Came to Believe #3 Thursday, Nov 29 2007

 

Adam and Eve had the perfect relationship with everything in their existence. With God, they communed on a daily basis, the same as we do today with our own families. We have a picture in Genesis of how God cared for His creations, He provided for their every need. They were given food to eat, a place to live, work to keep them busy, and purpose to keep them focused. While Adam and Eve stayed within the guidelines that God provided everything remained as it was planned.

When the serpent was introduced into the mix, things changed. At this juncture, there arises another correlation that exists even today. That is intellect. When improperly used as with Adam and Eve the costs can be tremendously high. Genesis 2:4 states that the serpent hissed “God knows that you won’t die, but your eyes will be opened when you eat it. You will become like God, knowing everything both good and evil. The first choice, and was it ever a costly error.

The consequences of that choice effect us still today, in more ways than we could possibly realize. On the surface, we lost the perfect relationship with God, and because of that loss, we lost the perfect environment in which to live, we also lost the ability to control the objects within that environment. Within the relationship that Adam had with Eve, a change started to take place, what was once a relationship of complete trust and harmony changed to contention and discord.

Adam had to provide for Eve, thus came work, what shelter they had had to be built. Things became chores that had been joyous exercises for the two of them. Distrust entered into the relationship, as children entered into the equation another point of contention became readily apparent, and that was preferential treatment, Cain and Able became competitors against each other in looking for favor in the eyes of God, the story goes that both Cain who was a farmer and Able who was a herdsman at harvest time bought an offering to God Cain brought of his produce, Able brought the best of his herd. God accepted Abel’s gift and refused Cain’s. The point here is Abel brought of his best while Cain brought just of his produce.

God explained to Cain when he got angry, that it was not what Cain brought, but how he brought it that caused the rejection of the gift. Here again a correlation, it matters not to God what we offer Him, it does matter how we offer it. If it is viewed as just a duty, then where is the value. When your child offer you a drawing saying “I made this just for you,” How do you feel when you receive it? As opposed to “here you can just have this.” Don’t you react differently? Here is the introduction of resentment, anger and frustration, which when left unresolved can lead to some dire consequences for the parties involved.

Hang in there more to come.

 

 

 

 

Leave a Response »

 

Came to Believe #2 Tuesday, Nov 27 2007

In this section of the dissertation, we will look at the beginnings of religion and see just how much of the ambiance of religion is actually decreed by God as worship and how much is decreed by man for his own edification.

I know that this is going to cause some folk to get a bit angry at me, but that’s OK, after all it’s my opinion, and I throw it out freely in hopes of gaining some interaction with others along the same line of thought.

With that said, here we go! In the beginning (does that sound familiar) by report of the Old Testament God created, some I know will take exception to that, (join the discussion). But, in lieu of that line of thought, the Book of Genesis states that God Created, first the heavens and earth, the earth was empty, a formless mass cloaked in darkness. Then the Spirit of God hovering over it’s surface said let there be light, and He saw it was good, then he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day and the darkness night, together these made up one day.

I know that this was a long quote, but it was done with a purpose, when God created, He always created in balance. Light and dark, dry and wet, sky and ground, man and woman. On the sixth day when God created man and woman, Genesis states God said let us create people in our own image to be like ourselves. They will be masters over all life. When He was finished creating He looked at everything and “saw that it was excellent in every way.

Genesis 1-26 raises a question, if God was the only one around, who is the us and our He was talking to? “Could it be the Triune God?”

After creating everything God, Adam and Eve would hold conversations in the Garden and just talk about things. This is the first model of man’s relationship with God and it proved to be the best, in that the relationship was between God and man, nobody else got involved, up until Lucifer arrived on the scene. When he interposed himself between God and His creation everything got royally screwed up.

This is another picture of how what was meant to be got bastardized when someone other than the original participants started to exert influence as to what he thought should be. Funny isn’t it how much this mimics our own familial situations, we get married, we plan for our future families, we work our butts off to give them the best we can, we teach them, we nurse them, we provide for them, we care for them, we protect them, then all our hopes and dreams for them are dashed when an unwanted guest arrives and destroys everything we have worked for in a very short time. Then even in our anger and frustration we reach out to our children and try to again take care of them. Isn’t that what God does for us on a day to day basis.

This is how I came to believe.

 

 

 

 

 

2 Responses »

 

Came To Believe #1 Tuesday, Nov 20 2007

So now that we have some kind of an idea as to who God is, we should be aware of what is necessary to accomplish the next step in the process of Who, What and Why.

