Showing the Love of God by Helping Others...Sunday School Letter

People Show Love by Helping Others in Need

Acts 9:36-43
Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which, translated, means Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity. 37In those days she became ill and died, and when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. 38Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, "Please come to us without delay." 39So Peter rose and went with them. And when he arrived, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood beside him weeping and showing tunics and other garments that Dorcas made while she was with them. 40But Peter put them all outside, and knelt down and prayed; and turning to the body he said, "Tabitha, arise." And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up. 41And he gave her his hand and raised her up. Then calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive. 42And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. 43And he stayed in Joppa for many days with one Simon, a tanner.

Life Application: I will hear that helping others is a way to show love.

Galatians 5:13
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

From Clay and Bobbi
In our Bible passage Dorcas is shown to be very kind and beneficent to the poor and needy. The impact and impression she had on many people showed when she died and many widows gathered to her crying and showing each other the garments she had made them. It was obvious she was well thought of by all in Joppa, so much so they sent for Peter to come, either hoping he could raise her, or hoping he could encourage them in the Lord and glorify God in her death. Peter agreed to come, perhaps intending to encourage the mourners with the word of the Lord, or maybe he himself thought God was to use him to raise Dorcas. Whatever the intentions by either party, Peter came…and he prayed…And he raised Dorcas from the dead.

Raising people from the dead is a physical picture of another reality…God raising us from the dead spiritually. What an awesome reminder of the power of God in our own lives as we recall how he raised us up from spiritual death! And a reminder that He will raise us up the last day! The lesson plan asked a couple of questions about Dorcas: Do you think Dorcas continued her ministry of sewing after she was raised? How are you helping the vulnerable in society around you? How can you give with a heart like Dorcas?

Those are good questions and we intend on asking the children these questions this morning. Hopefully they will be prepared to answer them for you should you ask them too. We will also encourage them to purposefully do acts of kindness this week to show their love for God. We will have that on our minds and intentions too.

Sunday School Thoughts: Who is Your Neighbor

I Can Choose To Be Kind

From: Luke 10:25-37;
And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" 26 He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How do you read it?" 27And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." 28And he said to him, "You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live." 29But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" 30Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, 'Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.' 36Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?" 37He said, "The one who showed him mercy." And Jesus said to him, "You go, and do likewise."

From Clay and Bobbi Miller
The lawyer here was testing Jesus to see whether Jesus understood the law or not. What he got back was a lesson from the Lawgiver. The fundamental flaw of this man’s question is his presumption that “works” could save him. If someone “could” keep the whole law, never sin, never transgress…then that person could live forever with God. The problem is, no one can…not even close, because every man and woman is born with a sinful nature. We sin because we are sinners. So Jesus drew this man of the law to the law and asked him “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” To which the man recited from the phylacteries (Strips of parchment with four passages, rolled up and attached to leather bands worn around the arm or the forehead) which were recited everyday.

The problem is, merely reading the commandments and assenting to their rightness is not the same as “doing” the commandments…and cannot save…likewise no one can do these commandments completely or perform them perfectly as is prescribed inherently in the commands. Jesus did this to show the man and the listeners and us, that obtaining eternal life by works is impossible.

The man wanted to justify himself (v.29). He did not touch the “love the Lord your God perfectly” part. No wonder. What he did was go to an area that he felt quite confident about for himself…loving his neighbor. Jews commonly interpreted “neighbor” to be “other Jews” or those who were like-minded as the Jews. Basically, their interpretation for neighbor was “those who were their neighbor in the Law”, i.e. others who have the law. Jesus was about to squash his self-righteousness.

Jesus answers the lawyer’s question with a story of a man, an unnamed man, of an unidentified ethnicity, who was beaten badly by robbers. He was left for dead. While lying there a Jewish priest walks by and showed no kindness, no mercy. Likewise a Levite passed by showing no kindness, no mercy. It was as if Jesus were showing that the moral and ceremonial law (which these two were priest of) offered no mercy. It does not. The law was given to show us the sinfulness of our sin and drive us to the cross where there is mercy and there is grace and there is forgiveness for not fulfilling the impossible requirements of the law.

Then Jesus introduces a third man. A Samaritan. Samaritans were “half-Jews” and therefore hated by Jews. They would fall into the category of a “non-neighbor”. So the Jews would feel quite justified in not “loving” them as part of “love your neighbor”. So Jesus is about to show them that this Samaritan, whom they despised, was not only a neighbor in the truest sense, but proved to be a better neighbor and friend than this smug lawyer who asked the question. This Samaritan had compassion, doctored and bound up his wounds, put him on his animal, brought him to an inn and cared for him and paid someone to continue his care until he was healed up. Jesus asks straightly, “Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?" The lawyer answers the only way he could correctly answer…”He said, "The one who showed him mercy." Jesus then commands them,,,”You go, and do likewise."

Jesus showed at least two things to us from this answer to the lawyer’s test. One, if we think we are keeping the law perfectly at any point, and meriting salvation, we are misinterpreting the Law. Jesus could pinpoint many ways in which we break commandments we might think we keep. The lawyer wanted to justify himself. That is impossible. And if we try it, we will be condemned. Only Christ lived and kept the law perfectly. He was not born with a sinful nature (miraculous conception; virgin birth). He did not inherit that sinful nature as we do. He did live perfectly righteous. He did keep the law without blemish. And the only way we can be justified is by having his righteousness imputed to our account. That happens when we put our faith in Him, His righteousness, for our salvation, knowing our own lives cannot meet the standard at all. We cannot justify ourselves. Justification (being declared not guilty) can only come by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone and all for the glory of God alone.

Second, Jesus is showing us that although the law cannot save us, it is still good and we should still strive to abide in it, not for merit but because if we are to love God, we are to love the Lawgiver. We love the Law because we love the lawgiver. The law to the Christian is not obeyed merely out of duty, but because we want to show our love to God.

So our lesson today was “I can choose to be kind”. What we really hoped to emphasize to the children today was how to be kind, ways to be kind and how to be kind not just to be kind, but to show our love for God to others and to God. The kind of kindness God seeks is kindness that is God-centered, God-sourced, and God-glorifying. Something to strive for always in all we do!!!!

Thank you for letting us be a small part of your child’s growing in the Lord!

--Clay and Bobbi

Sunday School: True Friendship

This is a little note we give to parents of preschoolers. The lesson plan was We can choose to love our friends. Bobbi and I are firm in our belief that all lessons should be God-centered and not just action or idea centered in and of itself. For example, we can teach to be good...but two people can be the same "good" externally and one please God and one not. The difference would be in the motivation of the hearts. We need to be "good" i.e. do good deeds, because we want to glorify God, not ourselves, and not for some sort of gain from man. This is a small little note, but maybe it can encourage someone who reads it.

I Can Choose to Love My Friends

From 1 Samuel 14:49; 18:1-4; 20:1-42—The friendship of Jonathan and David.

Today’s lesson is about choosing to love our friends…something we need God’s guidance on and also something we should try to do with a God-centeredness. Loving our friends without a God-centeredness is not the kind of love that is beneficial, but ends up being a false love. When we love someone we want their best. And the best that anyone can have is not material things, or feelings, but rather the most valuable treasure in existence…we want them to have their greatest joy in knowing and loving Jesus Christ.

Our life application is: “I will discover how to be a loving friend. To be the ultimate friend we need to point our friends to Christ in all things. Christ is the answer to all of our trials. The old hymn describes turning our eyes upon Jesus and “the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.” We focused on emphasizing keeping Christ as the center of our friendships. It is challenging because they are so young and really have not fully developed long-lasting friendships and probably have a hard time comprehending what it takes…but we pray more seeds were planted in their lives this morning to build God-centered friendships with each other and others God will bring in their lives one day.

Romans 12:10 tells us, “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. The brotherhood of that verse stems from us being the adopted sons and daughters of God. And God wants our relationships to be other-serving rather than self-serving. This is true in our friendships and marriages. Outdo one another in showing honor to the other.

Night and Day

July 16, 2010

Genesis 1:14-19
And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, 15and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth." And it was so. 16And God made the two great lights--the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night--and the stars. 17And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

Matthew Henry: “[Learn from this] (2.) The duty and wisdom of daily worshipping that God who made all these things, and made them to be that to us which they are. The revolutions of the day and night oblige us to offer the solemn sacrifice of prayer and praise every morning and evening.

