Read Genesis & See Chapter Headings
Read Genesis 1
Creation Bible Story Book for Children
Bara
The Hebrew word for “create” (bara) is used in the OT to refer to divine activity only—Yahweh alone serves as its grammatical subject—implying the writer wanted to emphasize that people cannot create in the way that Yahweh creates and that no other god can claim to be the creator. The verb bara also conveys the idea of ordering or determining function, suggesting God’s creative activity consists of bringing proper order and function to the cosmos.
Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Ge 1:1). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
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Genesis is the story of families: Look at the chapters
1 Creation
2-5 Family of Adam and Eve
6-10 Family of Noah
12-25 Abraham and His family.
25-28 Isaac and His family.
28-36 Jacob and His family.
37-50 Joseph and His family.
Genesis means "Beginning" Look at the Introduction to Genesis.
#Light
Light
The Bible has a good deal to say about light. The first chapter of Genesis speaks of it—Gen. 1:3, and so does the last chapter of Revelation—Rev. 22:5. Light is the symbol of holiness and truth, hence "God is Light" (1 John 1:5). Let us look at light as applied to God's children in the Epistles.
1. Our Enlightenment. "God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. 4:6). The darkness of sin's condemnation, control and, contamination is taken away by knowing Christ as our Savior.
2. Our Environment. "Called you out of darkness into His marvelous light" (1 Peter 2:9). The sphere into which we have been brought, and in which we are to move, is the "all things that pertain unto life and godliness" (2 Peter 1:3), and of grace—Rom. 5:2.
3. Our Enduement. "Now are ye light in the Lord" (Eph. 5:8). Being in the light, we have all the privileges of the position, and among them is the power of the Holy Spirit.
4. Oar Employment. "Walk as children of light" (Eph. 5:8). The believer's life, wherever lived, has to be in correspondence to his position.
5. Our Enjoyment. "If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another" (1 John 1:7). There is no peace, power, nor joy, so long as we are out of the orbit of the Lord's presence; but remaining there they are all found.
6. Our Equipment. "The armor of light" (Rom. 13:12). Christ is the Armor of Light. When He stands between us and any foe we are sure of victory.
7. Our Ennoblement. "Made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light" (Col. 1:12). The Lord has ennobled us in making us His children, and sufficient for the heavenly inheritance.
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Discovery Bible Study
Thanks
What happened last week for
which you are thankful?
Intercession
What challenges do you see in
your life? Family? World?
Accountability
How did you apply, share and
follow up from our last meeting?
Genesis 1:1-2:3
READ THE PASSAGE
Re-Read the scripture above in an easy to read version
Re-tell in your own words.
Consider The Details
Application Summary: Change begins with me. I need to be the change I want to see. Any revolution I want to see in our church and/or society begins with me!
He is...
What do we learn about God in
the text?
Light and Darkness in the Old Testament
At the heart of Old
Testament’s symbolic use of
light and darkness is the connection the text makes between light and the
personal presence of God, and darkness as all that opposes God. This link
begins as early as Gen 1:2, where God creates light to serve as a boundary to
darkness. Here light is not only instantly linked to God’s presence but also
institutes time and order over the chaos of the formless void (Walton,
“Creation,” 59). God creates a functioning, orderly environment for people, and
the creation of stars gives humanity seasons and cycles of time by which to
order their lives (Gen 1). The link of light with the Creator also acts as a
symbolic tie between light and life. If light symbolizes God’s presence, and
God is the author of life, then surely where God is, life abounds (Gen 1:3 and
following; Job 3:16; 33:28; Psa 56:13).
Psalms – Over 30 times light is used to describe God’s presence with us. (Psalm 119:105)
We are ...
What do we learn about people
after reading?
·
Darkness is a
problem.
·
You are the
light of the world. Matthew 5;
·
Jesus is the
Light of the world. John 8:12
·
Revelation
21: “Glory of the Lord”
If God’s presence is light and life, then opposition to Him brings darkness and death (Deut 28:28; Job 18:5; 38:4–15; Psa 49:18–19; Jer 13:16; Amos 5:18). If condemnation and death are spoken of as darkness (Job 10:22), then salvation from these evils is also spoken in terms of light (Psa 27:1). Thus also God Himself (His presence) becomes a light leading a person out of darkness, toward salvation (Psa 18:28; 43:3; Isa 10:17; 42:16; Mic 7:8). The tone of confidence that pervades these passages demonstrates that there is no doubt that God’s presence as light will conquer and even eliminate the darkness. Old Testament prophecies of the ultimate restoration of God’s people are full of the language of light and dawn (e.g., Isa 60:1–3; Ezek 43:2, 5).
I will ...
What has the Holy Spirit revealed to you in this passage? How will you apply it to your life this week?
How can we be “light” like God in this world?
·
God’s Word enlightens our path (Psalm 119:105)
·
God can turn darkness into light
(Isaiah 42:16)
·
Christians are the light of the
world (Matthew 5:14)
·
Jesus is the Light of the World
(John 8:12)
·
Light shines in the hearts of
Christians (2 Corinthians 4:6)
·
Christians are children of light
(Ephesians 5:8)
You can ...
Who do you know who needs to
hear this?
Service
How can we help with a
challenge you're facing?
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The Foundational Verse of the Bible. In this lesson we will demonstrate how the very first verse of the Bible refutes the major philosophies that try to explain man's existence without reference to God.
Days of Creation
1 - The heavens, the earth, light and darkness.
2 - Heaven
3 - Dry land, the seas, and vegetation.
4 - The sun, the moon and the stars.
5 - Living creatures in the water, birds in the air.
6 - Land animals and people.
7 - God Rested
Days of Creation
1 - The heavens, the earth, light and darkness.
2 - Heaven3 - Dry land, the seas, and vegetation.
4 - The sun, the moon and the stars.
5 - Living creatures in the water, birds in the air.
6 - Land animals and people.
7 - God Rested
Old Earth vs. Young Earth. In this lesson we will discuss the major arguments supporting the Young ( 6000 - 10,000 yrs. ) vs. the Old ( Millions to Billions of years ) age of the earth.
Justin Rogers – Evolution and Genesis 1—Does the Hebrew Language Allow for Evolution?
What is the Gap Creationism Theory? This lesson will begin a review of various alternative interpretations of the creation portion of the book of Genesis.
Problems with the Day/Age Theory. In this section we will examine another attempt to harmonize the Evolution theory with the Creation story in the Bible.
Day #2 and #3 The lesson describes the creation of the "heavens" and the peculiar atmosphere that existed in the pre-flood era.
Day #3 and #4
Day #5
Day #6 The Creation of Man. This lesson examines the Divine Council and the similarities between the natures of God and man.
God's Rest and Man's Creation. This lesson continues to describe in greater detail the creation of human beings as well as the nature of the "rest" God takes after His creative activity.
==============
What happened last week for which you are thankful?
Intercession
What challenges do you see in your life? Family? World?
Accountability
How did you apply, share and follow up from our last meeting?
Genesis 1:1-2:3
Re-tell in your own words.
Consider The Details
Application Summary: Change begins with me. I need to be the change I want to see. Any revolution I want to see in our church and/or society begins with me!
He is...
What do we learn about God in the text?
Light and Darkness in the Old Testament
At the heart of Old Testament’s symbolic use of light and darkness is the connection the text makes between light and the personal presence of God, and darkness as all that opposes God. This link begins as early as Gen 1:2, where God creates light to serve as a boundary to darkness. Here light is not only instantly linked to God’s presence but also institutes time and order over the chaos of the formless void (Walton, “Creation,” 59). God creates a functioning, orderly environment for people, and the creation of stars gives humanity seasons and cycles of time by which to order their lives (Gen 1). The link of light with the Creator also acts as a symbolic tie between light and life. If light symbolizes God’s presence, and God is the author of life, then surely where God is, life abounds (Gen 1:3 and following; Job 3:16; 33:28; Psa 56:13).
Psalms – Over 30 times light is used to describe God’s presence with us. (Psalm 119:105)
We are ...
What do we learn about people after reading?
If God’s presence is light and life, then opposition to Him brings darkness and death (Deut 28:28; Job 18:5; 38:4–15; Psa 49:18–19; Jer 13:16; Amos 5:18). If condemnation and death are spoken of as darkness (Job 10:22), then salvation from these evils is also spoken in terms of light (Psa 27:1). Thus also God Himself (His presence) becomes a light leading a person out of darkness, toward salvation (Psa 18:28; 43:3; Isa 10:17; 42:16; Mic 7:8). The tone of confidence that pervades these passages demonstrates that there is no doubt that God’s presence as light will conquer and even eliminate the darkness. Old Testament prophecies of the ultimate restoration of God’s people are full of the language of light and dawn (e.g., Isa 60:1–3; Ezek 43:2, 5).
I will ...
What has the Holy Spirit revealed to you in this passage? How will you apply it to your life this week?
You can ...
Who do you know who needs to hear this?
Service
How can we help with a challenge you're facing?
Light
The Bible has a good deal to say about light. The first chapter of Genesis speaks of it—Gen. 1:3, and so does the last chapter of Revelation—Rev. 22:5. Light is the symbol of holiness and truth, hence "God is Light" (1 John 1:5). Let us look at light as applied to God's children in the Epistles.
