, green for grass!!
After there was light, darkness faded away. That darkness that was on the face of the deep (water) in Genesis 1:2, was gone. Was the earth rotating? Who knows. If it was not yet rotating, there was no measure for a day. And yet, the next few passages number the things that God did in "days." How long were these days? Without knowledge of rotation at that time, we don't know. Rotation changes. Every time there is an earthquake, volcano, tsunami, or meteorite impact, rotation speed changes. And the Arctic ice core drill samples show that these things have happened over and over again.
If you read Luke's account of the genealogy of Christ, he starts with His birth and traces Him through his ancestors all the way back to Adam. Around 6000 years. Some say that is the age of the earth. Which isn't true. We know that it is much older. (The subject of time depends on days and years--and that depends on rotation speed.)
You don't need to know about rotation to trust Christ as your Savior. The only reason to discuss it at all is because the Evolution theorists say that Genesis is a myth. It isn't. It is exactly, perfectly, ecologically in order. God's word is true. Our children and grandchildren need to know that the Genesis account is true. God started something called time. We define it. He didn't. All we know is "In the beginning...God."
Friday, January 4, 2019
Well, a record snow for today would have been 2"+. Nothing to brag about. I was thinking about a getting a foot. Which didn't happen. Neither did 2". We had a foot in Pryor a few years ago. Squig went into a total recession. He was very frightened. But then, he is afraid of everything. I had to literally throw him out into it when he had to "go." And then I had to plod through the snow and go get him because he was afraid to walk back through the snow to the house.
This snow was so "nothing" yesterday, that Squig ran out the back door and into it without hesitating. The only thing he did was sniff at it. And march, picking his feet up high as he headed to his special "spot." But rain is still his top fear.
The up side is that he wants me to hold him and comfort him when snow, rain, sleet, thunder, lightening or hail are going on. It lets me know that he loves me and looks on me as his protector. Which I am. I dearly adore this dog.
We have been fighting all week. I bought him a sweater because it has been so cold. He's not having any part of it. I'm winning so far. He hasn't learned how to get out of it yet. But not for lack of trying.
I never knew that dogs had different personalities. I thought they were all just dogs. Kind of like cows. Or sheep. But no. They are really different from each other. Someone told me that cows and sheep can have personality as well. I find that hard to believe.
Becky has had to say good-by to two of her dogs that she dearly loved. Maya, and Max. And now she only has Annie--who has heart trouble. Pat found Annie wandering out in the country and brought her to Becky. Annie is the most expensive free dog any of us has ever had. She has multiple problems just staying alive. Pat has lost a number of dogs also. I don't want to think about that.
Squig will be eleven in March. I don't want to think about that either.
This snow was so "nothing" yesterday, that Squig ran out the back door and into it without hesitating. The only thing he did was sniff at it. And march, picking his feet up high as he headed to his special "spot." But rain is still his top fear.
The up side is that he wants me to hold him and comfort him when snow, rain, sleet, thunder, lightening or hail are going on. It lets me know that he loves me and looks on me as his protector. Which I am. I dearly adore this dog.
We have been fighting all week. I bought him a sweater because it has been so cold. He's not having any part of it. I'm winning so far. He hasn't learned how to get out of it yet. But not for lack of trying.
I never knew that dogs had different personalities. I thought they were all just dogs. Kind of like cows. Or sheep. But no. They are really different from each other. Someone told me that cows and sheep can have personality as well. I find that hard to believe.
Becky has had to say good-by to two of her dogs that she dearly loved. Maya, and Max. And now she only has Annie--who has heart trouble. Pat found Annie wandering out in the country and brought her to Becky. Annie is the most expensive free dog any of us has ever had. She has multiple problems just staying alive. Pat has lost a number of dogs also. I don't want to think about that.
Squig will be eleven in March. I don't want to think about that either.
Thursday, January 3, 2019
Tonight we are going to get snow. And if the predictions are reliable, it will be record breaking. Last year we had almost no snow at all. I like for it to snow really big every now and then. You get to turn the thermostat up, or light a fire, and stay home and do nothing. Everything out there in the world just stops. Nobody can get to work so people build snowmen with their kids. All the pressure of life is off. It's like a free day.