Clay Miller: In America we think of our days as being for work and play. That is true in a sense. We are to work. We are to rest. Those are not inherently wrong of course. But God created the sun, moon and stars to pretty much delineate between day and night. He gave us daytime and nighttime. And our duty and our joy is to be transformed from the casual thoughtlessness of just going through the motions, and rather think, “How can I use the daytime to glorify God. How can use the nighttime to glorify God. Daytime is an amazing time. We see the whole world lit up. We see the inside of this bubble we live in called the atmosphere. Nighttime is amazing too. We see past the bubble more clearly and see that there is a vast universe out there. God lights up the earth and atmosphere in the day to show off His creation here. Then at night He reminds us of how infinitely powerful and how endless He is by showing us a glimpse of the size of our universe. What we see is not the great thing…though it is great. The great One is the Creator of it all!

Not These! But the Maker of These!

July 15, 2010

Genesis 1:14-19
And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, 15and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth." And it was so. 16And God made the two great lights--the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night--and the stars. 17And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

Matthew Henry: “2. Learn from all this, (1.) The sin and folly of that ancient idolatry, the worshipping of the sun, moon, and stars, which, some think, took rise, or countenance at least, from some broken traditions in the patriarchal age concerning the rule and dominion of the lights of heaven. But the account here given of them plainly shows that they are both God’s creatures and man’s servants; and therefore it is both a great affront to God and a great reproach to ourselves to make deities of them and give them divine honours…See Deu. 4:19.

Deuteronomy 4:19
And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.

Clay Miller: I am short on time tonight but wanted to get an entry in. Sun worship, moon worship, astrology…it is all bad. We need to focus on the message of the Creator of those entities. They are created. The Creator is not. He is the only one worthy of worship. He is the Maker of these things. As a matter-of-fact, God created them for us. They have no necessity but the purpose God designed them for us. If He was not going to create man, there would be no reason to create those entities. So when you look at the sun (after you get your sight back from its brightness J), or the moon or the stars or consider the beauty and vastness of this universe or anything in it, think, “Not these, but the Maker of these be the glory!”.

Be Useful

Just becasue life is getting busy, I am cutting out the Charnock Study and will just do Matthew Henry. Also from time to time I will post other things, like my videos, and other things I tackle. Here is the latest:

June 24, 2010

Genesis 1:14-19
And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, 15and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth." And it was so. 16And God made the two great lights--the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night--and the stars. 17And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

Matthew Henry: Now these lights are said to rule (v. 16, 18); not that they have a supreme dominion, as God has, but they are deputy-governors, rulers under him. Here the less light, the moon, is said to rule the night; but in Ps. 136:9 the stars are mentioned as sharers in that government…

Psalm 136:9
the moon and stars to rule over the night, for his steadfast love endures forever;…The moon and stars to rule by night. No more is meant than that they give light…

Jeremiah 31:35
Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar-- the LORD of hosts is his name:
…The best and most honourable way of ruling is by giving light and doing good: those command respect that live a useful life, and so shine as lights.

Clay Miller: God gives two ways at least in Scripture of the purpose of the sun, moon and stars. They are to rule. They are to give light. There giving light is their ruling. Henry here connects our spiritual life with the ruling of these lights…but in what since do we rule? The closest connection I can think of off hand is Romans 5:17…

Romans 5:17
For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

Death reigned over me through Adam’s sin. I received the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness through Jesus. I will reign in life. Jon Gill says of this passage:

“in corporeal life, they are not now subject to death as a penal evil, as other persons are, and though they die this death, they will triumph over it in the resurrection morn, they will rise again to everlasting life; they reign now in spiritual life over sin, Satan, and the world; and they will reign in eternal life, they will sit on thrones, wear crowns, and possess a kingdom of glory for ever and ever; and all by and through one, Jesus Christ, and not on account of any works, or merits of theirs.

…I am subject to death but not in a penal sense anymore. I will be resurrected with Jesus. So I in that sense now reign over death rather than death reigning over me. I have this life that accomplishes this. So Henry would say, shine! Be useful and shine the truth of God wherever you go.

Common Questions: If Jesus is God then Why Would He Pray to Himself?

Common Question: If Jesus is God, then was He praying to Himself when He prayed? Who was He praying to on the cross when He said, “MY God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?” Was He praying to Himself? Was He complaining to Himself about why He had forsaken Himself?

1. This is a question that betrays ignorance of the Trinity. For a little article explaining the consistency of the Trinity see http://claybobbilukedoggg.blogspot.com/2010/01/jesus-is-god.html. No Jesus was not praying to Himself. Jesus was praying to the Father, also known as the first Person of the Trinity. Jesus would be the 2nd Person of the Trinity. They are distinct in Persons. They are one in the Being they share.
2. This question assumes Modalism, or Sabbelianism. This is the heresy that teaches that God is one Person who acts in different modes. The idea is He acts in modes as we do. I am a dad, a son and a brother. So they say this is what God does in being the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. One major problem with this error is exactly what this question emphasizes, namely that a person who is different things to different people does not hold conversations with his different modes. I do not say “Clay the dad, can you help me fix the car?” and answer, “Well, Clay the son, I would love to.” I do not dialogue with myself like this and neither does God.
3. Jesus accomplished many things by taking on humanity. One was that He set the perfect example of how every human being should live, but does not live. He set an example and provided His righteousness as a substitute for our sins, those of us who believe. So His crying out was an example. His praying was human obedience as it should be. He fulfilled the law we could not fulfill. He submitted to the Father to display what we should do. It was His role in redemption.
4. So the answer is no. He was praying to God the Father, not God the Son (Himself). Once again, this argument is a straw man argument against Christianity. It misrepresents what Christianity teaches about the nature of God.

Luke's RBI...His Team Finishes In First...still one game left

My Family at the Zoo looking at monkeys which descended from monkeys and nothing else :)

Two RBI's

Another Hit

Big hit

008.AVI

007.AVI

Real Stars or Artificial Stars.

June 16, 2010

Genesis 1:14-19
And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, 15and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth." And it was so. 16And God made the two great lights--the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night--and the stars. 17And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

Matthew Henry: “(3.) He made the stars also, which are here spoken of as they appear to vulgar eyes, without distinguishing between the planets and the fixed stars, or accounting for their number, nature, place, magnitude, motions, or influences; for the scriptures were written, not to gratify our curiosity and make us astronomers, but to lead us to God, and make us saints.”

Clay Miller: This is such a succinct statement… “He made the stars also”. No big deal…to God. But it is a real big deal to our puny achievements. Last night I went outside and looked at the stars. Those stars were placed there by God. It is awesome to think that Adam and Eve looked on those same stars as I am. They have been up there witnessing every human life and event from day 1 of humanity!

The Bible is not an astronomy book. We say it is inerrant and infallible and the sole rule of faith for our lives. But we do not say that it contains all truth. There is much to discover scientifically, much that has been discovered. But what we discover will always line up with God’s Scripture because the same God who wrote the Scriptures created the world and all that is in it. I was thinking about the magnitude of the stars…two posts back I wrote about our star, the sun. We call people stars who for whatever reason are popular from some talent. They are stars because they can act, sing, model, play a sport or whatever. Compare their stardom to the sun alone, a small star. They are nothing. Yet people scream and pass out if a man or woman star merely glances at them or “graces” them with their presence. And the sun and night stars? They rarely even acknowledge they are there. They even more rarely stand in awe of the God who created such superstars of creation. So take some time to take your eyes off artificial stars and look at the stars above. You may find yourself in awe of their Creator so much so that the self-ascribed stars won’t be that much of a big deal anymore. You will certainly see that the stars we “create” are as nothing compared to God’s power to create

The Amazing Moon and Its Origin

June 15, 2010

Genesis 1:14-19
And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, 15and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth." And it was so. 16And God made the two great lights--the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night--and the stars. 17And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

Matthew Henry: “(2.) The moon is a less light, and yet is here reckoned one of the greater lights, because though, in regard to its magnitude and borrowed light, it is inferior to many of the stars, yet, by virtue of its office, as ruler of the night, and in respect of its usefulness to the earth, it is more excellent than they. Those are most valuable that are most serviceable; and those are the greater lights, not that have the best gifts, but that humbly and faithfully do the most good with them. Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister, Mt. 20:26.