1. Our Enlightenment. "God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. 4:6). The darkness of sin's condemnation, control and, contamination is taken away by knowing Christ as our Saviour.
2. Our Environment. "Called you out of darkness into His marvelous light" (1 Peter 2:9). The sphere into which we have been brought, and in which we are to move, is the "all things that pertain unto life and godliness" (2 Peter 1:3), and of grace—Rom. 5:2.
3. Our Enduement. "Now are ye light in the Lord" (Eph. 5:8). Being in the light, we have all the privileges of the position, and among them is the power of the Holy Spirit.
4. Oar Employment. "Walk as children of light" (Eph. 5:8). The believer's life, wherever lived, has to be in correspondence to his position.
5. Our Enjoyment. "If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another" (1 John 1:7). There is no peace, power, nor joy, so long as we are out of the orbit of the Lord's presence; but remaining there they are all found.
6. Our Equipment. "The armor of light" (Rom. 13:12). Christ is the Armour of Light. When He stands between us and any foe we are sure of victory.
7. Our Ennoblement. "Made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light" (Col. 1:12). The Lord has ennobled us in making us His children, and sufficient for the heavenly inheritance.
==============
Cosmology's Holy Grail By Hugh Ross
Author: Hugh Ross
Date: 12/12/94
Copyright (c) 1994 Christianity Today, Inc./CHRISTIANITY TODAY Magazine
Text: Gen 1, Gen 2, Job 9:1-12, Job 38, Job 39, Ps 8:1-9, Ps 19:1-6, Ps 148, Isa 40:26*, Isa 42:5, Isa 45:8-18, Acts 14:15, Rom 1:20, 1 Cor 13:9-12, Eph 3:9, Col 1:16, Rev 4:11
How recent scientific breakthroughs are helping us see Creation in a new way.
In the past two years, a set of breakthrough discoveries has stirred waves of exuberance from the scientific community. Carlos Frenk, of Britain's Durham University, exclaimed to reporters, "[It's] the most exciting thing that's happened in my life as a cosmologist." Cambridge University's Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, Stephen Hawking, a master of theoretical physics and of understatement, described just one of the several breakthroughs as "the discovery of the century, if not of all time." Michael Turner, University of Chicago and Fermilab astrophysicist, said researchers have found "the Holy Grail of cosmology."
What is this "holy grail" to which Turner refers? The answer is perhaps best stated by George Smoot, University of California at Berkeley astronomer and leader of one of the breakthrough projects: "What we have found is evidence of the birth of the universe. ... It's like looking at God." According to science historian Frederic B. Burnham, many scientists have suddenly come to consider God's creation of the universe "a more respectable hypothesis today than in any time in the last 100 years."
This set of discoveries brings cause for celebration not only among scientists, but also among Christians. There is substance here for encouraging our faith and for developing a more effective outreach to the unbelieving. God has revealed his glory in new and dramatic ways. Until April 1992, astronomers knew only of ordinary matter, the stuff that we and these pages are made of - protons, neutrons, electrons, and a small host of other fundamental particles that strongly interact with radiation. The stuff that researchers have just found evidence for is different. It is called "exotic" matter, for it does not strongly interact with radiation. The reason this discovery generated so much excitement among astrophysicists is that it constitutes a significant piece of the nearly completed puzzle of how the universe came to be. Perhaps another reason is that exotic matter actually makes up a sizable proportion (no less than 60 percent and maybe as much as 90 percent) of the matter in the universe.
Since 1990, astronomers had been certain that the universe must have erupted from some kind of extremely hot, extremely compact creation event. Evidence for this scenario came from measurements of the entropy of the universe. What is the connection between entropy and this cosmic big bang? Entropy describes how efficiently a system radiates energy and how inefficiently it performs work. A burning candle illustrates a highly entropic system. The candle is effective in radiating heat and light but relatively ineffective in propelling an engine or performing any other type of work. Physicists designate the entropy of a system by a number that indicates the amount of energy degradation per proton. A burning candle has a specific entropy measure of about two, and that is considered high. Compare that number with what astronomers have discovered about the universe. It has a specific entropy measure of one billion. Let the impact of that number sink in. Only an explosion can generate an entropy measure significantly higher than that of a candle. But none of the explosions produced by humans comes anywhere close to one billion. Only an explosion from an incomparably hot, incomparably compact source could generate such an enormous specific entropy.
But a troubling hitch remained in the big-bang creation models. The radiation left over from the creation event, radiation that permeates the cosmos, appears smoothly distributed throughout the cosmos. This smooth distribution would lead us to expect that matter, too, would be smoothly distributed. But as we see even with our naked eyes, it is not. Some radiation ripples have been found, but they are much too tiny to account for the clumpiness of matter. Matter is very clumpy. It is densely clumped in galaxies and galaxy clusters. If the radiation is so smoothly dispersed, why isn't the matter also smoothly distributed?
The discovery of evidence for the reality of exotic matter solved the problem. Since exotic matter only weakly interacts with radiation, it is free to clump under the influence of gravity, regardless of the distribution of the radiation. Once the exotic matter has clumped, it will gravitationally attract ordinary matter to it. Thus, the radiation from the creation event can be smoothly distributed while the galaxies and galaxy clusters are clumped - providing that the universe contains about three to ten times as much exotic matter as ordinary matter.
This ratio is exactly what researchers have found, and not just from one study, but from many. Several probes with the Hubble Space Telescope, two with the 400-inch Keck telescope, four with other ground-based telescopes, one with the Roentgen Satellite, and one with the Cosmic Background Explorer satellite all have measured evidence for exotic matter since April 1992. And the measurements all corroborate each other. This fitting together of various pieces of research, both theoretical and observational, is what thrilled the scientists. It is the kind of thing scientists dream of.
Solid evidence for the big-bang creation event has been available for some time, but because of their typical caution, most scientists have been reluctant to make public pronouncements. This narrowing in on a specific subset of big-bang models made possible by the solution to this matter mystery has finally pushed them to acknowledge the big bang with more certainty.
(Recently, many newspapers and news magazines have carried stories on how one group of scientists, while measuring the expansion of the universe, has demonstrated that the oldest stars are about twice as old as the cosmos. For a free article explaining the nature of these measurements and how the age of the oldest stars can be reconciled with the creation date of the universe, write Reasons to Believe, P.O. Box 5978, Pasadena, CA 91117).
THE BIG BANG AND JESUS CHRIST
But what does the big bang say about the existence of God - more specifically, the God of the Bible? Many Christians have been taught that the big bang contradicts their faith in the Creator. Such teaching must be based on a misunderstanding of the event and what it implies. Here is what a noted scientist, Geoffrey Burbidge, has to say on the subject. A few days after the initial detection of exotic matter, the University of California at San Diego astronomer loudly complained in a radio interview and to newspaper reporters that his colleagues were rushing off to join "the First Church of Christ of the Big Bang."
The scientific underpinning for correlating the big bang with Jesus Christ lies in a set of mathematical equations, the equations of general relativity. Albert Einstein, the developer of these equations, worked out some of the solutions to them between 1917 and 1930. To the surprise (and dismay) of many scientists, his solutions showed that the universe is expanding. It is expanding, and at the same time, its expansion is slowing down - losing steam, so to speak. What physical phenomenon is described by simultaneous expansion and deceleration? An explosion.
And if the universe is "exploding," there must have been a start and Starter to that explosion. As Genesis reveals, the universe had a beginning - hence, an Initiator, one who existed before and outside of the universe, as the Bible uniquely declares.
These results sent the scientific community, even Einstein, scrambling for loopholes. Many imaginative origins models were proposed and some ancient ones dredged up, but all fell apart as observational data accumulated. The only set of models that withstood the test of time and observations was the big bang set, based on general relativity.
In 1970, three British astrophysicists, George Ellis, Stephen Hawking, and Roger Penrose, took the solution of Einstein's equations a step further. These three developed the space-time theorems of general relativity. Their work showed that if general relativity truly describes the physical dynamics of the universe, not only did matter and energy have a finite beginning, but so did space (the dimensions of length, width, and height) and time have a beginning. Such a finding carried profound ramifications not only for cosmology, but also for theology.
The if attached to general relativity took on enormous importance. How firmly could general relativity be trusted? The confirming evidence was not quite strong enough in 1970 for astronomers to rest their weight confidently upon it and replace the if with since. By then, astronomers had determined the accuracy of general relativity only to the second place of the decimal (that is, 1 percent precision). The skeptics wanted a stronger limb to hold them, and they did not have to wait long. Thanks to the efforts of the NASA space program, confirmation to five places of the decimal (to 0.007 percent precision) was achieved in 1980. In 1993, Russell Hulse and Joseph Taylor received the Nobel Prize for Physics for their study confirming general relativity to one part in a hundred trillion.
Thus, with considerable confidence, astronomers now affirm to the theologians and anyone else interested that the cause of the universe resides beyond (thus, independent of) matter, energy, space, and time. How does this fact help us in identifying the Cause?
Of all the holy books of the world's religions, only the Bible unambiguously states that time is finite, that God created time, that God is capable of cause-and-effect operations apart from the universe's time dimension, and that God did cause many effects before the time component of our universe came to be.