Continuing our quest, the question now becomes, who has the right mode of expression of honor to God? There are many formats to choose from. As previously alluded to, 53%of the worlds population possess a working knowledge of God, by that I mean when asked the question “Do you believe that God exists?’ just about everyone will say yes. But if you ask who He is, you get varied answers according to how that person sees God.

In Alcoholics Anonymous the term that is used to signify dependence on God is, “God as we understand Him. AA, in and of itself is not a religious organization and yet recognizes the need for God in what they do.

They do not now nor have they ever specified Who or What God is, they do refocus their membership toward a new understanding of God and how He applies to life. Since everyone has a basic understanding of Who God is, then they at expression of that idea becomes the understanding each individual has of God. There is the one and I think most primary reason for the different modes we have of recognizing God.

It has always amazed me, that an organization like AA, and/or NA that is made up of individuals that have lost control over their lives, and through the ministrations of these organizations have regained a better life that is drug and alcohol free, and become useful and contributing members of society again. And the Fortune Five Hundred companies ask for more and more of our lives and give less and less in return,but isn’t that how the Bible put it was it not Jesus that said “I came not to be ministered to but to be a minister to.” I mean how much clearer could He make it.

There are three major religious organizations that typify that statement. Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Each has it’s own method of recognition of God. In part, they agree, but for the most part, the ideologies diverge on major tenants of Faith. This divergence has in itself been the cause of many a conflict through the ages. Each of these domineering entities demand that life around them adhere with their belief system with rigid compliance, or be shunned, ostracized, or otherwise ignored.

 

Silly me, here I thought religion was something you used to honor God, not tell your fellow man how to think and act. Who’d a thought that religion would become the master instead of the vehicle to transport us to a greater and deeper understanding of God.

From here on things start to become interesting, and it could lead to a lot of dialog will that could perceivably take place, I hope you you will feel comfortable enough to join in.

 

 

Leave a Response »

 

Things that make you go “HMMM 9″ Thursday, Nov 15 2007

If we were to realistically look at God’s attributes and set back and think about them, I do believe a whole new picture of God would emerge.We have looked at God’s omnipotence, and omniscience, we have glanced at His benevolence and justice. The remaining characteristics sovereignty, immortality and transcendence are what remain to be examined.On the question of sovereignty, it is almost a mute point. Exactly what discussion is necessary? Science proffers the “Big Bang” and “Evolution” theories, or some other derivative of them. Are we to believe that we are the result of circumstances? The “Slime Pool Theory” also known as “Genetic engineering” that accidentally happened? If that were true, then why are there not other forms of intelligent life here on Earth to take over through evolving beyond us?Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not against scientific efforts to find out about our roots, I am just against “Scientific Stupidity”, this is what I define as stating that only science can provide answers needed for the beginning of all we know.In the question of God’s sovereignty, all one has to do is to look. Look down at the ground you stand on, look at your feet, look at the people walking, look at the trees, look at the mountains, look at the sky. Everything you see, I believe was created by God. Look at how things work, look at your body and how it works.Yes, science has been able to duplicate quite a lot, but they always refer to the original, science copies, but does not create. And when they copy, there is always a flaw. Only someone who is perfect in all detail can create something without a flaw, and perfect, being above all else, is sovereign, and that my friend is God.Immortality, now that is a little harder to describe, reason being, it is decidedly harder to wrap our brain around immortality when we are mortal. The concept of time for us has both a start and stop point. In the realm of immortality, there is no such thing as start and stop, everything just is.When we try to perceive something that is beyond our ability, we soon tire of it because no matter how we try, we always hit the “White Wall” that is the barrier that we cannot cross or overcome. That is the point of now passage. I believe that once we reach that point, we then begin a different journey, and no matter what our mindset, it changes. What used to be of importance pales to insignificance, then the true meaning of life makes itself known.The last attribute we will look at is Transcendence, being outside of time and space. If god were not Transcendent, then how could so many civilizations in different parts of the world and at different locations along the timeline of the Earth describe Him unless He was experienced by these differing civilizations.  If God was not beyond the reach of man, then how could the idea of God have survived so many onslaughts designed to eradicate Him?When you stop to think about God and His attributes and weigh the evidence, to me at least, it seem that God is who He says He is, and who the Bible, the Quoran, The Torah, and other descriptors say He is. That is the only conclusion you can draw, but again, as in “Things that make you go HMMM 7” God’s gift to us of Free Will, Choices.The best way to make choices, is to study the facts, run them through your brain, digest them, then act on them.I hope you have received something from these blogs? I am going to start another one titled “Came to Believe” which I hope will interest you.So until then keep going HMMM 

Leave a Response »

 

Things that make you go “HMMM 8″ Tuesday, Nov 13 2007

As of the year 2005, approximately 53% of the worlds population identified with one of the three Abrahamic Religions (33% Christian, 21% Islam, .21% Judaism), 6% with Buddhism, 14% with Hinduism, 6% with traditional Chinese religion, 7% with various other religions, and <15% as non-religious. Most of these religious beliefs involve god or gods. I know the total is more than 100%, but in the rounding up of the numbers, include the scattered religious sects that have not made it into a recognizable denomination. My question again remains who are these <15% who try to make God dance, because they don’t seem to be doing to well.