Clay Miller: I love how Matthew Henry can take a passage on nature and apply it to life in a fair way. Be like the moon and reflect God’s light. Serve. It will make you shine brighter than desiring to be served or being served. Per capita, are you using your gifts more than those who have more gifts?

The moon is another phenomenal entity. Its diameter is more than a fourth of the earths but it is larger than Pluto. When the sun is directly shining on it, it can be over 215 degrees Fahrenheit. It can dip to –243 degrees F. when the sun is not shining directly on it. It orbits the earth elliptically sometimes as close as 221,000 miles away (perigee) and sometimes as far away as 252,000 (apogee).It completes a full orbit around the earth every 27.3 days and travels a million and ½ miles a month.

We always will see the same side of the moon. If you stood on the moon, the earth would always be the same place in the sky. Depending on how much of the moon is facing the sun, the face side we see will be full or barely seen. Lunar phases depend on the position of the sun and earth. The moon basically has no atmosphere. If you stood on the moon, the sky would always be black even in full daylight.

The moon is crucial for sustaining our environment. Ocean tides are the result of the moon’s gravitational pull. The earth actually bulges toward and away from the moon affecting the water level of the oceans. As the earth rotates on its axis, the bulges move across the earth. This is why there are two high and low tides each day. So, along with the sun, the moon’s gravity has a great affect on the earth’s tidal ebb and flow. These tides are absolutely vital to the balance of earth’s ecosystems.

How did the moon form then? Natural processes? Split from the earth billions of years ago after earth was hit by a Mars sized object? Formed elsewhere and just captured by the earth’s gravitational pull? Formed along with the earth as some kind of double planet? These are what evolutionists want you to believe. But none are feasible. Minerals have been found on the moon that are unknown on earth. So this undermines the earth and moon being one body that split. The sad thing is, over 20 billion dollars has been spent by scientists trying to figure out how the moon “evolved”. How did it form? Genesis 1 tells us…God simply created it and placed it in its most serviceable place.

My 100th Post! God Made the Sun!

June 11, 2010

Genesis 1:14-19
And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, 15and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth." And it was so. 16And God made the two great lights--the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night--and the stars. 17And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

Matthew Henry: “II. In particular, v. 16–18. 1. Observe, The lights of heaven are the sun, moon, and stars; and all these are the work of God’s hands. (1.) The sun is the greatest light of all, more than a million times greater than the earth, and the most glorious and useful of all the lamps of heaven, a noble instance of the Creator’s wisdom, power, and goodness, and an invaluable blessing to the creatures of this lower world. Let us learn from Ps. 19:1-6 how to give unto God the glory due unto his name, as the Maker of the sun.

Psalm 19:1-6
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. 2Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. 3There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. 4Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, 5which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy. 6Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat.

Clay Miller: I shared some of this before but the sun is 865,000 miles in diameter. That is about 109 X the diameter of the earth. Its volume is 1.3 million times greater than the earth. It would take that many earths to fill it! That is near equivalent to filling a bowling ball full of poppy seeds! And the sun is considered a small star. There are stars 1,000 X larger than our sun! So going back to God creating the sun with its hydrogen, helium, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and .5 percent of some other elements…this is a big deal. It is an extreme emphasis on the power of God! He placed it about 93 million miles in outer space. It takes about 8 and ½ minutes for the sun’s light to reach the earth. So if you see the light of the sunrise at 6:09 a.m., that light left the sun at 6:01 a.m.

The sun has eruptions from time to time. And there are sunspots that appear from time to time as well. These sunspots can cause dramatic weather changes here on earth. Solar flares on the sun are the largest explosions in our solar system. The size of a typical flare is equivalent to several million 100 megaton hydrogen bombs! These can play havoc on earth’s man-made power systems.

Here is another reason you should thank God everyday…If the temperature of the sun, or the brightness of the sun was changed just a few small percentage points…life on earth as we know it would cease. God sustains us in ways that teeter us on the brink of extinction…and yet He won’t let the world be destroyed until His time.

Being Light Like Lights Are Lights

May 21, 2010 (Friday)

Genesis 1:14-19
And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, 15and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth." And it was so. 16And God made the two great lights--the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night--and the stars. 17And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

Matthew Henry: The lights of heaven are made to serve us, and they do it faithfully, and shine in their season, without fail: but we are set as lights in this world to serve God; and do we in like manner answer the end of our creation? No, we do not; our light does not shine before God as his lights shine before us…

Matthew 5:14
"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
…We burn our Master’s candles, but do not mind our Master’s work.

Clay Miller: Sometimes I get the opportunity and oomph to go outside, lay down, be still and just look at the moon and stars. They have been there all my life, and all the lives before me. They have governed life around me when I see and do not see it happening. They do exactly what they were intended to do. They are doing exactly what God wants them to do, without fail. They are inanimate. We are not. And as Henry says here, we do not answer the end (purpose) we should answer. We like using God’s set up for us…that is, all He has made for us…but we do not like tending to the work for which He created us for… How we need forgiveness and guidance from this time and forever more!!!!

God Gave Us the Lights...US

May 19, 2010
Genesis 1:14-19
And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, 15and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth." And it was so. 16And God made the two great lights--the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night--and the stars. 17And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

Matthew Henry: “The lights of heaven do not shine for themselves, nor for the world of spirits above, who need them not; but they shine for us, for our pleasure and advantage. Lord, what is man, that he should be thus regarded!…

Psalm 8:3-4
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?

…How ungrateful and inexcusable are we, if, when God has set up these lights for us to work by, we sleep, or play, or trifle away the time of business, and neglect the great work we were sent into the world about!

Clay Miller: It is amazing that everything in existence exists to display to us the power of our God. Even the lights in the heavens are there for us to do His work by. Go outside and look at the moon tonight. Consider it. It is this massive ball hanging on nothing in its perfect place, reflecting the sunlight and giving light to us. It just hangs there! We are just hanging here on a ball too. This ball is spinning so fast, and yet we do not fly off into space. It is revolving around the sun too. And the sun is constantly lighting up the earth somewhere. This is another great proof of intelligent design and care. How many billions of miracles would have to happen for everything to be in place the way it is without a Creator! Atheists deny a supernatural Creator and say it is implausible. Oh really. Truthfully I believe in one miracle of creation…it takes trillions and trillions X trillions and trillions for “chance” to get it to where it is. I will stick to consistency in my reasoning and not drift off when it comes to God.

No Reason Here

May 13, 2010

“The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good” (Psalm 14:1).

Stephen Charnock: “A general consent of all nations is to be esteemed as a law of nature. Nature cannot plant in the minds of all men an assent to a falsity, for then the laws of nature would be destructive to the reason and minds of men.”

Clay Miller: This is how reason works. It reasons. No matter who you are, you make decisions and determinations by what you reason. For some “reason”, all rules are dropped when it comes to reasoning the existence of God. Actually, it is not an intellectual problem…it is a moral irresponsibility and a moral problem for an “atheist”.

Stephen Charnock: “How is it possible, that a falsity should be a persuasion spread through all nations, engraven upon the minds of all men, men of the most towering, and men of the most creeping understanding; that they should consent to it in all places, and in those places where the nations have not had any known commerce with the rest of the known world? A consent not settled by any law of man to constrain people to a belief of it: and indeed it is impossible that any law of man can constrain the belief of the mind.”

Clay Miller: To answer Charnock: It is not possible. It is like saying that gravity does not exist, though that very force holds down every human being and object on this planet from floating off into space.

Stephen Charnock: “Would not he deservedly be accounted a fool, that should deny that to be gold which hath been tried and examined by a great number of knowing goldsmiths, and hath passed the test of all their touch-stones? What excess of folly would it be for him to deny it to be true gold, if it had been tried by all that had skill in that metal in all nations in the world!”

