Infected Systems

Well that bit me on the behind! I distinctly remember a few weeks ago making the confident statement, "No, I didn't get the flu shot. I usually get a 24 hour bug (cold or flu) once or twice." As if to say, it's no big deal to get sick, my immune system is up to the job. Pssh! Maybe next year I'll get the flu shot.

Starting out Friday with a cold, turning definitely flu-like during a long Saturday in bed; still confident in my bodies ability to fight it off mind you. Then Sunday rolls around and things haven't gotten any better. Sunday was very long and I couldn't eat or walk much. By now symptoms were a sore and swollen throat, light headedness, lower backache, neck pains, enduring headache, and wounded confidence. Sunday night revealed a fever bout that prompted me to take Monday off and seek medical help. Thankfully, it fell on the perfect time or at least the perfect time for such a nasty experience.

My friend and neighbor had already taken that day off in advance and was eager to help me get to the doctors and back as well as run for supplies. On top of that this was one of the precious few weekends I did not have pressing obligations. If it had to happen...it had to happen this weekend, but it is strange to be thankful for what the Doctor thinks has become Strep-Throat.

At any rate it's true what the book says "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." -Romans 8:28 True getting sick is not "good", but it is also true that we will suffer in a suffering world. He did not promise His people a pain free life, only that things will work out for the best.

Big Bang - Big Conflict

Ever wonder if God could have used the big bang theory that scientists claim is viable? Ever wonder what the difference really would be between the Creation account of Genesis and man's phony baloney theory? Honestly their are many reasons why the big bang theory and the Genesis account can not exist in harmony, but below are a few plain-as-day examples to look over; clicking them aught to open larger versions.

As can be seen in the image above, the Bible says that Earth was created before the stars and that trees were created before the sun. However, the big bang view teaches the exact opposite. The Bible tells us that the earth was created as a paradise; the secular model teaches it was created as a molten blob. The big bang and the Bible certainly do not agree about the past in order of events. Whenever this kind of mismatch can be seen one or both must be incorrect. Since the Bible is God's word, a direct account of history, perfect and unchanging while the big bang is revised over and over again, without an end in sight, it is clear which is trustworthy.

Further, many people don’t realize that the big bang is a story not only about the past but also a prediction about the future, as can be seen above. The most popular version of the big bang teaches that the universe will expand forever and eventually run out of usable energy. According to the story, it will remain that way forever in a state that astronomers call “heat death.” But the Bible teaches that the world will be judged and remade in fire so a paradise can be restored. Their is a rather large difference at face value between the big bang and the Genesis account.

*More can be found on the topic here, towards the bottom of the page labeled "What are some of the problems with the big bang hypothesis?"

Turning Tide

Okay, so I used the Valueless post as a jumping point for the youth to try and talk about some of the more pressing evolution vs. creation issues. As usual I put several hours creating visuals and points to touch and rehearsing it a bit, only to be left with a ten minute window to stuff it into. Instead of even trying I gave up.

I just talked about how it is surrounding them, how it effected Pekka-Eric Auvinen, and how evolution teaches a lack of purpose. (Taking only a brief moment to let them know how important the topic is to me and that they can come to me whenever about these kinds of things.) From there we went over how we all have value, but sometimes those values seem to be in flux. Maybe because friends/enemies make comments and sometimes because we see what others have that we don't. Sometimes, as was the case in our evo-example, a value system can be learned by believing what the world tells us is the value for life.

Ending it all out by going over God's value for us. Noting the order and scale of creation; how it was all built for us, who are the focus of it. Noting that God has since then been patient, forgiving, and above all loving towards a rather...frustrating creation. Noting lastly that God's word tells us that our values are all equal and that value is set in stone, unchanging, no matter what we do that seems to change it (up or down). The nice thing is I saw some interest in both the evolution talk and the talk of values, though most of the kids were more interested in their chitchat.

