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.

The Idea Of God Cannot Be Escaped

March 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: “…No instance can be given of any one people in the world that disclaimed it [the existence or acknowledgement of a deity]. It hath been owned by the wise and ignorant, by the learned and stupid, by those who had no other guide but the dimmest light of nature, as well as those whose candles were snuffed by a more polite education, and that without any solemn debate and contention. Though some philosophers have been known to change their opinions in the concerns of nature, yet none can be proved to have absolutely changed their opinions concerning the being of God. One died for asserting one God; none, in the former ages upon record, hath died for asserting no God. Go to the utmost bounds of America, you may find people without some broken pieces of the law of nature, but not without this signature and stamp upon them, though they have wanted commerce with other nations, except as savage as themselves, in whom the light of nature was as it were sunk into the socket, who are but one remove from brutes, who clothe not their bodies, cover not their shame, yet were they as soon known to own a God, as they were known to be a people. They were possessed with the notion of a Supreme Being, the author of the world; had an object of religious adoration; put up prayers to the deity they owned for the good things they wanted, and the diverting the evils they feared…”

Clay Miller: This is a continuation of a paragraph which can be read from the March 10th post. I will finish the lengthy thought next time. All people of all times have thought of a higher being, a god, a creator. This is so universal that even an atheist reading this claims to be an “atheist” (belief in no God). He cannot even name himself without reference to the idea of a God. He simply takes what is there and what has been made known to him with conscience, words, teachings, evidences, etc…and he merely denies it, and calls himself a name that presupposes the existence of the idea of a god. So then, maybe he will come up with a new word, a new title. But no matter what he comes up with, he is that name as opposed to what? The idea of a deity. He cannot escape it. That is why atheists get so angry at theists. They want so bad to break the bonds and chains they feel shackling them as creatures who are accountable to their Creator. But they will never get where they hope to get. More latere.

What is Buried Becomes Unburied and in Life Too

March 11, 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: “Hitherto the power of the Creator had been employed about the upper part of the visible world; the light of heaven was kindled and the firmament of heaven fixed: But now he descends to this lower world, the earth, which was designed for the children of men, designed both for their habitation and for their maintenance; and here we have an account of the fitting of it for both, the building of their house and the spreading of their table.

I. How the earth was prepared to be a habitation for man, by the gathering of the waters together, and the making of the dry land to appear. 1. The waters which had covered the earth were ordered to retire, and to gather into one place. The waters thus collected he called seas. Waters and seas often, in scripture signify troubles and afflictions…

Psalm 42:7
Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; All Your waves and billows have gone over me.

Psalm 69:2, 14, and 15
I sink in deep mire, Where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, Where the floods overflow me…Deliver me out of the mire, And let me not sink; Let me be delivered from those who hate me, And out of the deep waters. 15 Let not the floodwater overflow me, Nor let the deep swallow me up; And let not the pit shut its mouth on me.
…God’s own people are not exempted from these in this world; but it is their comfort that they are only waters under the heaven (there are none in heaven), and that they are all in the place that God has appointed them and within the bounds that he has set for them. 2. The dry land was made to appear and emerge out of the waters, and was called earth, and given to the children of men. The earth, it seems, was in being before; but it was of no use, because it was under water. Thus many of God’s gifts are received in vain, because they are buried; make them to appear, and they become serviceable.”

Clay Miller: Matthew Henry had a great knack for seeing truths from nature. It is as if nature is designed to display so many great spiritual truths. Henry takes us through a brief account of the earth appearing out of the waters and some analogies he gleaned from this picture. Before I comment on those, I just want to say “WOW”! What must this have looked like! What did this massive movement do to the earth, to the tectonic plates, etc…This was enormous activity and surely would create amazing effects on the appearance of the our globe.

Scripture indeed harnesses the idea of water to convey the idea of troubled times. He gave two passages as examples. As I was copying all of this, my mind kept asking, “what are our waters? What are our waves and rushing waters?” We all go through hard times. But God is that bridge over troubled waters. He sustains us. He purposes those times and we trust our lives and deaths in His hands. We know as God controls physical waves, He controls spiritual waves as well. As a Christian I have this comfort. Some reading this will scoff and say I am leaning on a crutch. But who isn’t limping? And by the way, you lean on one too. I don’t care who you are. The question is, how long will your crutch hold out for you?

The second thought is how, like the earth coming up out of the waters and becoming useful, so our gifts should not be buried but made to appear and then they become useful. I would like to add one thought to this…The things God is teaching us when we are buried in the waters will soon come out and appear and be useful too. We should never bury our gifts nor our lessons learned from being tumbled through the tidal waves of trouble.