Clay Miller: The problem I see today is not with intellect, but with suppression. Some of the most intellectual people in the world will drop all reason in order to deny the existence of an intelligent Designer. They will not even allow themselves to consider it! That is suppression. They are cheating themselves and they do not care! This area alone is the one area where they will not allow reason an entrance. It is not intellect that is the problem…it is their corrupt desire to suppress the reality of God at whatever expense, even at the expense of intellectual integrity. Amazing!

Idea With Your Children

One thing I thank God for was the idea to begin learning hymns with my son Luke. We know together these hymns: All Hail the Power of Jesus Name", O Worship the King' O For A Thousand Tongues to Sing, and Come Thou Almighty King. It is a slow go but we do a little at a time and we talk about what the words mean. Each morning in the car we are singing praises together. That is one of the nicest experiences for me, singing songs of praise together with my five year old son. It is worth the effort. God bless you.

Phenomenological Language

April 27, 2010

Genesis 1:14-19
And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, 15and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth." And it was so. 16And God made the two great lights--the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night--and the stars. 17And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

Matthew Henry: “2. The use they were intended to be of to this earth. (1.) They must be for the distinction of times, of day and night, summer and winter, which are interchanged by the motion of the sun, whose rising makes day, his setting night, his approach towards our tropic summer, his recess to the other winter: and thus, under the sun, there is a season to every purpose…

Ecclesiastes 3:1.
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven

Clay Miller: It is in this type of sense that the heavenly bodies govern us. We certainly do not govern them. We do not tell the sun to wait to rise. If we could I would be doing it all the time. I could sleep as long as I wanted!!!! Of course the battle of wills between every human being telling the sun what to do would be utter chaos…yeah, it just would not work too well. Actually, as a side note, the sun does not actually “rise”. The earth is actually revolving so that it appears to us that the sun is rising and setting. This is called phenomenological language. Bible writers employ this in their writings much. They write things from their perspective, not from the perspective of God. So next time the weatherman says the sunrise will be at such and such time, you can yell, “liar”!!!! “The sun does not rise!” Don’t do that, really. I am only kidding around.

Matthew Henry: “(2.) They must be for the direction of actions. They are for signs of the change of weather, that the husbandman may order his affairs with discretion, foreseeing, by the face of the sky, when second causes have begun to work, whether it will be fair or foul…

Matthew 16:2-3
He answered them, "When it is evening, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.' And in the morning, 'It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.'You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.
…They do also give light upon the earth, that we may walk and work…

John 11:9
Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.

John 9:4
We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.
…according as the duty of every day requires.

Clay Miller: This is another type of ruling the heavenly lights have over us. They determine our activity and plans. As I type this, I have my TV on to the Lakers vs. Thunder game (unfortunately the Thunder are getting hammered). This game is being played at 9:30 my time, 7:30 California time. Why? Because of where the sun is in California and because of the time people are getting off because they work at a time dictated by the sun. It is pretty amazing how much that big light up there dominates our lives.

How Do the Sun, Moon and Stars "Rule" Over Us?

April 25, 2010

Genesis 1:14-19
And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, 15and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth." And it was so. 16And God made the two great lights--the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night--and the stars. 17And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

Matthew Henry: “Of the creation of the lights of heaven we have an account. I. In general, v. 14, 15, where we have 1. The command given concerning them: Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven. God had said, Let there be light (v. 3), and there was light; but this was, as it were, a chaos of light, scattered and confused: now it was collected and modelled, and made into several luminaries, and so rendered both more glorious and more serviceable.”

Clay Miller: It is not necessary that we know what that light was before God created the light-bearing sun, moon and stars. It may have been a disembodied light of some kind. It may have been the physical representation of divine glory…like the light God will shine in the New Jerusalem… “The city had no need of the sun of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it” (Revelation 21:23). Whatever the light was, it was situated in such a way that it facilitated the day night pattern for the first three days. Then the illuminaries we know today were created and they serve us now by ruling the patterns of our lives. We all, without fail, pattern our lives according to those bodies of light. They do not rule us as if they were animate, or a deity. They rule us only in the sense that they are God’s tool to rule our life’s patterns.

Matthew Henry: “God is the God of order, and not of confusion; and, as he is light, so he is the Father and former of lights. Those lights were to be in the firmament of heaven, that vast expanse which encloses the earth, and is conspicuous to all; for “no man, when he has lighted a candle, puts it under a bushel, but on a candlestick” (Luke. 8:16), and a stately golden candlestick the firmament of heaven is, from which these candles give light to all that are in the house. The firmament itself is spoken of as having a brightness of its own…

Daniel 12:3
And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever

…but this was not sufficient to give light to the earth; and perhaps for this reason it is not expressly said of the second day’s work, in which the firmament was made, that it was good, because, till it was adorned with these lights on the fourth day, it had not become serviceable to man.

Clay Miller: God created order and He created light to illuminate that order. These lights are in our sky and are very evident, used by you today even. God lit a pretty big candle up there in our sky and it indeed lights up our lives. That same sun gives light all over the globe.

When God created the sky, our atmosphere, on day two…the pre-light was lighting the sky. Whether or not it was sufficient to light the earth as Henry says, I don’t know. What I would conclude and agree with Henry is this: The sky was not complete until God, on day four put those permanent bodies in place to govern the days and nights and seasons of planet earth. Then it could be said by God that it was good.

Some people who believe it took billions and billions of years for the universe to miraculously form from billions and billions of uncaused miracles, tell us the earth and planets of our solar system were once part of the sun. They were somehow spun off into an orderly orbit by some kind of explosion on the sun that created order, rather than disorder (as every single observed explosion produces…disorder that is). But planets like Earth, Mars, Venus and Mercury are not even near to being similar to the sun in their elemental make-up. They are each unique in their composition. How sad when we look at these planets and see their peculiar and singular designs, our teachers won’t give praise to the obvious Maker behind them. Instead they would credit chance. Their God…which is actually nothing. Not me and not my family. We will praise God for what we see in our universe. And the God we will praise is the God it all points to…the God of the Bible, Who explains the universe’s meaning and purpose and ours as well. Our chief end will be to glorify God by enjoying Him forever!

Day Four: Consider the Sun Today

April 24, 2010

Genesis 1:14-19
And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, 15and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth." And it was so. 16And God made the two great lights--the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night--and the stars. 17And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

Matthew Henry: “This is the history of the fourth day’s work, the creating of the sun, moon, and stars, which are here accounted for, not as they are in themselves and in their own nature, to satisfy the curious, but as they are in relation to this earth, to which they serve as lights; and this is enough to furnish us with matter for praise and thanksgiving.”

Clay Miller: On day four God again simply spoke and the Sun appeared, replacing whatever source of light the earth had been furnished with on day one through three. He created the moon to reflect the sun’s light at night. And He created the stars also. God could have gone into detail about the impact the sun and moon and stars have on the earth, but He chose to simply give an account of how easily He created those beings. What we continue to learn about those entities gives rise to even more awe of the power and genius behind these great works.

Matthew Henry: Holy Job mentions this as an instance of the glorious power of God, that by the Spirit he hath garnished the heavens (Job 26:13); and here we have an account of that garniture which is not only so much the beauty of the upper world, but so much the blessing of this lower; for though heaven is high, yet has it respect to this earth, and therefore should have respect from it.

Clay Miller: God seems to have created in two phases. Each day of each phase relates to its corollary. Day 1 and Day 4 deals with lights. Days 2 and 5 deal with the sky and waters and birds and fish. Days 3 and 6 deal with land and land creatures. It is like God prepares and then populates. This day, day four was God’s day to create the entities that would govern the patterns of our lives. Henry speaks of the beauty of the heavens and notes the respect it has to the earth. And oh boy does it. The sun itself is an amazing body. It is an incredibly large ball of fire. It measures 865,000 miles in diameter. That is 109 times bigger than the diameter of the earth! Its volume is 1.3 million times greater than the earth’s volume. That means it would take more than 1 million earths to fill the sun! As John MacArthur illustrates, “If the sun were the size of a bowling ball, the earth by comparison would look like a poppy seed.” It is composed of 70% Hydrogen, 28% helium, 1.5% carbon, nitrogen and oxygen, and less the .5% other elements. The surface temperature is estimated at about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Scientists believe that at its core, the temperature is as much as 27 million degrees Fahrenheit.