When I look at what we covered I am satisfied. It's only when I think of all that had been prepared (20 hurried minutes worth) that I get frustrated; all that I want to share with them each time, which is (in reality) far too much for one sitting with our youth. So the deal is I'm probably going to press against our usual ten minute time span, but I'm going to mix in my passions as much as I can, when I can. I'll be using visuals and recent events more because that seemed to get interest and it helps them in thinking critically with current events. All in all, it isn't so bad, who knows, it may be the opening to a very nice chapter in youth devotions.

Valueless

In recent news their has been a shooting at a high school, but not in the US. This time the dark hand of the evolutionary worldview have come to rest on Finland. A young man named Pekka-Eric Auvinen has taken the lives of several students with a handgun, but he left behind a telling sign of the true power in this war between evolution and creation. If you ever wonder why I go on and on about it here is one potent answer. Pekka-Eric Auvinen labeled himself before leaveing this world and as such decided to act in an effort to clear out the weak so the strong could survive. "...I, as a natural selector, will eliminate all who I see unfit, disgraces of human race and failures of natural selection. No, the truth is that I am just an animal, a human, an individual, a dissident..."

This comes as no shock to creationists, who have long known that this is the heart of evolution; a lack of value on life, of value on self or others, of responsibility or moral code, of reason for being or caring.

You could say, "Well most evolutionists aren't hopeless killers" and you'd be correct, but only because most evolutionists would never admit (or perhaps don't realize) that their beliefs do not allow for morality, purpose, or any measure of value aside from survival of the fittest. Reducing each man, woman, and child to animals striving to survive and procreate. Nature itself neither creates nor holds a concept of morality, no value aside from one species outliving others. Yet this is what evolution is, a standalone philosophy of life.

Granted this side of evolution is not what is directly taught in schools, but as we can see from this and many other high-profile examples the kids are being asked to put their faith in this system and when they look for guidance, for value on who they are, they find nothing because nothing of the sort exists in the evolutionary worldview. Unfortunately then, any who do not abandon that worldview, taking on ridicule and confusion, are lost to the void. This is not the first evolutionist who put his money where his mouth was. Others include Karl Marx, Leon Trotsky, Joeseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Pol Pot, Jeffrey Dahmer, and now Pekka-Eric Auvinen. Now, let me go one step further and then stop so you don't think these examples are simply misguided evolutionists; here are a few quotes for you to ponder from the very founders of this hollow faith system called evolution.

Charles Darwin-
"At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilized races of man will almost certainly exterminate and replace the savage races throughout the world. At the same time the anthropomorphous apes . . . will no doubt be exterminated. The break between man and his nearest allies will then be wider, for it will intervene between man in a more civilized state, as we may hope, even than the Caucasian, and some ape as low as a baboon, instead of as now between the negro or Australian [Aborigine] and the gorilla."

Craig Venter-
"We are dealing in big ideas. We are trying to create a new value system for life. When dealing at this scale, you can't expect everybody to be happy."

James Watson-
"...there is no firm reason to anticipate that the intellectual capacities of peoples geographically separated in their evolution should prove to have evolved identically...Our wanting to reserve equal powers of reason as some universal heritage of humanity will not be enough to make it so,..."

Random Thoughts #615

Another recent event worth mentioning is the so-called "octopus girl" from India, pictured below. Named Lakshmi Tatma, this little girl was born joined to a parasitic twin. The joining left her with eight limbs (four functional ones) and two sets of several organs including kidneys, spines, stomachs, and hips. Surprisingly she was born healthy it seems and has since undergone a 40 hour surgery to remove the dead weight of her dead twin.


While I'm pleased that she has survived both her unusual birth and rare surgery, this is further evidence that God's word is true and that the ever touted evolution is a hollow claim. While many misinformed will claim that being born with oddities proves a mechanism for evolution the following remains painfully clear.

-These limbs and extras were not from changes in her genetic code, but from the merging of two whole human fetuses.

-No functionality was found in the "spare" limbs that would make this a benefit to her, in fact their existence prohibited her from even walking.

-These oddities, while unusual, proved no natural mechanism for producing new genetic information. These are pre-existing genes that were used.