Some holy books other than the Bible allude to extra-dimensional or trans-dimensional phenomena and to transcendent reality, but these allusions are vague and inconsistent - inconsistent with each other and with the facts of nature.
Only the God of the Bible is revealed as a personal Creator who can act independently of the cosmos and its space-time dimensions. The God of the Bible is neither subject to nor contained within the limits of our space and time. He is the one who brought these features of the cosmos into existence. And no other God besides the God of the Christian Bible claims attributes that defy explanation in the context of four dimensions. For example, only the biblical God is simultaneously singular and plural (a tri-unity) and simultaneously accommodates both humanity's freedom of choice and God's sovereign choice (that is, predetermination).
CREATION, SPACE, AND TIME
We can speak confidently of God's operating in dimensions beyond those we experience. Both Scripture and general relativity place the cause of the universe outside the time dimension of the universe. This placement tells us something about the Creator's relationship to time - and to us. Since time is that dimension in which cause-and-effect phenomena take place (according to the physicists' definition), and since the universe was caused from outside its own time dimension, the Creator must operate within at least two dimensions of time, or the equivalents thereof.Passages such as John 1:3 ("Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made"), John 17:24 ("You loved me before the creation of the world"), Ephesians 1:4, 2 Timothy 1:9, Titus 1:2, and Hebrews 11:3, among others, describe God's cause-and-effect activities before the beginning of time in our universe.
From particle physicists we learn that the events within the first split second of the universe's existence (literally within the first 10-10 second) require the existence of at least nine (and perhaps many more) dimensions of space.Powerful particle accelerators like the one at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois, enable scientists to re-create the extremely high temperatures that existed in the first split-second after the universe was created. Particle physicists can thereby observe how the four fundamental forces of physics emerged from three. They can get a glimpse of how the three emerged from two and a hint at how the two emerged from one. They have discovered many of the fundamental particles and building blocks of such particles that the emerging of forces, namely, unified field theory, predicts.
The discovery of the top quark (the last of the six building blocks of fundamental particles to be found), announced in April 1994, is a case in point. The only reasonable explanation for these observations and discoveries is that the universe experienced a collapse of dimensionality some time previous to the 10-34 second. Initially, the universe was composed of nine or more dimensions of space. But sometime between the moment of creation and the 10-34 second, six or more of these dimensions collapsed into infinitely small circles, leaving us with the fundamental forces of physics, fundamental particles, and the three dimensions of space we experience today. Since God controls the beginning, he controls all these dimensions, and his reality encompasses them all.
WORKING IN MULTI-DIMENSIONS
Now, we cannot say that God is limited by any dimensions since he is the Creator of these dimensions, but we can speculate how God might work through multi-dimensions when he interacts with his creation.Perhaps the Bible illustrates God's operation in extra dimensions of space when Jesus seemingly passes through the walls of the upper room after his bodily resurrection (Luke 24; John 20). We can understand this by speculating that Jesus' physical, post-resurrection body had access to at least a fourth, fifth, and sixth spatial dimension (dimensions we cannot possibly visualize, though they are undoubtedly real). It may be that he transferred his physical body into those dimensions, passed through the wall, then re-entered dimensions one, two, and three, wherein the disciples could see, hear, and touch him. He assured them they were not seeing a ghost.
Many difficult biblical doctrines over which we struggle now, truths we can only fully comprehend in that day when we "know as we are known," can be better understood, integrated, and embraced in light of this extra-dimensional reality. Our four-dimensional attempts to resolve them have led to needless strife and even bloodshed despite God's explicit statement that his ways are above our ways, and his thoughts above our thoughts. Such mysteries as salvation, the Trinity, and atonement clearly require dimensions of space and time beyond our own, or perhaps super dimensions that encompass space and time capacities.
How awesome to consider that God caused the big bang and all its components, including exotic matter and over 10 billion trillion stars, for the sake of knowing and being known by us in an eternal love relationship. The thought both reduces me to a speck of dust and lifts me up to the heavens.
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Hugh Ross, an astronomer, is the author of "The Fingerprint of God" (Promise, 1991), "The Creator and the Cosmos" (NavPress, 1993), and "Creation and Time" (NavPress, 1994). Dr. Ross is president of Reasons to Believe, a ministry founded to develop new tools for demonstrating the factual basis for faith in God and confidence in the accuracy of the Bible.
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Creator - Nobody Made It?
Many years ago Sir Isaac Newton had an exact replica of our solar system made in miniature. At its center was a large golden ball representing the sun, and revolving around it were small spheres attached at the ends of rods of varying lengths. They represented Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and the other planets. These were all geared together by cogs and belts to make them move around the "sun" in perfect harmony.
One day as Newton was studying the model, a friend who did not believe in the biblical account of creation stopped by for a visit. Marveling at the device and watching as the scientist made the heavenly bodies move on their orbits, the man exclaimed, "My, Newton, what an exquisite thing! Who made it for you?" Without looking up, Sir Isaac replied, "Nobody." "Nobody?" his friend asked. "That's right! I said nobody! All of these balls and cogs and belts and gears just happened to come together, and wonder of wonders, by chance they began revolving in their set orbits and with perfect timing."
The unbeliever got the message! It was foolish to suppose that the model merely happened. But it was even more senseless to accept the theory that the earth and the vast universe came into being by chance. How much more logical to believe what the Bible says, "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth." The Word also declares, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God". (Ps. 14:1)
See: Gen 1:1
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There is no God. All of the wonders around us are accidental. No almighty hand made a thousand billion stars. They made themselves. No power keeps them on their steady course. The earth spins itself to keep the oceans from falling off toward the sun. Infants teach themselves to cry when they are hungry or hurt. A small flower invented itself so that we could extract digitalis for sick hearts.
The earth gave itself day and night, tilted itself so that we get seasons. Without the magnetic poles man would be unable to navigate the trackless oceans of water and air, but they just grew there.
How about the sugar thermostat in the pancreas? It maintains a level of sugar in the blood sufficient for energy. Without it, all of us would fall into a coma and die.
Why does snow sit on mountain-tops waiting for the warm spring sun to melt it at just the right time for the young crops in farms below to drink? A very lovely accident.
The human heart will beat for 70 or 80 years without faltering. How does it get sufficient rest between beats? A kidney will filter poison from the blood, and leave good things alone. How does it know one from the other?
Who gave the human tongue flexibility to form words, and a brain to understand them, but denied it to all animals?
Who showed a womb how to take the love of two persons and keep splitting a tiny ovum until, in time, a baby would have the proper number of fingers, eyes and ears and hair in the right places, and come into the world when it is strong enough to sustain life?
There is no God?
-- 1966 by Jim Bishop, Miami Herald, July 27, 1987.
See: Psa 14:1
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This publicly funded attack on creation is only the latest effort in what has become an all-out campaign against the Creator. The vitriolic science writer Isaac Asimov, who has boasted, "I am an atheist, out and out. I don't have the evidence to prove that God doesn't exist, but I so strongly suspect he does not that I don't want to waste my time." (Context, June 15, 1982, p. 4, 5), in March sent out a long fund appeal letter for the American Civil Liberties Union, urging people to send money to help the ACLU fight creationism wherever it appears.
See: Psa 14:1; Rom 1:20
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Creator -- A Better Job
There's a story about a little girl who climbed up on the lap of great-grandmother and looked at her white hair and wrinkles and then asked, "Did God make you?"
"Yes," she said.
Then she asked, "Did God make me, too?"
Grandma said, "Yes."
"Well," said the little girl, "Don't you think He's doing a better job now than he used to?"
See: Gen 1:26-27
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Humaneness
One hundred fifty quail eggs, 715,000 crickets, 3,420 pounds of frozen blueberries, and 24,480 Hawaiian papayas.
That's some shopping list, even if it does cover the period of one year! Those items were included on the shopping list for the San Diego Zoo.
The 1985 food budget for the furry, feathered, and finned eaters was $519,904!
Zoo visitors who marvel at the rose-colored flamingos are probably unaware that a diet of shrimp and crayfish helps the birds maintain that color.
The lorikeet hatchlings are carefully raised in nursery cages. They have a diet of boiled rice gruel with chopped apples, soaked raisins, ground carrots, cane sugar, white bread, evaporated milk, and a protein-mineral concentrate.
Visiting animals from other countries require extra special care. Golden monkeys on loan from China eat poplar, elm, apricot, and mulberry leaves supplemented by eggplant, cucumbers, persimmons, beetle larvae, cod-liver oil, seven-grain bread, and yellow mud.
The koalas won't touch food that has fallen to the ground. Monkeys, of course, like bananas but they must be ripe and slightly brown.
The python, one of the world's largest reptiles, can, in one feeding, devour 20 large rats, three chickens, five rabbits, and two piglets.
Visitors cause trouble for the animals -- some, such as a Siberian tiger, worth thousands of dollars -- when they disregard warnings against feeding them! Necropsies (animal autopsies) have revealed safety pins, flashcubes, and other items provided by thoughtless visitors.
Diets of the animals are meticulously planned by a committee of nutritionists, veterinarians, physiologists, and pathologists.
The result is that, visitors notwithstanding, the zoo's animals probably eat more nutritiously than the humans who come to view them!