As we track through Henry’s commentary on this fourth day, I will add more notes on the sun, moon and stars with information on how they affect the earth and how amazing it is that we even see the stars. I was thinking about the sun being 27 million degrees. And yet that is nothing to God. He can withstand it as if nothing. He controls it. He could tell us so much that we would stand in awe of His teaching and power. But sadly, the world would rather pretend that something else is responsible for such an intelligent and coherent design.

Steeler Football Situation

I am a lifetime Pittsburgh Steelers fan. For years they had great teams but were mediocre or horrible at the quarterback position. So many times they were a QB away from winning Superbowls. When the Steelers drafted Ben Roethlisberger, it was one of the happiest drafts of my life. I had watched Ben play a couple of times on TV at Miami of Ohio and absolutely loved the guy. I literally thought, "Why can't the Steelers get a guy like this." To my surprise...they did! And sure enough this guy has proven to be a winner...on the field. He won his first 13 starts as a rookie including demolishing the eventual champions, the Patriots and the SB runner up Eagles in consecutive weeks. No rookie QB has ever had a year like Ben. In his 2nd year he suffered some injuries that kept him out of some key games which they lost and he had to come back, rusty against the Colts and lost, but then found his rhythm and led the Steelers through the Wild Card, divisional playoff and AfC Championship, all on the road, all the way to the Superbowl. He became the youngest QB to win a Superbowl. Then he wrecked his motorcycle and nearly died. He refused to be a spokesperson for wearing helmets, which is okay, but sort of silly to me. The upcoming season was a disaster as the Steelers missed the playoffs altogether. The next season the Steelers got back on track but lost to the Jaguars early in the playoffs.

Finally, in Ben's fifth year, the Steelers battled the Titans for the league's best record. The Titans won that battle but the Steelers did not lose again. They went all the way. Ben won his 2nd Superbowl. I was loving Ben more than ever. Then came the sexual allegations against him from a woman in Reno who alleged Ben had raped her. I tried not to be biased but really, I thought, no way. With that hanging over the heads of Steeler nation, we watched a 2nd time as our Superbowl champions failed to make the playoffs after winning the Superbowl.

Frustrated, but fully aware that we had lost our best defensive player and best all time safety, Troy Polamalu, as well as our leader on the defensive line, Aaron Smith, plus lost Ben in a crucial game against the Ravens, we all knew the Steelers would be contenders this upcoming season. Then Milledgeville happened...another accusation of sexual assault...

It is not whether or not he is guilty of the alleged crimes alone that matters. What matters to me as a Steelers fan, is that he seems to be acting very entitled and immature. This, whether well-founded or unfounded, is the feeling we Steeler fans have on the inside. I love Ben's talent. But it is time for Ben to grow up. He as a cance to win more Superbowls than any QB in history. But now, they may trade him...which brings me to my intended issue...

The only trade worth the risk is Ben to the Rams for their first pick which we would use on Sam Bradford. I admit I am also a die hard OU fan and have wanted the Steelers to draft a Sooner for over 20 something years now. This would more than make up for the wait on my part. Sam will be a great pro QB, but more than that, his character is the kind of character I as a Christian would like all Steelers to have. I actually would like the trade to happen. But that is the only trade I would favor right now, unless Ben messes up one more time.

Other people I am hoping the Steelers could get include: Toby Gerhart out of Stanford, any Sooner, Golden Tate out of Notre Dame, and possibley Dez Bryant if he will himself stay out of trouble. The draft begins tomorrow. Go Steelers! And lets get ready for the stairway to 7 (they have 6 titles). :)

Inconsistency of Denying God

April 20, 2010

Stephen Charnock: “To conclude this, is it not folly for any man to deny or doubt of the being of a God, to dissent from all mankind, and stand in contradiction to human nature?”

Clay Miller: It is folly. Because only in this area will we compromise rationality. Only in this area will we allow wishes and presuppositions interfere with sense. No where in life will we stand for absurdity such as is stood for in the idea of this world with all its intricacies being the product of itself. Not one atheist would truly believe the Empire State Building, Sears Tower or a computer evolved from nothing with no designer behind it. I think the complexity of the universe alludes them. Those things put together are as nothing in complexity as the universe we live in…not even near as complex as our own bodies. But they will lay all reason aside to “prove” God does not exist…It is folly to any honest mind. I am not trying to win arguments. I could not care less to sound smart or be superior in debate…I would lose from lack of giftedness in that area. I only hope to remind my fellow Christians of the great truth and reasonableness of our God and Savior. Foremost I just want to glorify God and de-glorify all competitors. And lastly, I wish I could just get some people to begin considering the truth of God so they can discover what they need to do in order to know this Creator.

Stephen Charnock: “What is the general dictate [guiding or governing principle] of nature is a certain truth. It is impossible that nature can naturally and universally lie. And therefore those that ascribe all to nature, and set it in the place of God, contradict themselves, if they give not credit to it in that which it universally affirms.”

Clay Miller: If something is true everywhere, in every instance but perhaps a few, by definition, it is natural. This would take into account all times and places as a whole in general. If every man and woman in the world is held on the ground by gravity, gravity is a certain truth…even if a few deny it and try to fly, falling to their death. Denying God may not lead to immediate death as a fall off a cliff, but just consider it a very long fall…eventually you will hit the ground (death).

On a spiritual level, with one exception (Jesus Christ), all men are corrupt and sin. This is true of every man everywhere. It is natural to fallen man. Man tries to deny it, but it is undeniable. It is nature, and nature(ally) it is therefore true. We say “naturally” because it is according to nature. It cannot be said to be a lie when it is true without fail.

To end with tonight…Charnock says, “And therefore those that ascribe all to nature, and set it in the place of God, contradict themselves, if they give not credit to it in that which it universally affirms.” This is profound. He is saying, those who attribute all existence to nature, turn around and deny their god (nature) when it comes to the universal assent to a deity. They contradict themselves in saying nature defines reality and in the same breath deny the nature of their own hearts which testifies of the Creator.

Romans 1:18-20
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
Romans 2:14-16
For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus

More later

Desires Becoming Rights

April 19, 2010

Stephen Charnock: “Should the laws of a country, agreed universally to by the whole body of the people, be accounted vain, because an hundred men of those millions disapprove of them, when not their reason, but their folly and base interest, persuades them to dislike them and dispute against them? What if some men be blind, shall any conclude from thence that eyes are not natural to men ? shall we say that the notion of the existence of God is not natural to men, because a very small number have been of a contrary opinion? shall a man in a dungeon, that never saw the sun, deny that there is a sun, because one or two blind men tell him there is none, when thousands assure him there is. Why should then the exceptions of a few, not one to millions, discredit that which is voted certainly true by the joint consent of the world? Add this, too, that if those that are reported to be atheists had had any considerable reason to step aside from the common persuasion of the whole world, it is a wonder it met not with entertainment by great numbers of those, who, by reason of their notorious wickedness and inward disquiets, might reasonably be thought to wish in their hearts that there were no God. It is strange if there were any reason on their side, that in so long a space of time as hath run out from the creation of the world, there could not be engaged a considerable number to frame a society for the profession of it. It hath died with the person that started it, and vanished as soon as it appeared.”

Clay Miller: The first sentence immediately evoked thoughts of the homosexual movement in my country. Homosexuality is not natural, no matter how you slice it. We have people who try to Christianize it by revising texts in the Bible to mean the opposite of what they mean. Yet they can provide no sound exegesis. And they can find no passage on marriage (which is highly esteemed and explained in Scripture) where God gives guidelines for homosexual marriage. Not one. Marriage is for procreation. It is for a picture of Christ and the church above all. It is always defined in terms of being between a man and a woman. God did not provide a safe way for homosexual intercourse. It is dangerous and stupid to engage parts of the body in sex that were not created for sex. If God intended men to be with men, or women to be with women, He would have made it natural. It is not. On the atheistic side, evolution speaks against it as well. Evolution is about survival of the fittest…i.e. the fittest for procreation. A species that cannot reproduce will become extinct. With all the rational reasons to understand that homosexuality is deviant behavior, and condemned in Scripture, we still are being told it is good, and we must accept it. The majority knows it is wrong, yet the minority has been given a platform that was not available in Charnock’s time: Hollywood and the Media. Charnock would be appalled.