Until someone with a bulldozer clears the streets. Until people start clearing their sidewalks. I say take advantage of it while it lasts.
I have a picture of me standing in the snow with a giant ice cycle in my hand--I am probably ten years old. We had all been playing war or something similar when someone snapped a picture. We were brandishing ice swords having a wonderful time. There is nothing quite so much fun as a really good snow.
But I wouldn't want to live where it stays covered with snow all winter. A little goes a long way.
I looked at pictures today. And made some decisions. I separated them into two categories. Those that I will hang, and those that I won't. I put the ones that I won't hang in a box by themselves and everyone who comes to see me can go through the box and take what they want.
I didn't finish the job. But I will. The hard part is starting. Once I start, I know I will finish. Like I said yesterday, I plod and piddle along until it's done. I will get it done once it's started.
My next door neighbor brought me a plate of peanut butter cookies. So much for my plan to lose 6 pounds. I'll think about that tomorrow. I ate almost all of them. I decided that if I was going to eat them eventually, why not just go ahead and eat them all--and get it over with.
It seemed to make sense at the time. Now, I'm not so sure.
Until someone with a bulldozer clears the streets. Until people start clearing their sidewalks. I say take advantage of it while it lasts.
I have a picture of me standing in the snow with a giant ice cycle in my hand--I am probably ten years old. We had all been playing war or something similar when someone snapped a picture. We were brandishing ice swords having a wonderful time. There is nothing quite so much fun as a really good snow.
But I wouldn't want to live where it stays covered with snow all winter. A little goes a long way.
I looked at pictures today. And made some decisions. I separated them into two categories. Those that I will hang, and those that I won't. I put the ones that I won't hang in a box by themselves and everyone who comes to see me can go through the box and take what they want.
I didn't finish the job. But I will. The hard part is starting. Once I start, I know I will finish. Like I said yesterday, I plod and piddle along until it's done. I will get it done once it's started.
My next door neighbor brought me a plate of peanut butter cookies. So much for my plan to lose 6 pounds. I'll think about that tomorrow. I ate almost all of them. I decided that if I was going to eat them eventually, why not just go ahead and eat them all--and get it over with.
It seemed to make sense at the time. Now, I'm not so sure.
Wednesday, January 2, 2019
Squig and I went to the farm (Pat's house) and ate Hoppin' John for New Year's day. Since I ate black eyed peas, I'm supposed to have good luck? I've eaten black-eyed peas every January 1 my entire life. I'm not sure that prediction of being lucky is trustworthy. On the other hand, I'm not sure what luck really is.
But I do know what "results" are. Results are what happens "next." It's when you eat fewer calories, you lose weight. Which may also be achieved by eating the same number of calories, but exercising more. I am amazed how many "diets" there are out there, when the truth is that it is only math. You count calories, or you count reps. Too many calories, or not enough reps, you gain weight.
I'm doing both. For the long haul. Not to kill myself with one of those "Lose 30 pounds in 30 days" kind of things. Just watching what I eat--not in a day--but in a week. If I want something, I eat it. I just balance out the next day or two. And peddling on my bike a minute more than I did last week. You have to develop a routine. Slow, yes, but sure. And I'm not horribly over weight. Last year, I lost 8 pounds. This year 6 more and I am where I need to be. You won't be able to tell, but I will.
Results. Achieved by plodding through and getting stuff done. I don't try to do it all at once. Just one thing every day. Sometimes two or three, but always one. I have small goals. But I am always doing something that puts me ahead of where I was yesterday. Today, I went through all my bills from last year and shredded the ones that weren't necessary to keep. My goal is to get my tax stuff together. Next week. No hurry? I'll piddle around one step at a time until it's done. Which for me is March 1. I've told you before that Procrastination works for me, because when there is something "out there" that has to be done, I get a zillion things done in the meantime. I don't recommend it.
Happy New Year. May God bless you as you "Press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:14
I don't ever procrastinate that. Day by day pressing toward the mark.