See: Gen 1:25
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Man - Created in God's Image
Helen Prejean, the nun whose experiences with death-row inmates led to the movie Dead Man Walking, talked recently about creativity:
"In creating, we imitate God. ... To be a creator is part of what it means to be a human being. I met a guy on death row in Arizona who had nothing. ... So he would unravel his socks and weave little necklaces with crosses out of the threads. The first time I visited another death-row inmate, he gave me a picture frame he'd made out of gum wrapper foils.
"These men were locked in a small cell 23 out of 24 hours a day; they had absolutely nothing, and still they were reaching out to create something of beauty and worth."
-- Inklings (Vol. 2, No. 3). Fresh Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching (Baker), from the editors of Leadership.
See: Ge 1:27; 1 Co 1:17; Jas 3:9.
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In The Beginning...
You Asked for It - Part 1
Sunday, July 20, 1997
Jim Ryan
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" Gen. 1:1
3 REASONS TO BELIEVE IN CREATION:
I. CREATION AFFIRMS OUR BELIEF IN A CREATOR.
"In the beginning GOD created..." Gen. 1:1
"...people try to put a shroud over truth. But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can't see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of His divine being. So nobody has a good excuse." Rom. 1:18-20
• Creation affirms God's glory. "The heavens declare the glory of God..." Psalm. 19:1.
• Creation affirms God's power. "By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God." Heb. 11:3
II. CREATION GIVES SIGNIFICANT VALUE TO HUMAN LIFE.
"Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness... So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." Gen. 1:26,27
"What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn't treat Him like God, refusing to worship Him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so there was neither sense nor direction in life. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life. They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in His hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand." Rom. 1:21-23
3 Ways A Creator Adds Value To Human Life.
•He gives us Value as we show Him.
•He gives us Purpose as we serve Him.
•He gives us Wisdom as we seek Him.
III. CREATION PROVIDES THE FOUNDATION FOR MORALITY.
"So God said, in effect, 'If that is what you want, that is what you get.' It wasn't long before they were living in a pigpen, smeared with filth, filthy inside and out, and all this because they traded the true God for a fake god and worshipped the god they made instead of the God who made them. Worse followed. Refusing to know God, they soon didn't know how to be human either."
3 Critical Effects Evolution Has On Morality:
It elevates Self Centerness.
It reduces Our Awareness of God.
It destroys Morality
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My Source: Seibles Road Bulletin, 27 February 2000- Montgomery, AL
Author: Winford Claiborne
#Evolution
DID MAN COME FROM THE SEA?
by Winford Claiborne
During the ceremonies celebrating the life of John F. Kennedy, Jr., his father was shown making these observations. "We all came from the sea. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea--whether it is to sail or to watch it--we are going back from whence we came" (President John F. Kennedy, 1962).
Many people who have not studied the theory of evolution may not know that what President Kennedy was saying. He may not even have realized the import of his statements. After all, President Kennedy was not a scholar. But he was affirming Darwin's theory of evolution. The microsopic creatures in the sea gradually began to develop into more complicated creatures until they eventually became human beings. The fact that no such development has ever been seen seems not to affect those who accept materialistic evolution. There is no fossil evidence, which sustains evolution. No experiments can demonstrate one phase of evolution. It is a theory based on the wishes, hopes, and imagination of those who prefer to live without God.
John F. Kennedy, Jr's body was cremated and then scattered over the ocean. His ashes were returned to the water very close to where he died. But no human being came from the sea. And the final destiny of man is not the sea. All the bodies which are in the ocean and in the earth are going to be raised for the final judgment. How foolish to speak of our coming from the sea and returning to it.
Long before Darwin invented his godless theory and long before John Kennedy was born, the word of God had given man the only reliable information about his origin and destiny. "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created hi him; male and female created he them" (Gen 1:27). The Son of God completely endorsed the Genesis account of creation (Mt 19:4). The book of Ecclesiastes tells us that man's body returns to the earth, but "the spirit shall return to God who have it" (Eccl 12:7). Jesus promised his followers: "in my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you... That where I am there you may be also" (Jn 14:2-3). Is any theory more degrading to human beings than to affirm that we came from the sea and we are gong back to the sea? If we convince our children and young people that they are nothing more than slime from the sea, how can we expect them to act with "dignity and responsibility"?
(This was taken from an article in the West Fayetteville church of Christ bulletin. It was written by brother Winford Claiborne, the Director and Speaker of the International Gospel Hour).
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Justin Rogers – Evolution and Genesis 1—Does the Hebrew Language Allow for Evolution?
What is the Gap Creationism Theory? This lesson will begin a review of various alternative interpretations of the creation portion of the book of Genesis.
Problems with the Day/Age Theory. In this section we will examine another attempt to harmonize the Evolution theory with the Creation story in the Bible.
Day #2 and #3 The lesson describes the creation of the "heavens" and the peculiar atmosphere that existed in the pre-flood era.
Day #3 and #4
Day #5
Day #6 The Creation of Man. This lesson examines the Divine Council and the similarities between the natures of God and man.
God's Rest and Man's Creation. This lesson continues to describe in greater detail the creation of human beings as well as the nature of the "rest" God takes after His creative activity.
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Discovery Bible Study
ThanksWhat happened last week for which you are thankful?
Intercession
What challenges do you see in your life? Family? World?
Accountability
How did you apply, share and follow up from our last meeting?
Genesis 1:1-2:3
READ THE PASSAGE
Re-Read the scripture above in an easy to read versionRe-tell in your own words.
Consider The Details
Application Summary: Change begins with me. I need to be the change I want to see. Any revolution I want to see in our church and/or society begins with me!
He is...
What do we learn about God in the text?
Light and Darkness in the Old Testament
At the heart of Old Testament’s symbolic use of light and darkness is the connection the text makes between light and the personal presence of God, and darkness as all that opposes God. This link begins as early as Gen 1:2, where God creates light to serve as a boundary to darkness. Here light is not only instantly linked to God’s presence but also institutes time and order over the chaos of the formless void (Walton, “Creation,” 59). God creates a functioning, orderly environment for people, and the creation of stars gives humanity seasons and cycles of time by which to order their lives (Gen 1). The link of light with the Creator also acts as a symbolic tie between light and life. If light symbolizes God’s presence, and God is the author of life, then surely where God is, life abounds (Gen 1:3 and following; Job 3:16; 33:28; Psa 56:13).
Psalms – Over 30 times light is used to describe God’s presence with us. (Psalm 119:105)
We are ...
What do we learn about people after reading?
- Darkness is a problem.
- You are the light of the world. Matthew 5;
- Jesus is the Light of the world. John 8:12
- Revelation 21: “Glory of the Lord”
If God’s presence is light and life, then opposition to Him brings darkness and death (Deut 28:28; Job 18:5; 38:4–15; Psa 49:18–19; Jer 13:16; Amos 5:18). If condemnation and death are spoken of as darkness (Job 10:22), then salvation from these evils is also spoken in terms of light (Psa 27:1). Thus also God Himself (His presence) becomes a light leading a person out of darkness, toward salvation (Psa 18:28; 43:3; Isa 10:17; 42:16; Mic 7:8). The tone of confidence that pervades these passages demonstrates that there is no doubt that God’s presence as light will conquer and even eliminate the darkness. Old Testament prophecies of the ultimate restoration of God’s people are full of the language of light and dawn (e.g., Isa 60:1–3; Ezek 43:2, 5).
I will ...
What has the Holy Spirit revealed to you in this passage? How will you apply it to your life this week?
- How can we be “light” like God in this world?
- God’s Word enlightens our path (Psalm 119:105)
- God can turn darkness into light (Isaiah 42:16)
- Christians are the light of the world (Matthew 5:14)
- Jesus is the Light of the World (John 8:12)
- Light shines in the hearts of Christians (2 Corinthians 4:6)
- Christians are children of light (Ephesians 5:8)
You can ...
Who do you know who needs to hear this?
Service
How can we help with a challenge you're facing?
Light
The Bible has a good deal to say about light. The first chapter of Genesis speaks of it—Gen. 1:3, and so does the last chapter of Revelation—Rev. 22:5. Light is the symbol of holiness and truth, hence "God is Light" (1 John 1:5). Let us look at light as applied to God's children in the Epistles.
1. Our Enlightenment. "God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. 4:6). The darkness of sin's condemnation, control and, contamination is taken away by knowing Christ as our Saviour.
2. Our Environment. "Called you out of darkness into His marvelous light" (1 Peter 2:9). The sphere into which we have been brought, and in which we are to move, is the "all things that pertain unto life and godliness" (2 Peter 1:3), and of grace—Rom. 5:2.
3. Our Enduement. "Now are ye light in the Lord" (Eph. 5:8). Being in the light, we have all the privileges of the position, and among them is the power of the Holy Spirit.
4. Oar Employment. "Walk as children of light" (Eph. 5:8). The believer's life, wherever lived, has to be in correspondence to his position.
5. Our Enjoyment. "If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another" (1 John 1:7). There is no peace, power, nor joy, so long as we are out of the orbit of the Lord's presence; but remaining there they are all found.
6. Our Equipment. "The armor of light" (Rom. 13:12). Christ is the Armour of Light. When He stands between us and any foe we are sure of victory.