And lastly, this case once again proves that the Curse recorded in Genesis, our fall from Eden, is still in effect today; snowballing as it goes. I only put this event in context to evolution as many people in the coming months will take it to be more than it really is. It's an example of just what a sad state the world is in and also a victory for modern medicine in that cleaning up the mess was no small feet, excuse the pun.

Dangerous False Direction

Not knowing the background of children’s tales may not seem important, but it is, at least it is for those of you with children or involved with children.

Years back when the Harry Potter explosion occurred and its movies and books started to go mainstream their was controversy and today their is the rise of yet another very similar controversy. The movie coming out is called the Golden Compass. It was written by ardent secular humanist (atheist) Phillip Pullman as part of a series called "His Dark Materials". Phil is the kind of motivated man that says comments such as, "My books are about killing God" and how he wants to “…kill God in the minds of children”. These books revolve around the adventures of children (looking much like Narnia), but they culminate in these children actually killing God. Not just a generic God mind you, but one named "YAHWEH"; bearing a striking resemblance indeed and one that falls in line with Phil’s atheistic agenda.

While the Harry Potter books are obviously geared towards witchcraft these books are more similar to Narnia (or at least the movie is). It almost makes parents relax thinking when they see the trailer, "Oh this is going to be like Narnia", but just as with the Harry Potter books this story starts out employing low-key and friendly elements while moving steadily towards evil. If you define evil as I do (that which God defines as against Him) then tell others about this upcoming disaster. Especially in reference to your children and their friends...

Parents seem far less upset by this Narnia look-alike (Golden Compass) than they were about the obvious witchcraft promotions in Harry Potter. Yet both of these storylines are anti-biblical and promote a subtle degradation of children’s morality, not to mention how they can unfairly test our children’s belief in God at such a young age. According to scriptures (Proverbs 22:6 and Ephesians 6:4), parents (and other influential persons) have a duty to raise their children with sound understanding; rejecting the ways and teachings of the world.

Should we be lazy or apathetic at the cost of the children? Please forward this to others and talk to your children about it, or research this for yourself first with some of the links below.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4347226.stm

http://www.facingthechallenge.org/pp7.php

A Critical Need (Part 1)

This is a clip from the Dilbert cartoon series that had something very important to say and in fact it was done with such shocking clarity that I had to post on it. In this clip Dilbert, a proponent of evolutionary ideas, is called out after claiming that he believes only "science", "facts", and "proof". Dogbert (the little dog) stops him and reminds him that in reality he only assumes what he hears is true. Implying then that his general revelations and certainties are bordering on pointless. In truth Dilbert is doing what most do, choosing what information is acceptable as information comes; filtering out what he will and will not believe while verifying neither for himself. He is applying his presuppositions and his faith which for him are founded in secular science.

Dilbert: "Personally I require scientific evidence before I believe anything"
Dogbert: "No you don't."
Dilbert: "Yes I do!"
Dogbert: "No you only think you do, but in fact you rely on media reports that scientific evidence exists. You don't actually see the evidence yourself."
Dilbert: "I don't have time to read all the scientific studies myself."
Dogbert: "So you're not gullible your just busy..."

A Critical Need (Part 2)

This clip raises a very important topic that has had me worried for some time now; the issue of thinking critically. Thinking critically involves putting in extra effort when we see something or hear something. In this example we are talking about believing what we hear from any given source. I mean, is the scientist really any more trustworthy than the wandering street preacher? NO! You cannot know the heart (motivation) or mind (understanding) of any person. Yet all the time we read an article and trust in it's value, implicitly if it comes from people with letters after their names. This is so illogical it would be laughable if not such a danger to us. Its one thing to say, "I heard from *source* that *blank* is true." However, it's is a wholly different thing to claim "I know that *blank* is a true because *source* said so." The difference is that the first one acknowledges potential error in the source while the second one illogically assumes it to be true.