Throughout known history man has tried to put God into a place where he could be control what God does and says. Either, in the form of a dictator, or an intellectual. Of the two, I prefer the dictator, reason being, that no matter how powerful they think they become, they always realize the error of their ways at the end.

 Just think, He has destroyed mankind at least once, destroyed what mankind had thought they had become at least twice, rocked the earth countless times, created us from nothing, given opportunity after opportunity to man to relinquish his idealistic hold on to stupidity and move back into the light, but man always, always backs himself into a corner with his mouth, and intellect. I for one am very glad one of His attributes is long suffering patience, because if it wasn’t, where would we be right now.

Come on look around you, can’t you see what is right in front of your eyes?

In Lot’s time they tried to invade Lot’s house to “have their way with Lot’s guests.” Today they want to teach Sex Education in our school classrooms, and the parents have nothing to say about it. If you don’t believe me, just ask Reg Weaver, president of N.E.A., I’m sure that if you can corner him, he will admit it. I point blank asked him what his plan for the future of education was, his answering silence was very eloquent. When and if he answers, ask him what happened in Florida concerning parental rights to intervene in their child’s education?

Ask Nancy Peloshi, the Speaker of the House about the attempt by Stephen Ayers, The Architect of the Capitol, to remove the word God or any reference to God form anything the Government printed because it might offend someone, then ask the Mayor of the “City of Brotherly Love” how much love was shown to the Boy Scouts because they exercised one of their rights Congress said they had in saying no to homosexual Troop Leaders because their standards said no. Homosexuals lobby to make speaking against them a hate crime, yet do not bother themselves with the rights of others, they say they are entitled to  special protection afforded by the law because they are a minority. So what if they don’t meet the identification criteria of a minority! They rant about changing the legal definition of marriage to suite their purpose, their lobby groups intimidate lawmakers into seeing things their way irregardless of anyone or anything else.

Skinheads, white supremacist, neo-Nazi groups, gangs, rampart phonograph on the Internet, in the movies, on T.V. in the music. Every time God is taken out of something, what rushes in to fill the void?

I am not saying that we have to adopt the guise of the Fire & Brimstone Southern Baptist Preacher, but I do push a conscious effort to return to a system of values that reflects respect and dignity for individuals, respect for God and how you choose to recognize Him, respect for our country and for our neighbors.

Not long ago, the United States was a country that was respected and in some cases feared. Today we are anybody’s target, I asked what happened to us? I answered we became to intellectually superior for our own good. We tossed our values aside for “Enlightenment”, yet this “Enlightenment” has not served us, it has instead become our master.

Any proof you need can be found in the nearest mirror, all you have to do is take off the pretty colored glasses and look through your eyes and heart.

I challenge you, I ask you, I implore you, I beg of you 

PROVE ME WRONG

 

This should make you go HMMMM                                     

Leave a Response »

 

My Apologies Friday, Nov 9 2007

I just so totally spaced the last couple of days, no excuse for not posting I ask your forgivness.

Right now I have to figure on what to post next so until then, here is something that I received in my e-mail that I thought was interesting.

A lot of truth in this  The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.  
My confession:  I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish.  And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don’t feel threatened. I don’t feel discriminated against. That’s what they are: Christmas trees.  It doesn’t bother me a bit when people say, “Merry Christmas” to me. I don’t think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn’t bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a creche, it’s just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.  I don’t like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don’t think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can’t find it in the Constitution and I don’t like it being shoved down my throat.  Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren’t allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that’s a sign that I’m getting old, too.  But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.  In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it’s not funny, it’s intended to get you thinking.  Billy Graham’s daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her “How could God let something like this happen?” (regarding Katrina)  Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, “I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we’ve been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives.  And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?”  In light of recent events…terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O’Hare (she was murdered, her body found recently) complained she didn’t want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.  Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn’t spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock’s son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he’s talking about. And we said OK.  Now we’re asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don’t know right from wrong, and why it doesn’t bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.  Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with “WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.”  
Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world’s going to hell.  Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says.  Funny how you can send ‘jokes’ through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing.  Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.  Are you laughing?  Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you’re not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.  Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.  Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it… no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don’t sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.  My Best Regards.  
Honestly and respectfully,  

Ben Stein

For your information Ben Stine is the guy that does the Red Eye commercial. Seems like it’s not only Christians who are getting tired of being pushed around.   