Backward Thinking: The New Rationale

March 10, 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: “Reason I. Tis a folly to deny or doubt of that which hath been the acknowledged sentiment of all nations in all places and ages. There is no nation but hath consented in the notion of a Supreme Creature and Governor.

1. This has been universal. 2. It hath been constant and uninterrupted. 3. Natural and innate.

First, it hath been universally assented to by the judgment and practices of all nations in the world.

1. No nation hath been exempted from it. All histories of former and latter ages have not produced any one nation but fell under the force of this truth. Though they have differed in their religions, they have agreed in this truth; here both heathen, Turk, Jew, and Christian, center without any contention. No quarrel was ever commenced upon this score; though about other opinions wars have been sharp, and enmities irreconcilable. The notion of the existence of a Deity was the same in all, Indians as well as Britons, Americans as well as Jews. It hath not been an opinion peculiar to this or that people, to this or that sect of philosophers; but hath been as universal as the reason whereby men are differenced from other creatures, so that some have rather defined man by animal religiosum, than animal rationale. ‘Tis so twisted with reason that a man cannot be accounted rational unless he own an object of religion; therefore he that understands not this, renounceth his humanity when he renounceth a Divinity…”

Clay Miller: I cut it off there because it is a long paragraph and I will try to break it into parts over the next week.

The other day I was browsing an atheists BLOG and he was very zealous about the fact that the existence of ‘thousands’ of religions was absolute proof that God was not real. I want to put about 150 question marks on that statement. I will not attack the blogger here…I will only point out that he is a self-proclaimed know-it-all. Yet, he reasons from the universal acknowledgment of God in all cultures and nations of all times to the conclusion that this is “proof” there is no real God. To play Richard Dawkins game on its head, well then, maybe there is a tooth fairy! Since it is not universally acknowledged this must lend some credence to the existence of a tooth fairy! On top of that, where the tooth fairy is believed in, it is pretty much the same tooth fairy preached! Leave a tooth under your pillow and the tooth fairy will leave money for the tooth!

It seems the guys argument is that if there were a real God, then it would not be a universal idea. If there were a real God, then everyone would without a doubt believe exactly right about Him. There would be no way that one person would have one idea about Him and another his own idea. And it seems the argument would presuppose man is in the perfect position to judge what God should and should not be so that there is never any discrepancy in one another’s understanding and belief. Then that would prove there is a God! What utter nonsense.

Charnock makes the point that the belief in God is universal. That is not to say there are not those who deny His existence, it is to say that even those who deny His existence have themselves detected the idea of there being a deity, a higher being, a creator. From there, they may set out to oppose the idea but it was there nonetheless. The contention between nations was never over the existence of a higher being, but sometimes over who or what that being is.

Of course a self-proclaimed atheist would disagree with the last statement above by Charnock: “Tis so twisted with reason that a man cannot be accounted rational unless he own an object of religion; therefore he that understands not this, renounceth his humanity when he renounceth a Divinity…” Today “twisted” is the new rationale it seems. Absurdity is now deemed “profound”. But nonetheless, objectively, the twisting cannot change what is true and clear and it would do an atheist well to be honest about his twisted thinking. More later.

Answering Little Letterman

Top Ten Signs You're Delusional

10 - You vigorously deny the existence of thousands of gods claimed by other religions, but feel outraged when someone denies the existence of yours.

Clay Miller: Or you vigorously deny the existence of absolute truth (a natural consequence of atheism) and get outraged at all by anything. If you take your atheism to its logical conclusion you would just live and survive, but never ever get mad at something you would deem “immoral” because morality is all in your delusional head.

9 - You feel insulted and "dehumanized" when scientists say that people evolved from other life forms, but you have no problem with the Biblical claim that we were created from dirt.

Clay Miller: Hmmm, I think this David Letterman wannabee is assuming I am insulted that someone thinks I came from nothing which created itself (?????) and evolved along with a great orderly universe with all its symbiotic relationships into a icky ick, and eventually some sort of hominoid and then my great, great, great, great, great, great, et al granddaddy. Well no, no offense taken. Sort of feel sorry for that person actually…I try not to laugh because really it is sad that you will believe absurdity like…dirt or something less than dirt evolved into man on its own, rather than a God big enough to do anything took dirt He created and recreated something out of it. It is kind of like saying, “You are delusional if you think light waves have something to do with your FM Radio…smart atheists no what I am talking about…so I do hope I do not need to explain how light waves are harnessed so you can listen to you stereo and “rock out dude”.

8 - You laugh at polytheists, but you have no problem believing in a Triune God.