We live in a day in which people believe desires are rights. If you desire it, it is how you are and you should not be discriminated against. That is the mentality. Of course it is a hypocritical mentality. Because one sinner will condemn other sinners in this game. Homosexuals may condemn pedophiles but pedophiles have the exact same argument as the homosexual. Murderers desire to kill. Yet that is condemned by pedophiles. Men are attracted to attractive women…so they commit fornication. That is condemned by some murderers! On and on. To bring this back around, this is true because in every man there is a conscience of some kind. That conscience is from God. And most of the sins above I mentioned, are committed by people who would say there is probably a God.

So it is with the idea of God. In my country it is lopsided, the belief in God versus atheism. Yet, the small minority has the platform. And because they have the platform, many people are confused thinking that believing in God is something “weird” or “not widely accepted”. This is the atheists darling (Hollywood and Media). They think because TV and entertainment is dominated by godlessness, that this makes the case for no God. But it is they who live in a box. God will always be acknowledged. Always. Because He exists and He makes His existence known and no amount of atheistic evangelism will change that. “How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God” (John 5:44).

Is It Really The Existence of God That Troubles You?

April 18, 2010

“The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good” (Psalm 14:1).

Stephen Charnock: “4. This universal consent is not prejudiced by some few dissenters. History doth not reckon twenty professed atheists in all ages in the compass of the whole world: and we have not the name of any one absolute atheist upon record in Scripture; yet it is questioned, whether any of them, noted in history with that infamous name, were downright deniers of the existence of God, but rather because they disparaged the deities commonly worshipped by the nations where they lived, as being of a clearer reason to discern that those qualities, vulgarly attributed to their gods, as lust and luxury, wantonness and quarrels, were unworthy of the nature of a god. But suppose they were really what they are termed to be, what are they to the multitude of men that have sprung out of the loins of Adam? not so much as one grain of ashes is to all that were ever turned into that form by any fires in your chimneys. And many more were not sufficient to weigh down the contrary consent of the whole world, and bear down an universal impression…”

Clay Miller: At first, when I read this, I did not quite understand what Charnock meant that not 20 professed atheists in all ages are reckoned in the whole world. But truly, in his time, there was very little evidence of any true atheism. And what there were, like today, were men who were disenchanted with the religion they saw because they felt that the deity that existed was not at all what that religion presented. Even today “atheists” who argue with me try to use the Bible against God. They don’t like the idea of “that kind of deity”, i.e. a deity that is not palatable to their sinful conception of what God should be like…if there were a God of course. They have a knack for trying to force a moral standard on the God of the Bible as if morality actually existed in a world of evolutionary origins. They hold God to a standard outside of Himself, as if they are God’s judges. They try to define what is evil and good, which contradicts their whole worldview of relativism with no absolute morality. The truth is, I have never met a consistent atheist. I have never met a consistent relativist. I have never read of one either.

"Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God" (John 8:47).

True Whether I believe it or Not

“The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good” (Psalm 14:1).

Stephen Charnock: “…The question was not whether there was a First Cause, but what it was. It is much the same thing, as the disputes about the nature and matter of the heavens, the sun and planets, though there be great diversity of judgments, yet all agree that there are heavens, sun, planets; so all the contentions among men about the nature of God, weaken not, but rather confirm, that there is a God, since there was never a public formal debate about his existence. Those that have been ready to pull out one another’s eyes for their dissent from their judgments, sharply censured one another’s sentiments, envied the births of one another’s wits, always shook hands with an unanimous consent in this; never censured one another for being of this persuasion, never called it into question; as what was never controverted among men professing Christianity, but acknowledged by all, though contending about other things, has reason to be judged a certain truth belonging to the christian religion; so what was never subjected to any controversy, but acknowledged by the whole world, hath reason to be embraced as a truth without any doubt.”

Clay Miller: I love the First Cause thought. There had to be one at some point. Either and intelligent, self-existent Being created and started all other existence, or, unlike anything we have ever rationalized or experienced, existence created itself. I won’t go too much into the absurdity of “self-creation”. Nothing cannot create itself. Nothing is not even an it. When we say there was nothing, too many people try to imagine some sort of empty space or vacuum. But there was no space either. If there was space, where did that space come from…and so on and so on. “Nothing” cannot even be described because it is nothing. It is the absence of something or anything. There was nothing, they say, and then something (oops) moved on the nothing causing nothing to create itself. This is why I don’t flinch when I am called “unsophisticated” for believing in the “absurdity” of a Creator.

Even Richard Dawkins would prefer “aliens” having created our universe to the utter nonsense that it just happened. Well, I should say, he would prefer it over “God”. But where did the aliens come from? Or better, why not just believe that the “aliens” are God? Here is why…Dawkins and other atheists do not want to be held accountable to a God who is superior to them and demands what they cannot do. So they hate God. They hate people who remind them of God. And they try everything to convince themselves that they are righteous in suppressing the idea of God.

Within Christianity there is much difference and debate. There is corruption of the Christian faith. There are essential issues that truly disqualify groups from being authentic and there are issues that are not essential that true Christians may differ on, be wrong, and yet still worship the one true God. But the fact that there is so much arguing about Christianity, confirms that Christianity exists. That is no argument for the truth of Christianity, but for the existence of it as a religion. Just as the many ideas of God is not an argument for the truth of all religions, but it is an argument for the existence of God. What God we are to believe in is another issue.

I not only believe Christianity is the only truth…it is the only truth. It is self authenticating, It is consistent. It matters not if I accept it or it reject it. It stands on its own objective reality. It does not say anything about the truth or God when man rejects it. It says volumes about the man. It does not change the truth when rejected. It affects the rejecter. More later…

April 16, 2010

“The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good” (Psalm 14:1).

Stephen Charnock: “3. Whatsoever disputes there have been in the world, this of the existence of God was never the subject of contention. All other things have been questioned. What jarrings were there among philosophers about natural things! into how many parties were they split! with what animosities did they maintain their several judgments! but we hear of no solemn controversies about the existence of a Supreme Being: this never met with any considerable contradiction: no nation, that hath put other things to question, would ever suffer this to be disparaged, so much as by a public doubt. We find among the heathen contentions about the nature of God and the number of gods, some asserted an innumerable multitude of gods, some affirmed him to be subject to birth and death, some affirmed the entire world was God; others fancied him to be a circle of a bright fire; others that he was a spirit diffused through the whole world yet they unanimously concurred in this, as the judgment of universal reason, that there was such a sovereign Being: and those that were skeptical in everything else, and asserted that the greatest certainty was that there was nothing certain, professed a certainty in this…

Clay Miller: No matter what nation we go to, there is worship of a deity in its past, present, and to be sure, its future. What we find is not the absence of religion, “cultural practices” or “thought processes”, but rather worship of various types of deities and powers. Some places are very polytheistic. Some are monotheistic. Some believe in a limited being. Some believe in an all-powerful hard Being. Some people believe the sun and the moon are deities. Some people believe all things are God. There are many ideas about the nature of a higher being. But the point is, there is an idea period. I am a simple guy really. I like to take things from the very bottom and work up. What I see in this world I live in is evidence of someone very big, very powerful, very smart and very wise. I also see that there is good and bad, evil and righteousness. And the Bible is the only book, the only religion, that explains all I see so consistently. More later…

Where Have I Been?

My posting has slowed down. It has just been a very busy four weeks or so. I am hoping to BLOG more consistently and continue the Charnock and Henry Studies. I think I will do one week at a time on each though, rather than alternating each time. I don't know yet. I will decide on my next entry. I think I will also add some random posts now and then...maybe some family happenings, sports, etc...I will see. But I am loving going through the little, well, big, studies I have been going through on here. Hope to get back on it soon.

Won't Change the Past But Will Strive to Change the Pattern of the Past for the Future

April 6, 2010

Genesis 1:9-13
Then God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so. 10And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good. 11Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth"; and it was so. 12And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13So the evening and the morning were the third day.