7. Our Ennoblement. "Made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light" (Col. 1:12). The Lord has ennobled us in making us His children, and sufficient for the heavenly inheritance.
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Cosmology's Holy Grail By Hugh Ross
Author: Hugh Ross
Date: 12/12/94
Copyright (c) 1994 Christianity Today, Inc./CHRISTIANITY TODAY Magazine
Text: Gen 1, Gen 2, Job 9:1-12, Job 38, Job 39, Ps 8:1-9, Ps 19:1-6, Ps 148, Isa 40:26*, Isa 42:5, Isa 45:8-18, Acts 14:15, Rom 1:20, 1 Cor 13:9-12, Eph 3:9, Col 1:16, Rev 4:11
How recent scientific breakthroughs are helping us see Creation in a new way.
In the past two years, a set of breakthrough discoveries has stirred waves of exuberance from the scientific community. Carlos Frenk, of Britain's Durham University, exclaimed to reporters, "[It's] the most exciting thing that's happened in my life as a cosmologist." Cambridge University's Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, Stephen Hawking, a master of theoretical physics and of understatement, described just one of the several breakthroughs as "the discovery of the century, if not of all time." Michael Turner, University of Chicago and Fermilab astrophysicist, said researchers have found "the Holy Grail of cosmology."
What is this "holy grail" to which Turner refers? The answer is perhaps best stated by George Smoot, University of California at Berkeley astronomer and leader of one of the breakthrough projects: "What we have found is evidence of the birth of the universe. ... It's like looking at God." According to science historian Frederic B. Burnham, many scientists have suddenly come to consider God's creation of the universe "a more respectable hypothesis today than in any time in the last 100 years."
This set of discoveries brings cause for celebration not only among scientists, but also among Christians. There is substance here for encouraging our faith and for developing a more effective outreach to the unbelieving. God has revealed his glory in new and dramatic ways. Until April 1992, astronomers knew only of ordinary matter, the stuff that we and these pages are made of - protons, neutrons, electrons, and a small host of other fundamental particles that strongly interact with radiation. The stuff that researchers have just found evidence for is different. It is called "exotic" matter, for it does not strongly interact with radiation. The reason this discovery generated so much excitement among astrophysicists is that it constitutes a significant piece of the nearly completed puzzle of how the universe came to be. Perhaps another reason is that exotic matter actually makes up a sizable proportion (no less than 60 percent and maybe as much as 90 percent) of the matter in the universe.
Since 1990, astronomers had been certain that the universe must have erupted from some kind of extremely hot, extremely compact creation event. Evidence for this scenario came from measurements of the entropy of the universe. What is the connection between entropy and this cosmic big bang? Entropy describes how efficiently a system radiates energy and how inefficiently it performs work. A burning candle illustrates a highly entropic system. The candle is effective in radiating heat and light but relatively ineffective in propelling an engine or performing any other type of work. Physicists designate the entropy of a system by a number that indicates the amount of energy degradation per proton. A burning candle has a specific entropy measure of about two, and that is considered high. Compare that number with what astronomers have discovered about the universe. It has a specific entropy measure of one billion. Let the impact of that number sink in. Only an explosion can generate an entropy measure significantly higher than that of a candle. But none of the explosions produced by humans comes anywhere close to one billion. Only an explosion from an incomparably hot, incomparably compact source could generate such an enormous specific entropy.
But a troubling hitch remained in the big-bang creation models. The radiation left over from the creation event, radiation that permeates the cosmos, appears smoothly distributed throughout the cosmos. This smooth distribution would lead us to expect that matter, too, would be smoothly distributed. But as we see even with our naked eyes, it is not. Some radiation ripples have been found, but they are much too tiny to account for the clumpiness of matter. Matter is very clumpy. It is densely clumped in galaxies and galaxy clusters. If the radiation is so smoothly dispersed, why isn't the matter also smoothly distributed?
The discovery of evidence for the reality of exotic matter solved the problem. Since exotic matter only weakly interacts with radiation, it is free to clump under the influence of gravity, regardless of the distribution of the radiation. Once the exotic matter has clumped, it will gravitationally attract ordinary matter to it. Thus, the radiation from the creation event can be smoothly distributed while the galaxies and galaxy clusters are clumped - providing that the universe contains about three to ten times as much exotic matter as ordinary matter.
This ratio is exactly what researchers have found, and not just from one study, but from many. Several probes with the Hubble Space Telescope, two with the 400-inch Keck telescope, four with other ground-based telescopes, one with the Roentgen Satellite, and one with the Cosmic Background Explorer satellite all have measured evidence for exotic matter since April 1992. And the measurements all corroborate each other. This fitting together of various pieces of research, both theoretical and observational, is what thrilled the scientists. It is the kind of thing scientists dream of.
Solid evidence for the big-bang creation event has been available for some time, but because of their typical caution, most scientists have been reluctant to make public pronouncements. This narrowing in on a specific subset of big-bang models made possible by the solution to this matter mystery has finally pushed them to acknowledge the big bang with more certainty.
(Recently, many newspapers and news magazines have carried stories on how one group of scientists, while measuring the expansion of the universe, has demonstrated that the oldest stars are about twice as old as the cosmos. For a free article explaining the nature of these measurements and how the age of the oldest stars can be reconciled with the creation date of the universe, write Reasons to Believe, P.O. Box 5978, Pasadena, CA 91117).
THE BIG BANG AND JESUS CHRIST
But what does the big bang say about the existence of God - more specifically, the God of the Bible? Many Christians have been taught that the big bang contradicts their faith in the Creator. Such teaching must be based on a misunderstanding of the event and what it implies. Here is what a noted scientist, Geoffrey Burbidge, has to say on the subject. A few days after the initial detection of exotic matter, the University of California at San Diego astronomer loudly complained in a radio interview and to newspaper reporters that his colleagues were rushing off to join "the First Church of Christ of the Big Bang."
The scientific underpinning for correlating the big bang with Jesus Christ lies in a set of mathematical equations, the equations of general relativity. Albert Einstein, the developer of these equations, worked out some of the solutions to them between 1917 and 1930. To the surprise (and dismay) of many scientists, his solutions showed that the universe is expanding. It is expanding, and at the same time, its expansion is slowing down - losing steam, so to speak. What physical phenomenon is described by simultaneous expansion and deceleration? An explosion.
And if the universe is "exploding," there must have been a start and Starter to that explosion. As Genesis reveals, the universe had a beginning - hence, an Initiator, one who existed before and outside of the universe, as the Bible uniquely declares.
These results sent the scientific community, even Einstein, scrambling for loopholes. Many imaginative origins models were proposed and some ancient ones dredged up, but all fell apart as observational data accumulated. The only set of models that withstood the test of time and observations was the big bang set, based on general relativity.
In 1970, three British astrophysicists, George Ellis, Stephen Hawking, and Roger Penrose, took the solution of Einstein's equations a step further. These three developed the space-time theorems of general relativity. Their work showed that if general relativity truly describes the physical dynamics of the universe, not only did matter and energy have a finite beginning, but so did space (the dimensions of length, width, and height) and time have a beginning. Such a finding carried profound ramifications not only for cosmology, but also for theology.
The if attached to general relativity took on enormous importance. How firmly could general relativity be trusted? The confirming evidence was not quite strong enough in 1970 for astronomers to rest their weight confidently upon it and replace the if with since. By then, astronomers had determined the accuracy of general relativity only to the second place of the decimal (that is, 1 percent precision). The skeptics wanted a stronger limb to hold them, and they did not have to wait long. Thanks to the efforts of the NASA space program, confirmation to five places of the decimal (to 0.007 percent precision) was achieved in 1980. In 1993, Russell Hulse and Joseph Taylor received the Nobel Prize for Physics for their study confirming general relativity to one part in a hundred trillion.
Thus, with considerable confidence, astronomers now affirm to the theologians and anyone else interested that the cause of the universe resides beyond (thus, independent of) matter, energy, space, and time. How does this fact help us in identifying the Cause?
Of all the holy books of the world's religions, only the Bible unambiguously states that time is finite, that God created time, that God is capable of cause-and-effect operations apart from the universe's time dimension, and that God did cause many effects before the time component of our universe came to be.
Some holy books other than the Bible allude to extra-dimensional or trans-dimensional phenomena and to transcendent reality, but these allusions are vague and inconsistent - inconsistent with each other and with the facts of nature.
Only the God of the Bible is revealed as a personal Creator who can act independently of the cosmos and its space-time dimensions. The God of the Bible is neither subject to nor contained within the limits of our space and time. He is the one who brought these features of the cosmos into existence. And no other God besides the God of the Christian Bible claims attributes that defy explanation in the context of four dimensions. For example, only the biblical God is simultaneously singular and plural (a tri-unity) and simultaneously accommodates both humanity's freedom of choice and God's sovereign choice (that is, predetermination).