Clay Miller: I would not say I laugh. I would say I have yet to discover a coherent polytheistic religion. I would also say that the Bible presents one God in three persons. That, obviously unknown to our miniature Letterman here, is not a philosophical contradiction. If we said God is three persons and one person, that would be a contradiction. If we said, God is three beings and one being, that is a contradiction. However three person in one being is not. Simply take a dead body. A person inhabited that body, that being you see in the casket. But the person in gone. If this is not enough, please do go to your local university, find the best atheistic philosophy teacher you can find and ask him if the statement, “God is three persons in one being: is a contradiction. So…sorry, you would be the foolish one here.

7 - Your face turns purple when you hear of the "atrocities" attributed to Allah, but you don't even flinch when hearing about how God slaughtered all the babies of Egypt in "Exodus" and ordered the elimination of entire ethnic groups in "Joshua" including women, children, and trees!

Clay Miller: Actually little Letterman, I do flinch. Because you see, God knows those babies and people inside and out and you do not. You presume to. You presume to know God’s intentions for the babies. You presume it is wrong for God to determine when a life will end. You presume we are entitled to live as long as we say. God, as God can take a life anytime He desires. I find it ironic that your face turns purple when you hear of such atrocities, being an atheist and all with no absolute moral standard. Who are you to even begin to talk about something being bad or good? What? Because you say so? That is laughable. Who are you to any of us? See you betray yourself by expecting us to allow you to force your standard of morality on us…so are we supposed to be in shock and awe that you would try to impose your moral standard on God? You presuppose babies and people are good and entitled. On a horizontal level, that is, between men, they are, but not with God. That is hard for you to swallow, But nonetheless, you prove why we deserve God’s wrath.

6 - You laugh at Hindu beliefs that deify humans, and Greek claims about gods sleeping with women, but you have no problem believing that the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary, who then gave birth to a man-god who got killed, came back to life and then ascended into the sky.

Clay Miller: You seem to bringing a little bit of Mormon theology to bear on the account…at least it sounds like an implication. But we do not say the Holy Spirit actually had sexual intercourse with Mary. I am sort of embarrassed for you at this point but will continue…Basically God, who was capable of creating an infinitely complex universe, allowed Mary to miraculously conceive…let me help you hear. The miracle would not be that she had sex with a God. That would just be bizarre but it would not be a miraculous conception, just a miraculous union. See, the miracle was, she was a VIRGIN. Look that up in the dictionary if need be. If she would have had sex with the Holy Spirit then, well…I think you get the picture. So, yes, Gee, I guess if God can create the intricate universe, the amazing human body, and all the complex creatures from atoms to stars and microscopic organisms and galaxies, etc…goodness, could he? Would he? Actually be able to put a baby in Mary’s womb??????

5 - You are willing to spend your life looking for little loopholes in the scientifically established age of Earth (few billion years), but you find nothing wrong with believing dates recorded by Bronze Age tribesmen sitting in their tents and guessing that Earth is a few generations old.

Clay Miller: The sad thing is little Letterman here thinks he is smarter than ‘bronze age’ tribesman. I wonder if little Letterman has his own army or is even a thousandth times as wealthy as the Fathers of the Old Testament. He must be to make such a bold statement. Loopholes? Little Letterman is talking about the inconsistencies and contradictions of Old Earth science. And he does not quite get the drift that evolutionary dating is based on assumption…yes ask any naturalistic evolutionist. Sorry. Oh and if you could show me where they tested these theories in a lab and observed them, that would be helpful in classifying them as “scientific” rather than faith-based as they are.

4 - You believe that the entire population of this planet with the exception of those who share your beliefs -- though excluding those in all rival sects - will spend Eternity in an infinite Hell of Suffering. And yet consider your religion the most "tolerant" and "loving."

Clay Miller: I actually consider Christianity to be very narrow. Little Letterman is the one forcing this on all Christianity. The way is narrow and few find it. From man to man, horizontally, Christians are to be longsuffering and tolerant because we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone to the glory of God alone and that not of ourselves but it is something God did in us…His elect. God is tolerant enough to let you fight Him and hate Him and live for a while, rather than sending you straight to His feet to see He is and who He is before pouring His wrath out on you.

3 - While modern science, history, geology, biology, and physics have failed to convince you otherwise, some idiot rolling around on the floor speaking in "tongues" may be all the evidence you need to "prove" Christianity.

Clay Miller: Little Letterman is here showing delusion in thinking the Bible teaches us to believe based on signs and wonders. True science is provable, geology is evident, biology is evident, and physics…think about the complexity of physics…all that just evolved so perfectly from nothing? Little Letterman takes all the proof of the Bible and only needs reinterpretation of the evidence to “prove” atheism.

2 - You define 0.01% as a "high success rate" when it comes to answered prayers. You consider that to be evidence that prayer works. And you think that the remaining 99.99% FAILURE was simply the will of God.