Now, I know I am not perfect and still commit some of these same mistakes, but I know that many more are even less capable (or perhaps less inclined to pay attention to it) than I am which is a dangerous state to be in. I want to plead with people, with the readers and passers-by, to start considering the nature of how they deal with information. Without questioning, without checking logic, without looking into what we are shown and fed, how do we know if it is true? Why we don't stop all the time to ask ourselves, what am I assuming and what do I actually know is crazy to me now after the past few years of watching others deal with confusion easily avoidable!

Anyhow, this is just another thing to think about; before we accept something, even something small, take a moment to consider it the claim is true. If you don't know the answer either don't accept is as true (don't make it a part of your accepted understanding) or put in the slight effort to verify it.

Quote-tastic

This is a low quality video I found a while back that contains several great quotes from influencial Christian Evangelists. (Though in point of fact all Christians need be Evangelists just as they need be Apologists and Creationists. That the title evangelist need be applied in their case only says how poorly the majority are doing.) Anyway, not much else to say about it as it says so much already.

Sinkholes and Hallowed Grounds

If you could follow my weaving thoughts for a day you'd see a lot of this; one thing leaping to another and finding connections. Sometimes finding a conclusion before following out the thought, only to have to back-track and see how it was reached. Anyway, thanks for reading my random ramblings.
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A sinkhole can be caused by lots of things as it is only a cavity or void underneath what looks like regular ground. It could be under a road, under a house, or it could be under open field. The topic hops into my tiny brain because outside of the building I work in there are two sinkholes. One in the road between the buildings and one a few hundred feet away at a sewer grate. They showed up because the groundwater levels are so very low right now. The river, only a hundred feet away, is low enough that you could walk across it and not get your knees wet. Since the ground is always holding a certain amount of water in it a lot of empty spots between the grains of dirt and rocks appeared when the drought hit. With no water to fill the gaps the air came in and the grains of dirt settled down further under the weight of cars and houses. This left significant holes under the blacktop, or at least that is the only noticeable event this past summer that might activate the sinkholes.

Image: Basic function of sinkholes

Now in church this Sunday we talked about Halloween which has many pagan customs and a few Christian ones. Halloween used to be called all hallows eve (precursor to all saints day), but was reduced to Halloween in stages. The term hallowed came back to me today while walking to the car and then connections started appearing. "Hallowed sounds like hollow", I thought as I looked over at the sinkhole. I then thought about what a sinkhole is, a void under the surface. Then it came together; "People have voids under the surface". Voids even they are unaware of. Voids they are in danger of becoming lost to.

So then the term hallowed came back, leading me to think of the God shaped hole in all of us. The thing most people try to fill with something other than what was intended. How everything can seem fine on the surface and then, seemingly suddenly, their footing gives way. Their once firm foundation now fallen, leaving them with a sense of helplessness, weakness, and surprise. If only they filled the holes with the God that fits...

Bear Fruit By Faith

*An old responce to someone that I finished, but never sent; in reference to a believers question about the below contradiction and if it condemns Christianity to failure. Figured I should put it to use somewhere.
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Some have said their is a "contradiction" of grace and works in Christianity, but is this true?

Really it is just confusing for people to grasp the idea of "salvation by grace", not works, but then to attach the honest comment, "but faith bears good fruit" implying action with it. While not an actual contradiction of any kind I think sometimes this becomes our excuse not to move forward and take up our crosses. We are saved and that doesn't require our efforts, but truth is our faith is hardly faith if we don't act faithful!

Specifically, it takes no faith to 'say' that Jesus is what He claims, but it takes faith to believe it. Even then it only takes a little faith to believe the claim, but it takes even more faith to want to follow after Him, taking up our cross, as is only right since Christians are those who "follow Christ" not just those who believe He is real. They can't know until they are told, until the confusion is removed and the truth revealed.

So what does that say to us individually? I mean sure, we believe, but to what measure? Is it evident by our lives and is that evidence affecting others? Is it strong enough that we face fears and make self-sacrifices for the glory of our professed King? Do we seek out the answers to the broken hearts and minds of the world? Important questions to all of us; it is a 'must' that we not just be saved, but live as if we believe what we claim!