CREATION, SPACE, AND TIME
We can speak confidently of God's operating in dimensions beyond those we experience. Both Scripture and general relativity place the cause of the universe outside the time dimension of the universe. This placement tells us something about the Creator's relationship to time - and to us. Since time is that dimension in which cause-and-effect phenomena take place (according to the physicists' definition), and since the universe was caused from outside its own time dimension, the Creator must operate within at least two dimensions of time, or the equivalents thereof.Passages such as John 1:3 ("Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made"), John 17:24 ("You loved me before the creation of the world"), Ephesians 1:4, 2 Timothy 1:9, Titus 1:2, and Hebrews 11:3, among others, describe God's cause-and-effect activities before the beginning of time in our universe.
From particle physicists we learn that the events within the first split second of the universe's existence (literally within the first 10-10 second) require the existence of at least nine (and perhaps many more) dimensions of space.Powerful particle accelerators like the one at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois, enable scientists to re-create the extremely high temperatures that existed in the first split-second after the universe was created. Particle physicists can thereby observe how the four fundamental forces of physics emerged from three. They can get a glimpse of how the three emerged from two and a hint at how the two emerged from one. They have discovered many of the fundamental particles and building blocks of such particles that the emerging of forces, namely, unified field theory, predicts.
The discovery of the top quark (the last of the six building blocks of fundamental particles to be found), announced in April 1994, is a case in point. The only reasonable explanation for these observations and discoveries is that the universe experienced a collapse of dimensionality some time previous to the 10-34 second. Initially, the universe was composed of nine or more dimensions of space. But sometime between the moment of creation and the 10-34 second, six or more of these dimensions collapsed into infinitely small circles, leaving us with the fundamental forces of physics, fundamental particles, and the three dimensions of space we experience today. Since God controls the beginning, he controls all these dimensions, and his reality encompasses them all.
WORKING IN MULTI-DIMENSIONS
Now, we cannot say that God is limited by any dimensions since he is the Creator of these dimensions, but we can speculate how God might work through multi-dimensions when he interacts with his creation.Perhaps the Bible illustrates God's operation in extra dimensions of space when Jesus seemingly passes through the walls of the upper room after his bodily resurrection (Luke 24; John 20). We can understand this by speculating that Jesus' physical, post-resurrection body had access to at least a fourth, fifth, and sixth spatial dimension (dimensions we cannot possibly visualize, though they are undoubtedly real). It may be that he transferred his physical body into those dimensions, passed through the wall, then re-entered dimensions one, two, and three, wherein the disciples could see, hear, and touch him. He assured them they were not seeing a ghost.
Many difficult biblical doctrines over which we struggle now, truths we can only fully comprehend in that day when we "know as we are known," can be better understood, integrated, and embraced in light of this extra-dimensional reality. Our four-dimensional attempts to resolve them have led to needless strife and even bloodshed despite God's explicit statement that his ways are above our ways, and his thoughts above our thoughts. Such mysteries as salvation, the Trinity, and atonement clearly require dimensions of space and time beyond our own, or perhaps super dimensions that encompass space and time capacities.
How awesome to consider that God caused the big bang and all its components, including exotic matter and over 10 billion trillion stars, for the sake of knowing and being known by us in an eternal love relationship. The thought both reduces me to a speck of dust and lifts me up to the heavens.
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Hugh Ross, an astronomer, is the author of "The Fingerprint of God" (Promise, 1991), "The Creator and the Cosmos" (NavPress, 1993), and "Creation and Time" (NavPress, 1994). Dr. Ross is president of Reasons to Believe, a ministry founded to develop new tools for demonstrating the factual basis for faith in God and confidence in the accuracy of the Bible.
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Creator - Nobody Made It?
Many years ago Sir Isaac Newton had an exact replica of our solar system made in miniature. At its center was a large golden ball representing the sun, and revolving around it were small spheres attached at the ends of rods of varying lengths. They represented Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and the other planets. These were all geared together by cogs and belts to make them move around the "sun" in perfect harmony.
One day as Newton was studying the model, a friend who did not believe in the biblical account of creation stopped by for a visit. Marveling at the device and watching as the scientist made the heavenly bodies move on their orbits, the man exclaimed, "My, Newton, what an exquisite thing! Who made it for you?" Without looking up, Sir Isaac replied, "Nobody." "Nobody?" his friend asked. "That's right! I said nobody! All of these balls and cogs and belts and gears just happened to come together, and wonder of wonders, by chance they began revolving in their set orbits and with perfect timing."
The unbeliever got the message! It was foolish to suppose that the model merely happened. But it was even more senseless to accept the theory that the earth and the vast universe came into being by chance. How much more logical to believe what the Bible says, "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth." The Word also declares, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God". (Ps. 14:1)
See: Gen 1:1
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There is no God. All of the wonders around us are accidental. No almighty hand made a thousand billion stars. They made themselves. No power keeps them on their steady course. The earth spins itself to keep the oceans from falling off toward the sun. Infants teach themselves to cry when they are hungry or hurt. A small flower invented itself so that we could extract digitalis for sick hearts.
The earth gave itself day and night, tilted itself so that we get seasons. Without the magnetic poles man would be unable to navigate the trackless oceans of water and air, but they just grew there.
How about the sugar thermostat in the pancreas? It maintains a level of sugar in the blood sufficient for energy. Without it, all of us would fall into a coma and die.
Why does snow sit on mountain-tops waiting for the warm spring sun to melt it at just the right time for the young crops in farms below to drink? A very lovely accident.
The human heart will beat for 70 or 80 years without faltering. How does it get sufficient rest between beats? A kidney will filter poison from the blood, and leave good things alone. How does it know one from the other?
Who gave the human tongue flexibility to form words, and a brain to understand them, but denied it to all animals?
Who showed a womb how to take the love of two persons and keep splitting a tiny ovum until, in time, a baby would have the proper number of fingers, eyes and ears and hair in the right places, and come into the world when it is strong enough to sustain life?
There is no God?
-- 1966 by Jim Bishop, Miami Herald, July 27, 1987.
See: Psa 14:1
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This publicly funded attack on creation is only the latest effort in what has become an all-out campaign against the Creator. The vitriolic science writer Isaac Asimov, who has boasted, "I am an atheist, out and out. I don't have the evidence to prove that God doesn't exist, but I so strongly suspect he does not that I don't want to waste my time." (Context, June 15, 1982, p. 4, 5), in March sent out a long fund appeal letter for the American Civil Liberties Union, urging people to send money to help the ACLU fight creationism wherever it appears.
See: Psa 14:1; Rom 1:20
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Creator -- A Better Job
There's a story about a little girl who climbed up on the lap of great-grandmother and looked at her white hair and wrinkles and then asked, "Did God make you?"
"Yes," she said.
Then she asked, "Did God make me, too?"
Grandma said, "Yes."
"Well," said the little girl, "Don't you think He's doing a better job now than he used to?"
See: Gen 1:26-27
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Humaneness
One hundred fifty quail eggs, 715,000 crickets, 3,420 pounds of frozen blueberries, and 24,480 Hawaiian papayas.
That's some shopping list, even if it does cover the period of one year! Those items were included on the shopping list for the San Diego Zoo.
The 1985 food budget for the furry, feathered, and finned eaters was $519,904!
Zoo visitors who marvel at the rose-colored flamingos are probably unaware that a diet of shrimp and crayfish helps the birds maintain that color.
The lorikeet hatchlings are carefully raised in nursery cages. They have a diet of boiled rice gruel with chopped apples, soaked raisins, ground carrots, cane sugar, white bread, evaporated milk, and a protein-mineral concentrate.
Visiting animals from other countries require extra special care. Golden monkeys on loan from China eat poplar, elm, apricot, and mulberry leaves supplemented by eggplant, cucumbers, persimmons, beetle larvae, cod-liver oil, seven-grain bread, and yellow mud.
The koalas won't touch food that has fallen to the ground. Monkeys, of course, like bananas but they must be ripe and slightly brown.
The python, one of the world's largest reptiles, can, in one feeding, devour 20 large rats, three chickens, five rabbits, and two piglets.
Visitors cause trouble for the animals -- some, such as a Siberian tiger, worth thousands of dollars -- when they disregard warnings against feeding them! Necropsies (animal autopsies) have revealed safety pins, flashcubes, and other items provided by thoughtless visitors.
Diets of the animals are meticulously planned by a committee of nutritionists, veterinarians, physiologists, and pathologists.
The result is that, visitors notwithstanding, the zoo's animals probably eat more nutritiously than the humans who come to view them!
See: Gen 1:25
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Man - Created in God's Image
Helen Prejean, the nun whose experiences with death-row inmates led to the movie Dead Man Walking, talked recently about creativity:
"In creating, we imitate God. ... To be a creator is part of what it means to be a human being. I met a guy on death row in Arizona who had nothing. ... So he would unravel his socks and weave little necklaces with crosses out of the threads. The first time I visited another death-row inmate, he gave me a picture frame he'd made out of gum wrapper foils.
"These men were locked in a small cell 23 out of 24 hours a day; they had absolutely nothing, and still they were reaching out to create something of beauty and worth."
-- Inklings (Vol. 2, No. 3). Fresh Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching (Baker), from the editors of Leadership.
See: Ge 1:27; 1 Co 1:17; Jas 3:9.
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In The Beginning...