Matthew Henry: [Observe] “4. That it is good to provide things necessary before we have occasion to use them: before the beasts and man were made, here were grass and herbs prepared for them. God thus dealt wisely and graciously with man; let not man then be foolish and unwise for himself. 5. That God must have the glory of all the benefit we receive from the products of the earth, either for food or physic. It is he that hears the heavens when they hear the earth, Hos. 2:21, 22. And if we have, through grace, an interest in him who is the fountain, when the streams are dried up and the fig-tree doth not blossom we may rejoice in him.

Clay Miller: God did set an example of preparation in creation. I am a personal testimony of putting the cart before the horse in life. I have done that in major ways that have had major affects. I was just talking tonight about how I am disappointed in some ways about my life. But at the same time, God’s grace in the midst of my failures have been amazing and beyond. I would not change anything in my past because of the graces I have now. But I want to look to the future with the attitude that I want to change that pattern of the past for my future. I need to do things right, with preparation. We should sow the field and get it ready before we build. God’s wisdom shows this in how He first made ready a habitat for the living breathing creatures.

And lastly, from this passage, Henry reminds me that all the benefits we receive from the earth are from God and to His glory. I miss this a lot in my ungrateful habits. But this is a timely reminder to thank God for everything. I have because He has given.

Thankful for Believing

April 4, 2010

“The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good” (Psalm 14:1).

Stephen Charnock: If there were not this sentiment of a Deity, no man would ever have made an image of a piece of wood, worshipped it, prayed to it, and said, “Deliver me, for thou art my God…”They applied a general notion to a particular image. The difference is in the manner, and immediate object of worship, not in the formal ground of worship. The worship sprung from a true principle, though it was not applied to a right object: while they were rational creatures, they could not deface the notion; yet while they were corrupt creatures it was not difficult to apply themselves to a wrong object from a true principle. A blind man knows he hath a way to go as well as one of the clearest sight; but because of his blindness he may miss the way and stumble into a ditch. No man would be imposed upon to take a Bristol stone instead of a diamond, if he did not know that there were such things as diamonds in the world: nor any man spread forth his hands to an idol, if he were altogether without the sense of a Deity. Whether it be a false or a true God men apply to, yet in both, the natural sentiment of a God is evidenced; all their mistakes were grafts inserted in this stock, since they would multiply gods rather than deny a Deity.

How should such a general submission be entered into by all the world, so as to adore things of a base alloy, if the force of religion were not such, that in any fashion a man would seek the satisfaction of his natural instinct to some object of worship? This great diversity confirms this consent to be a good argument, for it evidenceth it not to be a cheat, combination or conspiracy to deceive, or a mutual intelligence, but every one finds it in his climate, yea in himself. People would never have given the title of a God to men or brutes had there not been a pre-existing and unquestioned persuasion, that there was such a being;—how else should the notion of a God come into their minds?—the notion that there is a God must be more ancient.

Clay Miller: In general, with the exception of the few who “deny” God, the world universally submits to the recognition of a deity. Even with the coming of the atheists savior, ‘evolution’ or ‘naturalism’, the world confusedly intermingles the two ideas. The force of this truth is so strong in everyone that they try to vent it in objects or ideas. Even atheists believe in something better, they just make it an idealogy. Like I said, no atheist comes to my post without a knowledge of the idea of God. It is universal. And it is universal because it is evident. The evidence of God is older than us. It is settled and we are vapors. And yet the fight will go on. But I am thankful tonight for God freeing me from denying Him. I would have always denied Him had He not made a way for me to be forgiven in Christ and if He Himself had not changed my mind. More later…

Aseity

April 2, 2010

Genesis 1:9-13
Then God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so. 10And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good. 11Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth"; and it was so. 12And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13So the evening and the morning were the third day.

Matthew Henry: “[Observe] 3. That though God, ordinarily, makes use of the agency of second causes, according to their nature, yet he neither needs them nor is tied to them; for, though the precious fruits of the earth are usually brought forth by the influences of the sun and moon…

Deuteronomy 33:14
With the precious fruits of the sun, With the precious produce of the months,

…yet here we find the earth bearing a great abundance of fruit, probable ripe fruit, before the sun and moon were made.

Clay Miller: It is interesting how day 1 correlates with day four with light being created and on day 4 light-bearing objects. Day 2 correlates to day 5 in that the firmament was created and the seas, and day 5 filled the firmament with birds and those seas with life. And day 3 here, God creates land and vegetation, correlating with day 6 in which God fills the land with living creatures.

One of the wonders of God is His self-existence. This is also known as the aseity of God. He has no cause. He has always existed (eternal). He is the only being as such. This is one reason there can be no other God and why no one ever can become a god. Part of the definition of God is His aseity and His eternality.

Being God, He is the First Cause of creation. In creating He established a system in which second causes work to continue reproduction of plants and animals and humanity. He oversees it all in His providence and decrees. This too sets God apart as God. Only He has no need for other causes or laws to create. All of this is created from Himself as the source. So when you look at the waters, the earth, the vegetation, the reproductive systems…remember the Creator!

The Tooth Fairy Is Not Historically Universal :)

March 31, 2010

“The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good” (Psalm 14:1).

Stephen Charnock: If there were not this sentiment of a Deity, no man would ever have made an image of a piece of wood, worshipped it, prayed to it, and said, “Deliver me, for thou art my God…”They applied a general notion to a particular image. The difference is in the manner, and immediate object of worship, not in the formal ground of worship. The worship sprung from a true principle, though it was not applied to a right object: while they were rational creatures, they could not deface the notion; yet while they were corrupt creatures it was not difficult to apply themselves to a wrong object from a true principle. A blind man knows he hath a way to go as well as one of the clearest sight; but because of his blindness he may miss the way and stumble into a ditch. No man would be imposed upon to take a Bristol stone instead of a diamond, if he did not know that there were such things as diamonds in the world: nor any man spread forth his hands to an idol, if he were altogether without the sense of a Deity. Whether it be a false or a true God men apply to, yet in both, the natural sentiment of a God is evidenced; all their mistakes were grafts inserted in this stock, since they would multiply gods rather than deny a Deity.

Clay Miller: Universally, all cultures worship. This is because there is a notion of a God. Richard Dawkins, when asked, what if he was wrong about there not being a God, arrogantly and condescendingly retorted, “what if there is a tooth fairy?” So in honor of Mr Dawkins, I will use the tooth fairy to make a quick point. There is not a universal notion of a tooth fairy. If there were a universal notion of a tooth fairy, then we probably would have ourselves a tooth fairy. But because the tooth fairy is made up, like the Easter bunny, Santa Claus, etc…it does not have the history of being a universal belief in all places and all times. God is evident, and because He is evident, all cultures of all times have tried to worship some form of deity. Though misapplied, the worship exists everywhere because man has always had the notion of a deity.

The Bible calls us blind in our natures. This is why we know there is a God, yet miss going to Him, but rather fall into idolatry…unless He Himself opens our eyes to see. If we are offered a rock crystal instead of a diamond, we would choose the diamond because we know the value of diamonds. If we did not know the value of diamonds it would not matter to us. Why do we make that choice? We know of diamonds and ideas have consequences. So too, we would choose some sort of worship if we did not have the notion that there was something, Someone, bigger than us. Even the atheist fights the idea of God. He can give reasons why he does it, but he cannot deny he knows of the notion of a deity, nor can anyone with mental capacity to think.

Natural But Still Miraculous

March 28, 2010

Genesis 1:9-13
Then God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so. 10And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good. 11Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth"; and it was so. 12And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13So the evening and the morning were the third day.

Matthew Henry: “[Observe here] 2. That common providence is a continued creation, and in it our Father worketh hitherto. The earth still remains under the efficacy of this command, to bring forth grass, and herbs, and its annual products; and though, being according to the common course of nature, these are not standing miracles, yet they are standing instances of the unwearied power and unexhausted goodness of the world’s great Maker and Master.

Clay Miller: Matthew Henry made me think about nature vs. the miraculous. When all I see around me, (trees, plants, grass, water, light, etc…) was first created, it was all a miracle. It transitioned into natural phenomena, that which we are familiar with, processes we have come to expect and understand. But we should take the time to see it all for what it was originally…a miracle, an evidence of God’s power. We still do that with babies. We still see the miraculous nature of birth many times. But it is everywhere. The wind blowing; The light allowing us to see everything else; the grass we are getting ready to cut because it continues to re-grow; the buds we see on trees, etc…It is all a bunch of original miracles we should stop and consider so as to worship and praise the God who had such power and wisdom to create it all.