Clay Miller: Little Letterman has no way of understanding the purpose and pursuit of prayer. Prayer is not naming and claiming something…it is seeking God’s glory in a situation and that brings the rate to 100%. He misses out though because his idea of success in prayer is getting exactly what you ask for rather than seeking God’s will and glory in His answer.

1 - You actually know a lot less than many atheists and agnostics do about the Bible, Christianity, and church history - but still call yourself a Christian.

Clay Miller: The funny thing about that statement after these pathetic straw men arguments is that Little Letterman thinks he actually proved something. Ironically, God could say the same thing about atheists: You think you know so much about science, geology, biology and physics and the Bible and church history and Christianity, and world religions…and you still call yourself intelligent? God laughs (Psalm 2).

The Sky: Reminding us to Worship

March 7, 2010

Genesis 1:6-8
Then God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters." 7Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. 8And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.

Matthew Henry: “4. The naming of it: He called the firmament heaven. It is the visible heaven, the pavement of the holy city; above the firmament God is said to have His throne…

Ezekiel 1:26
And above the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone; on the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it.

…We should be led by the contemplation of the heavens that are in our eye to consider our Father who is in heaven. The height of the heavens should remind us of God’s supremacy and the infinite distance there is between us and him; the brightness of the heavens and their purity should remind us of his glory, and majesty, and perfect holiness; the vastness of the heavens their encompassing of the earth, and the influence they have upon it, should remind us of his immensity and universal providence.”

Clay Miller: Great thoughts and great for a list. We should write these down, maybe like this:

Looking at the sky:
The Heights=God’s supremacy and transcendence.
The Brightness and Purity=His glory and majesty and perfect holiness.
The Vastness and Influence on the earth=His immensity and Providence over all existence.

The sky should remind us to worship and remind us of who we are worshipping.

"God" Known Everywhere at all Times

March 6, 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: It is a folly to deny or doubt of a Sovereign Being, incomprehensible in his nature, infinite in his essence and perfections, independent in his operations, who hath given being to the whole frame of sensible and intelligible creatures, and governs them according to their several natures, by an unconceivable wisdom; who fills the heavens with the glory of his majesty, and the earth with the influence of his goodness.

It is a folly inexcusable to renounce, in this case, all appeal to universal consent, and the joint assurances of the creatures.

Reason I. Tis a folly to deny or doubt of that which hath been the acknowledged sentiment of all nations in all places and ages. There is no nation but hath consented in the notion of a Supreme Creature and Governor.

1. This has been universal. 2. It hath been constant and uninterrupted. 3. Natural and innate.

Clay Miller: He will pick up on those three ideas next. It would be absurd, a great folly for anyone reading this BLOG to assume these words, with the order forming words, the spaces separating each word (if I have no typos) and the punctuation marks defining parts, merely came into being on their own with no author, no writer, no thinker, no designer. The mere being of this short document betrays some mind behind it. The content itself reveals the information coming from one Stephen Charnock and one Clay Miller. You moved from existence to content. That is the same with our world. God is evident. This world is a great document. And the Bible, explains the meaning of it all. Nature points to Scripture and Scripture points us to who the God is who created this seemingly infinite universe.

Incomprehensible: Obviously, the God who created this existence we know and that part we are ignorant of, is beyond comprehension, utterly other than ourselves.

Infinite: This Creator is infinite. This universe is a reminder of that. He is without end. You never ever, ever, come to a point where you reach “the end of God”. He is limitless. Each perfection and attribute of His is as well.

Independent: He has no dependence on anything outside of Himself for anything.

Inconceivable wisdom: No scientist can even begin to scratch the surface of how all things in this world work.

It is evident. And the reason every single country, tribe and nation believes in some kind of God, is because it is evident. We all know something is there. The Bible explains more fully who He is. It confirms what we already know. The atheist chooses to suppress this knowledge because it is his nature to do so. Our natures do not like God. We do not like that we are not good. It is hard to bow down to such a God who has revealed such truths. But it is a folly not to.

Answers In Genesis Plug :)

March 1, 2010

Genesis 1:6-8
Then God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters." 7Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. 8And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.

Matthew Henry: “3. The use and design of it [the firmament]—to divide the waters from the waters, that is, to distinguish between the waters that are wrapped up in the clouds and those that cover the sea. God has, in the firmament of his power, chambers, store-chambers, whence he watereth the earth. O what a great God is he who has thus provided for the comfort of all that serve him.”

Clay Miller: This firmament with the waters above, may have been a protective canopy that shielded the earth from some of the sun’s more dangerous rays. In such an environment, life could be sustained much longer, which could account for those who lived hundreds of years. If so, this canopy collapsed during the days of the flood as God opened the floodgates of heaven. If you are interested in this I would point you to www.answersingenesis.com.