You Asked for It - Part 1
Sunday, July 20, 1997
Jim Ryan
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" Gen. 1:1
3 REASONS TO BELIEVE IN CREATION:
I. CREATION AFFIRMS OUR BELIEF IN A CREATOR.
"In the beginning GOD created..." Gen. 1:1
"...people try to put a shroud over truth. But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can't see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of His divine being. So nobody has a good excuse." Rom. 1:18-20
• Creation affirms God's glory. "The heavens declare the glory of God..." Psalm. 19:1.
• Creation affirms God's power. "By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God." Heb. 11:3
II. CREATION GIVES SIGNIFICANT VALUE TO HUMAN LIFE.
"Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness... So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." Gen. 1:26,27
"What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn't treat Him like God, refusing to worship Him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so there was neither sense nor direction in life. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life. They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in His hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand." Rom. 1:21-23
3 Ways A Creator Adds Value To Human Life.
•He gives us Value as we show Him.
•He gives us Purpose as we serve Him.
•He gives us Wisdom as we seek Him.
III. CREATION PROVIDES THE FOUNDATION FOR MORALITY.
"So God said, in effect, 'If that is what you want, that is what you get.' It wasn't long before they were living in a pigpen, smeared with filth, filthy inside and out, and all this because they traded the true God for a fake god and worshipped the god they made instead of the God who made them. Worse followed. Refusing to know God, they soon didn't know how to be human either."
3 Critical Effects Evolution Has On Morality:
It elevates Self Centerness.
It reduces Our Awareness of God.
It destroys Morality
********************
My Source: Seibles Road Bulletin, 27 February 2000- Montgomery, AL
Author: Winford Claiborne
#Evolution
DID MAN COME FROM THE SEA?
by Winford Claiborne
During the ceremonies celebrating the life of John F. Kennedy, Jr., his father was shown making these observations. "We all came from the sea. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea--whether it is to sail or to watch it--we are going back from whence we came" (President John F. Kennedy, 1962).
Many people who have not studied the theory of evolution may not know that what President Kennedy was saying. He may not even have realized the import of his statements. After all, President Kennedy was not a scholar. But he was affirming Darwin's theory of evolution. The microsopic creatures in the sea gradually began to develop into more complicated creatures until they eventually became human beings. The fact that no such development has ever been seen seems not to affect those who accept materialistic evolution. There is no fossil evidence, which sustains evolution. No experiments can demonstrate one phase of evolution. It is a theory based on the wishes, hopes, and imagination of those who prefer to live without God.
John F. Kennedy, Jr's body was cremated and then scattered over the ocean. His ashes were returned to the water very close to where he died. But no human being came from the sea. And the final destiny of man is not the sea. All the bodies which are in the ocean and in the earth are going to be raised for the final judgment. How foolish to speak of our coming from the sea and returning to it.
Long before Darwin invented his godless theory and long before John Kennedy was born, the word of God had given man the only reliable information about his origin and destiny. "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created hi him; male and female created he them" (Gen 1:27). The Son of God completely endorsed the Genesis account of creation (Mt 19:4). The book of Ecclesiastes tells us that man's body returns to the earth, but "the spirit shall return to God who have it" (Eccl 12:7). Jesus promised his followers: "in my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you... That where I am there you may be also" (Jn 14:2-3). Is any theory more degrading to human beings than to affirm that we came from the sea and we are gong back to the sea? If we convince our children and young people that they are nothing more than slime from the sea, how can we expect them to act with "dignity and responsibility"?
(This was taken from an article in the West Fayetteville church of Christ bulletin. It was written by brother Winford Claiborne, the Director and Speaker of the International Gospel Hour).
************
Sermon in Big Questions Series. Darwinian evolution. Genesis 1:20-26
======================
CREATION OR EVOLUTION?
======================
I. Did God really create everything?
II. Inner tensions.
A. Truth of Bible - but Science also tries to establish truth.
B. Some Christians have made dumb statements concerning science.
C. Faith and facts.
III. A theory that has changed the world.
A. The voyage of the "Beagle" in 1859.
B. Theory took society by storm.
C. Unintended consequences.
IV. Problems with Darwinism.
A. Improbability of random mutations.
B. The "missing links" are still missing.
C. Macro or micro?
V. Varieties of Creationism.
A. Theistic evolution.
B. Young earth creationism.
C. Ancient earth creationism.*
VI. People are special.
A. Darwinianism and the human animal.
B. Bible is adamant that humans are special.
C. Are you related to your Creator?
=========================
Text: Gen 1, Gen 2, Gen 17:8, Exod 29:45, Ps 8:1-3, Ps 19:1-6, Isa 7:14, Jer 24:7, Jer 31:33, Jer 32:38, Ezek 11:20, Ezek 14:11, Ezek 37:27, Matt 1:23, John 3:16, Rom 1:20, Rev 21:3
Never again are we to look at the stars, as we did when we were children,
and wonder how far it is to God. A being outside our world would be a
spectator, looking on but taking no part in this life, where we try to be
brave despite all the bafflement. A God who created, and withdrew, could be
mighty, but he could not be love. Who could love a God remote, when suffering
is our lot? Our God is closer than our problems, for they are out there, to
be faced; He is here, beside us, Emmanuel.
... Joseph E. McCabe, Handel's Messiah
=================
TOP TEN REASONS GOD CREATED EVE (written by Eve of course)
10. God worried that Adam would always be lost in the garden because men hate to ask for directions.
9. God knew that Adam would one day need someone to hand him the TV remote. (Men don't want to see what's ON television, they want to see WHAT ELSE is on!)
8. God knew that Adam would never buy a new fig leaf when his seat wore out and would therefore need Eve to get one for him.
7. God knew that Adam would never make a doctor's appointment for himself.
6. God knew that Adam would never remember which day was garbage day.
5. God knew that if the world was to be populated, men would never be able to handle childbearing.
4. As "Keeper of the Garden," Adam would never remember where he put his tools.
3. The scripture account of creation indicates Adam needed someone to blame his troubles on when God caught him hiding in the garden.
2. As the Bible says, "It is not good for man to be alone!"
1. When God finished the creation of Adam, He stepped back, scratched His head and said, "I can do better than that."
It's interesting that the only time that God said, "It is not good" during His creation was when man was alone. I thank God for his wisdom in creating such a perfect complement to man (despite everything they do to irritate us! :-)
"Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And Adam said: 'This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.' Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh." (Genesis 2:22-24).
If you're married, I encourage you to take a moment today to remind your wife (or husband) how much she/he means to you. They never get tired of hearing it!
Have a great day!
====================
BASEBALL IN THE BIBLE -By Glenn Atly Crafts-
'In the Big Inning' (Genesis 1:1)
'Thou shalt make a plate...' (Exodus 28:36)
'Who catcheth ...' (Lev. 17:13)
'Samson went and caught...' (Judges 15:14)
'Joshua did pitch...' (Joshua 4:20)
'Who hath first...' (Romans 11:35)
'The field I give thee...' (Genesis 23:11) '...they were in the field.' (Genesis 4:8)
'It will be foul...' (Matthew 21:30)
'Thou art fair...' (Songs of Solomon 1:15)
'He came to second... (Matthew 21:30) 'Likewise...and the third' (Matthew 22:36)
'Haman came Home' (Ester 5:10)
'is safe'.....(Proverbs 18:10)
'Pitch it within and without...' (Genesis 6:14)
'I caught him' (1 Samuel 17:35)
'Ye have erred' (Numbers 15:22) 'Neither say it was an error' (Ecclesiastes 5:6)
'Shall we sacrifice...?' (Exodus 8:26) 'Make a sacrifice...' (Numbers 15:3)
Wherefore didst thou steal...? (Genesis 31:27)
'Everyone that stealeth shall be cut off...' (Zechariah 5:3)
===========================
Creation versus Evolution
by Joe Knox, June 16, 1998
The establishment teaches us that we came into existence by random chance. Is that true? The Holy Bible teaches us that "God created man in his own image." (Genesis 1:27). Can both statements be true? No, lets face it. Both statements cannot be true. If one is true, the other has to be false.
So where do we go from here? Let us scrutinize the theory of evolution. First the law of entropy (the second law of thermodynamics) is a verifiable fact, not a theory. It states that matter (in general) disarranges itself. Of its own volition it has no tendency to form any sort of order; instead it meanders into chaos. Ok? The theory of evolution proposes that life on planet earth came into existence by random chance (contrary to the law of entropy) some time in the past. However, the probability of even a single protein molecule coming into existence by random chance is so small that it would take several pages of zeros to write out a number that would represent the smallness of that probability. Pretty small chance, right? So the probability that a single living cell, complete with DNA, RNA, protoplasm, nucleus, etc. is vastly smaller yet. Likewise, for an organism with not only cells but specialized tissues composing organs, operational systems (endocrine, nervous, digestive, skeletal, circulatory, respiratory, excretory, etc.) all made to function in concert is yet, a vastly smaller probability. Since human beings have minds capable of memory, creativity, taste, deductive and inductive reasoning, the probability of life happening by accident is vastly smaller yet.
This is getting to be a torturous stretch of logic and we have not even mentioned man's ability to reproduce after his own kind, as is the case with thousands of other species; Or his ability to create technologies, infrastructures, social and economic systems, art forms, cultures, etc. So how can anybody seriously believe that our existence occurred by random chance?
The theorists of evolution state that the world has existed for billions of years; and that the possibility of our random-chance existence is increased by this extremely long period.