But I do know what "results" are. Results are what happens "next." It's when you eat fewer calories, you lose weight. Which may also be achieved by eating the same number of calories, but exercising more. I am amazed how many "diets" there are out there, when the truth is that it is only math. You count calories, or you count reps. Too many calories, or not enough reps, you gain weight.
I'm doing both. For the long haul. Not to kill myself with one of those "Lose 30 pounds in 30 days" kind of things. Just watching what I eat--not in a day--but in a week. If I want something, I eat it. I just balance out the next day or two. And peddling on my bike a minute more than I did last week. You have to develop a routine. Slow, yes, but sure. And I'm not horribly over weight. Last year, I lost 8 pounds. This year 6 more and I am where I need to be. You won't be able to tell, but I will.
Results. Achieved by plodding through and getting stuff done. I don't try to do it all at once. Just one thing every day. Sometimes two or three, but always one. I have small goals. But I am always doing something that puts me ahead of where I was yesterday. Today, I went through all my bills from last year and shredded the ones that weren't necessary to keep. My goal is to get my tax stuff together. Next week. No hurry? I'll piddle around one step at a time until it's done. Which for me is March 1. I've told you before that Procrastination works for me, because when there is something "out there" that has to be done, I get a zillion things done in the meantime. I don't recommend it.
Happy New Year. May God bless you as you "Press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:14
I don't ever procrastinate that. Day by day pressing toward the mark.
Tuesday, January 1, 2019
I have been watching the TV specials for the New Year. Flipping channels. They are equally terrible. Almost like they are working at it very hard trying to have a good time. I gave up at 7 PM and turned it off. On every station, they were drinking, or already drunk. People seem to be addicted to being entertained. And if you can't get there, grab a drink.
It is very seldom that I have a conversation with anyone anymore. On a "subject." A relevant subject. People don't discuss issues. They just argue. I miss discourse. This last year I feel like everyone has entrenched on their "Side," and don't know how to listen to anyone anymore. It has been one of the strangest years that I have lived through.
When I was growing up, people in the family, and friends as well, discussed things. I don't see much of that anymore. Facebook is full of diatribe. Slogans. Stupid stuff.
I wish the world would learn to respect each other. If you look at Fox, try a day of CNN. If you look at CNN, try a day of Fox. That's what I try to do. I figure that somewhere in the middle of it, I might get a grain of truth. It's hard to find truth in the news anymore. There is so much bias. I read a newspaper everyday, but that doesn't give me much more.
The only written words I can trust are the words of God. I've lived a long, long time, and through it all, the Word of God remains trustworthy. "Love your neighbor as yourself." And, "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." Philippians 4:8
True, honest, just, pure, lovely, good report, virtue, praise.........think. The operative word is "Think."
And what I think is that part of the problem is that there is so much information out there that it is impossible to see through it. I'm going to spend more time this year in God's word. That's the only thing that will remain true ten years from now. And it is the one thing we can all count on.
It is very seldom that I have a conversation with anyone anymore. On a "subject." A relevant subject. People don't discuss issues. They just argue. I miss discourse. This last year I feel like everyone has entrenched on their "Side," and don't know how to listen to anyone anymore. It has been one of the strangest years that I have lived through.
When I was growing up, people in the family, and friends as well, discussed things. I don't see much of that anymore. Facebook is full of diatribe. Slogans. Stupid stuff.
I wish the world would learn to respect each other. If you look at Fox, try a day of CNN. If you look at CNN, try a day of Fox. That's what I try to do. I figure that somewhere in the middle of it, I might get a grain of truth. It's hard to find truth in the news anymore. There is so much bias. I read a newspaper everyday, but that doesn't give me much more.
The only written words I can trust are the words of God. I've lived a long, long time, and through it all, the Word of God remains trustworthy. "Love your neighbor as yourself." And, "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." Philippians 4:8
True, honest, just, pure, lovely, good report, virtue, praise.........think. The operative word is "Think."
And what I think is that part of the problem is that there is so much information out there that it is impossible to see through it. I'm going to spend more time this year in God's word. That's the only thing that will remain true ten years from now. And it is the one thing we can all count on.
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