Is "Universal Belief" an Argument For or Against God?

March 24, 2010

“The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good” (Psalm 14:1).

Stephen Charnock: 2. Nor doth the idolatry and multiplicity of gods in the world weaken, but confirm this universal consent. Whatsoever unworthy conceits men have had of God in all nations, or whatsoever degrading representations they have made of him, yet they all concur in this, that there is a Supreme Power to be adored. Though one people worshipped the sun, others the fire--and the Egyptians, gods out of their rivers, gardens, and fields; yet the notion of a Deity existent, who created and governed the world, and conferred daily benefits upon them, was maintained by all, though applied to the stars, and in part to those sordid creatures. All the Dagons of the world establish this truth, and fall down before it. Had not the nations owned the being of a God, they had never offered incense to an idol: had there not been a deep impression of the existence of a Deity, they had never exalted creatures below themselves to the honor of altars: men could not so easily have been deceived by forged deities, if they had not had a notion of a real one. Their fondness to set up others in the place of God, evidenced a natural knowledge that there was One who had a right to be worshipped. If there were not this sentiment of a Deity, no man would ever have made an image of a piece of wood, worshipped it, prayed to it, and said, “Deliver me, for thou art my God…”

Isaiah 44:17
And the rest of it he makes into a god, His carved image. He falls down before it and worships it, Prays to it and says, "Deliver me, for you are my god!"

Clay Miller: This cuts off from the books paragraph. I will finish it in coming days, Lord willing.

I mentioned before how I came across an atheists website and one of his big hang-ups was the fact that there are different gods worshipped everywhere so how could there really be a God at all. That simplifies his argument, I know, but that is his argument in a nutshell. But, as Charnock points out above, this is not proof of no God, but on the contrary, it is the expected consequence of a fallen world that has God written on their hearts. Another thing this atheist thought was some evidence against God, related to this, was that everyone thinks they are right about their god. He calls us delusional because in a world where there are countless gods we have the audacity to think ours is the right one. But two things cross my mind at his argument. One, he tries to pretend his view is not part of the many views of God. His view worships the idea of no God. So in effect it is just another belief against all the others. And he has the audacity to think he is right? Two, this assumes, falsely, that if there is a God, then all people must agree on who this God is. Or, to put it another way, this assumes that there cannot actually be one religion out there who is right, simply because other competing ideas exist. That is foolishness. More Later…

God's World, as in He Owns It

March 23rd 2010
Great to be back and I hope consistently again. We have has some deaths in our lives, and some illness. I am fighting yet another virus yesterday and today. Just a fever and aches. I am determined to get back on track on my studies so Lord willing, here it goes…

Genesis 1:9-13
Then God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so. 10And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good. 11Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth"; and it was so. 12And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13So the evening and the morning were the third day.

Matthew Henry: “Observe here, 1. That not only the earth is the Lord’s, but the fulness thereof, and he is the rightful owner and sovereign disposer, not only of it, but of all its furniture. The earth was emptiness (v. 2), but now, by a word’s speaking, it has become full of God’s riches, and his they are still—his corn and his wine, his wool and his flax…

Hos. 2:9
"Therefore I will return and take away My grain in its time And My new wine in its season, And will take back My wool and My linen, Given to cover her nakedness.

…Though the use of them is allowed to us, the property still remains in him, and to his service and honour they must be used.

Clay Miller: This is the reason we Christians understand ourselves, or should understand ourselves to be stewards here and not owners. Even this body I inhabit is God’s. I am God’s. I am His property. He owns me. He is the Creator God and has a plan and within that plan I live and act and consent, however so unwittingly it may be. This is His portrait, being painted the exact way He wants it and it will always be so. God created me and all of this “stuff” for Himself.

Over the last couple of days much has been said about the new Health Care Plan passed by Congress and signed into law today. Whether you agree or disagree with it, it is part of God’s painting and another major part of His awesome work is how He is leading those who are His to search out Scriptural responses to what we now have as law. This is the time that God takes His brush and strokes beautiful renditions of humility, love, blessedness and service. I oppose the health bill. That is not for this BLOG. But my heart attitude toward it needs to be uniquely Christian because I should understand that this did not happen behind God’s back. This happened because God means for it to…for now at least. Understanding God’s sovereignty should help us, encourage us, and humble us at times we feel attacked. It is all God’s. If He so chooses to let our government fall, or our nation to be defeated, then it will happen. We should battle, but in godliness. And we need to respond biblically so that we can be salt and light in a world that has really been dark all along. More later…

Batting 0% and They Think They Have an Argument

March 16, 2010

“The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good” (Psalm 14:1).

Stephen Charnock: “…No people so untamed where absolute perfect atheism had gained a footing. No one nation of the world known in the time of the Romans that were without their ceremonies, whereby they signified their devotion to a deity. They had their places of worship, where they made their vows, presented their prayers’ offered their sacrifices, and implored the assistance of what they thought to be a god; and in their distresses run immediately, without any deliberation, to their gods: so that the notion of a deity was as inward and settled in them as their own souls, and, indeed, runs in the blood of mankind. The distempers of the understanding cannot utterly deface it; you shall scarce find the most distracted bedlam, in his raving fits, to deny a God, though he may blaspheme, and fancy himself one.”

Clay Miller: Nowhere in history, geographically, has atheism ruled so that it was taken to its logical conclusion: Untamed lawlessness. If there is no God, there is no absolute morality and every man is a law unto himself. There is no nation on record where atheism reigns so supreme that there is no idea of God. There are devotions to deities everywhere. To some atheists this “proves” God is a made up idea. See my March 10th post for some comments on that mindset. To the contrary, if there is a God, it would be evidenced by a universal acknowledgment of a deity. It is in every man’s heart. No matter how much the atheist hates this, he cannot deny that he too has experience with the idea of God. That is why he dedicates so much time to fighting it. It is why he calls himself a name that has reference to the idea of a deity: Atheist-the belief there is no what? God. More later.

He Provided...and Keeps on Providing Despite Us

March 15, 2010

Genesis 1:9-13
Then God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so. 10And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good. 11Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth"; and it was so. 12And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13So the evening and the morning were the third day.

Matthew Henry: “ II. How the earth was furnished for the maintenance and support of man, v. 11, 12. Present provision was now made, by the immediate products of the upstart earth, which, in obedience to God’s command, was no sooner made than it became fruitful, and brought forth grass for the cattle and herb for the service of man. Provision was likewise made for time to come, by the perpetuating of the several kinds of vegetables, which are numerous, various, and all curious, and every one having its seed in itself after its kind, that, during the continuance of man upon the earth, food might be fetched out of the earth for his use and benefit. Lord, what is man, that he is thus visited and regarded —that such care should be taken, and such provision made, for the support and preservation of those guilty and obnoxious lives which have been a thousand times forfeited!

Clay Miller: So much of our lives are dependent, and though we sin against God, He continues to provide us food and water. God created the vegetation in an instant. It did not take umpteen billion years to evolve it. He displayed His power, and He provided a record of it in Genesis for us to see the display. What is sad is how much of it we miss. Even more sad is how people, instead of seeing God’s greatness and utter otherness from creatures, instead choose to dismiss this as “impossible”…mainly because they cannot do something like it so why should some other being be able to. But God has much to say in so little an account. It was really nothing to Him to create. And His creating was done with much wisdom in its provision for a mega operation He was about to create to inhabit and work the planet.

I love how Genesis 1:1 sort of says “duh” to the discovery of DNA. DNA makes sure that things reproduce “according to its kind”. Long before DNA was discovered, the Bible covered this fact. DNA is a design. It is a system. It is a code. It is another great proof of a Designer. And, like all of nature, it is shouting to the people to seek God in Scripture so you can know who you are, who He is, and what you need to be reconciled to Him, because as you will discover in the Bible, your life is an offense to Him…yet He keeps on giving you breath, life and sustenance. More later.