Friday, March 30, 2012

Making Sense

When there is the experience of pain, whether mental or physical, our gut reaction is to make it stop! Pain is very motivating that way. If the resultant search does not find a cause, then it will find an outlet.

Everyone sees media stories that astonish and amaze with what some are willing to do in the grip of their anger. The violence seems so disgustingly senseless. In our rush to judge, we do not realize that we are the same, just as capable of atrocities in the name of, and for the sake of, what we love. We give pain back for pain given. We are blind to the truth that we but extend the legacy of damage. Like ripples in a pond, the surface of the water writhes in torment. It is because what we term love is really just selfish greed.

There is only one way to make sense of the mess. Everything, EVERYTHING, must be done for the glory of God! We cannot deviate from the purpose of the One who is the greatest good! He becomes our glory. We can even enter into pain consciously when He is our only love, because He becomes the cause, the origin of our strength, and the inflaming of our devotion by reason of our joy!

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Top This!

I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done. (Isaiah 46:9-10)

Wake up people! Here is your challenge! This has so much of common sense to it as to be laughable. What other god can you find, who put it into writing, that can tell you the future before it happens? What He has willed, the plan of redemption, is laid out like a battle plan, so we will know of His victory beforehand. We can choose to be on the winning side now. He tells us the specifics ahead of time, in writing, so we know who is, HE is, the One and Only.

God told us for thousands of years that He would be putting in a personal appearance. He showed up just like He said. He was born of a woman, without a man involved, (Genesis 3:15, Isaiah 7:14-Luke 1)through the descendants of Abraham and the Davidic kings. (Isaiah 11-Matthew 1, John 3) He was born where He said he would be. (Micah 5:2-Matthew 2) He announced Himself according to plan, (Zechariah 9:9-Matthew 21:5) and at the appointed time. (Daniel 9:25-26)He was sold to His enemies for thirty pieces of silver, which was used to buy a potter's field. (Zechariah 11:12-Matthew 27)The details of His death were given to us before the event.(Isaiah 53, Psalm 22, Zechariah 12:10) His resurrection was preannounced.(Psalm 16:10)

So the real issue is not whether He can prove to you who He is. He did. The confrontation is to help you understand why you need to obey Him. This is about surrendering to a love that gave up everything to have you, if you are willing. We cannot be our own gods without destroying ourselves. We debase ourselves by wallowing in the filth of our violence and dishonesty. Only God can deliver us from the slippery, slimy pit of our pride. He is there for the asking.

That MY king!!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upGCMl_b0n4

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Does the Evidence Support Evolution or Something Else?

The answer to the question would depend on how corrupted, by preconceived opinions and the need to avoid the truth, was the person's mind who was reviewing the evidence. If the course of reasoning is stuck in the rut of material naturalism, then fabricating evidence becomes the norm.

Evolution is an outdated theory proposed almost two centuries ago in a world that was unaware of anything beyond simple Newtonian physics. Evolution suffers from an excess of linear thinking, blissfully crediting time and "all powerful" violence with the ability to create beauty, order, and intelligence. Time is no longer a dependable good fella, no steady strength to intimidate rebels of thought to fall into line. He is a whimsical dependent of the observer's frame of reference. How much time has elapsed since the big bang would depend on where in the universe the clock is located.

Evolution is simply the observation of superficial, minor changes in a biological mechanism and extrapolating backwards to a history of major changes. This fabrication depends on two assumptions: That new information is being added with the change, and that violent, destructive influences will allow only the beneficial changes to continue.

There are currently observable facts. Outward form of an organism is dependent on the molecularly coded language called genes. Change is simply an outward expression of another option already available within the gene pool. Selective breeding, even natural selection, to fix a trait, is actually eliminating the competing information from the genes. Over time, the information pool is degraded in both quality and quantity. The entrance of new information, called a mutation, is always deleterious in it's effects. (As an example, cancer is a mutated cell). That life itself originated from this process is impossible.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

All the Colors of the Rainbow

How valuable is our ability to see? It is a fragile, exquisite and intricate gift. Messages of profound significance are communicated visually, and in deeply personal ways, when using body language, writing, and the arts. Of all the senses, the loss of this one has the greatest impact on our ability to function, and causes catastrophic changes in life.

The medium of vision is light itself. An incredible amount of information is received within it's context. Light's most amazing property, which we cannot perceive without the right help or circumstance, is demonstrated when the light breaks through the rainclouds, and we see all the colors of the rainbow! In clear, pure "white" light, all the colors are hidden from our eyes! It is only through the agency of light that all the colors (and shapes and movement) of our world are revealed! We are so used to it, that we take it for granted. It is simply how things ARE.

It is no wonder that the Lord uses vision, sight, and seeing, as euphemisms for understanding the spiritual. He represents Himself as light (full of rainbows of meaning.) The spirit world is hidden from our physical eyes, the same way the rainbow exists all around us, with us yet unaware. Yet through the vehicle of the very faith God gifts us, we can choose to open spiritual eyes to the meaning that is HIM. By faith, we understand. "Man says 'show me and I will trust You', while God says, 'Trust me and I will show you.'" This transaction must be settled the way God ordains it, before we can have the epiphany of looking around us, or considering our circumstance, and seeing the Lord's sure hand at work. (Wondering why we didn't see the obvious before.)

Rainbows to ya!

Saturday, March 3, 2012

My Favorite Passage

Just what will it take to bring on an awareness of the evil in this place? We are brought up short by pain. We can allow that pain to change us, to take us to the only sane conclusion, or we can use the mechanisms of denial to avoid the truth.

As a young child, I had figured out, not only that "something's not right" here, but that something was very badly wrong indeed. I was acutely aware of the duality of my own character. (I was judgemental of others who did not do right, but felt my own trespasses were excusable.) Everyone acted opposite of the love of God as revealed in the scriptures. We were "a part of the problem, not the solution."

A passionate nature, inflamed by the love of God, was directed on a life mission from the scripture. Galatians 2:20 "I am crucified in Christ, never the less I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." And Galatians 6:14 "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." Because of God's grace, I had died to sin and evil. I did not have to confront and battle my deadly selfishness. I did not have to beat an overburdened heart into submission. I did not have to pay tribute to a wearying material world anymore. He who is dead, pays no taxes. It was not me who lived in my body anymore, but the love of Christ, the one who gave everything for me. My glory was in the giving of Him.