Leave a Response »

 

Things that make you go “HMMM!” #7 Tuesday, Nov 6 2007

In the previous blog, we looked at God’s attribute of omnipotence, now let’s look at omniscience (all knowing)If indeed God is all knowing, then why are things in this world this way, surely if there was a God who is forgiving and ever-loving things would not be like this. If God is all knowing and knew us before we were born, than He already knew what would happen so why try to change anything, just go with the flow, it’s your destiny, Karma, fate, predestination, and we can do nothing about it anyway, right? Does any of this sound familiar?I have heard this ever since I was old enough to understand language, and I still say it’s a crock. The reason I say this is simple, how many of us have children?Do we care about what happens to our children; don’t we want the best for them? Do we train them in what’s right and what’s wrong? Do we instill in them a set of values that they can base their lives on?Do we nurture them? Do we raise them in our image and likeness? Now the big question, do they turn out just like us, or do they choose their path to travel?  Well we all know the answer to that one, it’s been called a lot of things, but it all boils down to the choices we make. Our world is a product of the choices we as mankind have made. As much as we as parents do not live or control the lives of our children, God as our Creator does not live or control the choices we make. He has given us free will, we exercise that free will by the choices we make, if those choices do not meet the end product we have envisioned then it is our fault and we should take the responsibility for it, and not try to place the blame elsewhere. Remember what I said about trying to make God dance?Yes I believe God is omniscience, and He, just as it is with us as parents, gives a set of guidelines to follow, The Ten Commandments, He gives us reference Books (The Bible) within these books is more than one roadmap, i.e. the book of James, The Psalms, and the Proverbs, readily available world class knowledge for anyone’s use. He gives us the equipment to live, whether or not we use it is the choice we have to make.And then, like any other parent, He sits back and waits for us to err, go through our period of affixing blame, finally realizing our mistakes and turning to Him for help, which when asked, he gives in plentiful supply and never asks us to pay for it.So for those who believe we are predestined to live like this, have I got some Good News for you. Read on friend and very soon it will be: Things that make me go HMMM

Leave a Response »

 

Things that make you go “HMMM!” #6 Thursday, Nov 1 2007

Things that make you go “HMMM 6” 

We have heretofore reviewed one of God’s attributes (omnipotence) all powerful, and you got to admit that some of the things He did were pretty remarkable, flooding the world when previously there according to Scripture had been no such thing as rain. And the utter destruction of both Sodom and Gomorrah. Science has attested that both incidents did happen, only they can not explain exactly how the incidents took place. There has been some evidence that things have happened that man cannot reproduce. Some things that he cannot refute without sounding like a fool, and some things that cannot be dismissed with any type of venture into pseudo-intellectualism discussion no matter what level of education they have reached. Presenting a case for God is a very easy task, I relied on my upbringing and my own inquisitiveness that pushed me to study God. I do not claim to be the authority on God, far from it. I do say what I believe, and I try at all times to base that in fact. I try to keep emotionalism to a minimum but, at times I think that the emotionalism is what serves us the best in trying to understand, and be able to tell others what we believe. The thing which I detest above everything else is canned logic, that is logic which has been used as a matter of course for any subject being discussed. I could, without equivocation, embark of a course of discussion that would very well match the subject matter being discussed and logically prove any assertion that is made about God and His attributes, but what is the point, that is nothing to me but mindlessly parroting everything that has gone before. That is both boring and insulting. I would rather discuss the validity of God in today’s world as it applies to my point of view and that of the person I am in the discussion with. This to me is a far more worthwhile endeavor, for it is through the sharing of intellect and views that we learn, and through learning we grow.With that said, let’s take a run at it, I believe in God, and I believe God, that simple. Now why do I believe that, it is equally as simple, it’s the truth that’s all.I know there are differing viewpoints all over the world, and I do not discount them. Each person must make his or her choice when it comes to a belief system. There is nothing more personal than this choice, for everything that is said about religion, one must remember,  “Religion is a practice that was formulated by man in order to meet his needs to give reverence to the Eternal, All Powerful, Being that created us. Now arises a point of contention between differing systems of faith as to whom has the correct view of and method of this display of faith.

Something to make you go   HMMM

One Response »