So, at this point can we correctly state that unless the world has been here for an astronomical length of time evolution does not have a shred of a chance of being true? I think so!
So how long has the world as we know it existed? There is a gully in front of my house. That gully is about ten feet deep, as water flows through it a few times each year and washes it deeper. If we were to assume that it washes, say, 1/1000th of an inch deeper each year (a very conservative estimate). It is now 10 feet deep, then it can have been washing deeper at that rate for [10 feet divided by 1/1000], or 10,000 years. 10,000 years? That is very different from the billions of years we need to validate the theory of evolution.
But that was just one example; so how about another one? Ok. The spin of the earth is gradually slowing. Research scientists have calculated that the earth can have been slowing at the rate that it is for no more than 10,000 years; and that if the earth had slowed uniformly at its present rate for the last billion years, it would have already stopped; or else it would have had to have spun so fast at one time that it would have spun itself into the shape of a pancake -- 40 miles thick.
Research scientists have made similar calculations with similar results dating the earth as we know it as being between 5000-11000 years old. These calculations use:
The amount of sediment in the Gulf of Mexico and the rate that sediment flows into it
The rate of decay of the earth's magnetic field
The rate at which the earth is cooling
The amount of cosmic dust in the ocean floors and the rate at which that dust is falling into the oceans
The amount of cosmic dust on the moon (a couple of inches) and the rate at which that dust is falling onto the moon
The age of the oldest trees in the world
The content of many substances such as nitrates and uranium in the oceans and the rates at which those contents are increasing.
And several more such calculations . . .
But what about fossils dug up that supposedly suggest a vastly longer time span of the earth? They generally rely on Carbon-14 dating; which is now invalidated. Robert Whitelaw, a nuclear consultant and Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, states that the C-14 itself has existed for some 5,600 to 11,200 years, and that the dating method is accurate to about 4,500 years ago.
Well then, what about petroleum? Hasn't it been in the ground for millions of years? Not necessarily; petroleum has been made from garbage in less than one day.
All right then, if evolution is a false theory where did we come from? Let us get basic. Why is it that a seed in the ground can germinate during the last few days before a full moon, but not for several days after the full moon? To answer that question we need to take a lesson from Quantum Physics: matter is created from energy; when a seed germinates, matter is created, in a phase with about forty-nine electromagnetic vectors, powerful lines of force, that continuously change according to the paths of the moon, sun, planets, and the earth. This complex, dynamic set of forces, in combination with suitable weather and moisture, actually create the intricate molecules of new life inside the seed and it becomes vitalized.
Then couldn't we have accidentally come into existence by that same method? No. In the above example seeds were vitalized, not created. Plants come from seeds; and seeds come from plants. Likewise, chickens come from eggs; and eggs come from chickens.
Then where did we really come from? Peter Rothschild, MD, one of the world's leading scientists, stated in his book "The Scientific Background of The Ten Commandments" as follows: "As Quantum Physics, the most advanced discipline, demonstrated beyond the slightest doubt - the ultimate mechanisms of the Universe cannot be explained without this concept of God, or whatever the term you care to use to refer to a supreme Maker." So he implies that there is a supreme Maker who created everything. Elsewhere he demonstrates a remarkable correlation between the Ten Commandments and the behavior of matter. For instance, he demonstrates that the law of entropy is suspended indefinitely if exertions of energy follow a pattern of six periods of exertion followed by one of rest. Hey, that sounds like the law of the Sabbath. Could that explain why the shoes and clothes of the children of Israel in the book of Exodus did not wear out during a forty year period?
Does Quantum Physics vindicate the Biblical view of creation or discredit it? Well, the Bible states, for instance, that " . . . one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." (2 Peter 3:8). Chalk one up for the Bible . . . time does not exist in the sense that we think it does; our perception of time is only our subjective view of the world. This point is heavily reinforced by the field of Quantum Physics. Furthermore, the above scripture was written centuries before we had the Quantum concept of time.
The Bible also states " . . . that God is light . . . " (1 John 1:5). Light? Yes. Superconductive energy operating in harmonics of perhaps 1, 3, 9, and twenty-seven times the speed of light; therefore independent of "time" and operating in not just three dimensions (as we), but in perhaps 5, 7, or only He knows how many dimensions. He is totally beyond our comprehension as the Bible states by saying: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says Yahweh. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-10.
Oh! Then its no wonder that " . . . God was manifest in the flesh . . . " (1 Timothy 3:16), because we could not know Him any other way! Or be reconciled to Him. So the crucial point to the creation versus evolution question is the first sentence in the Bible: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1)!!
Joe Knox
Memorial Road Church of Christ
Read Genesis & See Chapter Headings
Read Genesis 2
The Moral Choice. This lesson will examine how God created the impulse in man that is his will as well as his sense of need.
The Creation of Woman. In this section the writer of Genesis not only describes the unique creation of woman but also sets forth God's foundational principles for marriage and the family unit.
****************
Human Body
Your body contains:
Enough iron to make a small nail,
Enough salt to fill an ordinary shaker
Enough sugar to fill a small bowl
Enough lime to whitewash a small chicken coop
Enough phosphorus to make a dozen matches
Enough fat to fill a twelve pound pail
Enough albuminoids to replace the whites of one hundred eggs.
See: Gen 2:7
*************
6 Things A Mother In Law Should Never Do
Here are six things that a
mother-in-law should never do.
Take Sides
No
one, including a mother-in-law, should ever take sides in a couples dispute or
argument. Some couples end up divorced because of interference from in-laws. In
the very first wedding, it was said, “Therefore
a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they
shall become one flesh” (Gen
2:24) but we could put it this way and still be correct; a man shall leave his
father and mother and leave them out of his own marriage and of course, the
same thing applies to the woman.
Put Down their Spouse
I have
had a wonderful relationship with my mother-in-law and she has never once said
a cross word about me. Even my own late mother never said anything but good
things about my wife and that has served to strengthen our marriage. If someone
did say something about my wife that I didn’t like, I’d take it personally. You
cut her and I bleed.
Criticize the Home
When a
friend of mine’s mother-in-law joined them at their housewarming party after
they bought their first home, she was very critical of the way the house was
set up. She didn’t like the way the couch and tables were arranged, she didn’t
like the carpet, she didn’t like a lot of things and this was in front of
company. I could tell that my friend was hurt, more for his wife than himself.
They had both put in so much effort into arranging their home just the way they
wanted it and then, the mother-in-law ruined the housewarming party.
Criticize her Son/Daughter’s Care
I have
always been skinny and so if someone said “Your wife’s not feeding you well
enough,” I have to take issue with that because I have a high metabolism and I
can eat, eat, and eat and not gain much weight (except that between my ears),
so it’s unfair to criticize a spouse for not taking good enough of care of
their daughter or son. That’s out of bounds for me.
I’d Never Let My Child do That!
This
one really hurts. If a mother-in-law or father-in-law for that matter, ever
says “I’d never let my child do that,” then they are interfering, and in a
sense, judging their son-in-law or daughter-in-law for not doing what they
themselves think is right. Yes, grandparent’s input is important but it should
be asked for and not shoved down their throat. This can create some big anger
issues.
Bring up past Girl/Boyfriends
It
never ends well when a mother or father-in-law brings up their son or
daughter’s past failures in dating. There is absolutely no reason to go fishing
for things in their past when they’ve long since buried it. It makes the
husband or wife feel even worse when they say, “Your old boyfriend/girlfriend
is now a doctor or (just fill in the blank)” because it’s insinuating that
their spouse is a loser when compared to their old flame.
Conclusion
Naturally,
this applies to a father-in-law as well since they can do some of the very same
things I mentioned above. It’s best to let couples face problems on their own.
Meddling in a marriage can create unnecessary and unneeded tension in the home
and that is not going to help their relationship at all.
Jack Wellman
*******************#Work
The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
Genesis 2:15
Most people look forward to the day when they don't have to go into the office anymore. They look forward to the freedom of retirement so that they can finally do that long list of things they have been waiting their whole life to do. There is nothing wrong with retirement. There is nothing wrong with taking advantage of opportunities for which you have dreamed and saved. But do not forfeit biblical principles along the way. God created us to work. Work is a part of God's plan for our existence, and even our fulfillment.
If the thought of working your way out of work consumes you, you are missing God's design in your life. God created all of us to work. Now, that doesn't mean we have to work 40 to 80 hours a week, but we must realize that God designed us to be productive and have responsibilities. When we live any other way, we are living outside of God's design.
Most of us are nowhere near retirement, so you may be wondering, "How does this affect me right now?" It should affect your attitude about your occupation. Often times we view work as punishment, but work is from God. Whether it's flipping burgers, selling stocks, teaching children, or advertising products, it all has a place in God's economy.
Working diligently does not mean that our job becomes our main priority. Work is an important aspect of our priorities, but it is not the most important. Those are reserved for our relationships and church. Whether we are at the office or involved in a household duty, we should work for God's glory.
A Prayer for Today
Lord, help me to enjoy the work that you have given to me. It is so easy to focus on the negative aspects of work, but you created work for my enjoyment and fulfillment. Help me to be responsible and productive, and to honor you with my work. In Jesus' name, Amen.
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