This thought really provoked consideration on my words to express Who God is and I enjoyed it much. I hope you do as well!
"You know how we say "God is good." Well I just realized how that is so insufficient to say. I mean "yes of course he is good," but we also think our grades are "good" the food is "good" that one boy in Southland is "good" looking. With the way we use words today, the word "good" doesnt mean too much.... and especially doesnt do justice to God. I wish I could think of a word to use...God is great? amazing? awesome? wonderful? YES, he is all these things, yet these words dont do him justice. The reason I say this... is today in church I was struck with the fact that God is .... (insert a sufficing word if you can think of one)I had been really thinking and wondering over some things about trials and hardships." by Courtney Schnetz
28.2.08
Have or Have Not?
A comment by my sister recently sparked this post. People, when asked what God has been teaching them lately, often mention patience. Yet patience is a fruit of the Spirit. If one yields to the Spirit they have it, if not then the fruit is not apparent. Therefore my sister insightfully mused as to whether one can be taught a fruit of the Spirit. It seems to her at this point in time that waiting and patience may be different although similar.
I have not studied this yet and will thus refrain from making a comment.
What are your thoughts?
I have not studied this yet and will thus refrain from making a comment.
What are your thoughts?
26.2.08
America's Enterprise of Faith
"When the Church began in Jerusalem it was a relationship. It moved to Greece and became a philosophy. It moved to Rome and became an institution. It moved to Europe where it became a culture and it moved to America and became an enterprise" said Morris.
Every nation, people and culture which has had the privilege of a strong Christian influence has allowed time or culture to negatively influence the faith. In Greece and America culture is the bane. Time and the complacency it breeds are the culprits in Rome and Europe. The results of their gradual fall we see mentioned above. They now, like the cities of antiquity, have only a semblance of their former glory.
When I walk the book isles, browse the music section and take a general inventory of Christianity in America today I am sickened! Christian material is too often marketed with money at the heart rather than Christ and the edification of believers...especially when a particular product does well! It is a business attitude that dictates product placement and advertisement not the will of God...or at least The God. Sadly much of the Christian community has chosen the master wealth and God is at their back. For Christ said, "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth" (Matthew 6:24).
Moreover, churches have succumbed to this worldliness and joined hands with business and entertainment for the sake of numerical growth. "The rise of the evangelical churches, especially the megachurches, is a consumer-driven movement similar to changes seen in politics, art and education, said James Twitchell, author of 'Shopping for God: How Christianity Went From in Your Heart to in Your Face.' 'Successful churches,' Twitchell said, 'have one thing in common: They are entertaining'" (Denver Post 26.2.08- "Americans restless in search for God" by Electa Draper; http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_8362744). As a result truth is little preached and few disciples made (true there are many Christians, or perhaps very few once the surface is breached). Depth has taken a backseat, if it is even in the vehicle, to width. That is, the only sacrifice made on the alter has been quality in order to make room for quantity.
Love too has been a victim. Those swinging to the other side of the pendulum in reaction to the aforementioned movement have offered a different but equally offensive sacrifice. Christ NEVER ceded doctrine but He also NEVER ceased to love. One without the other is empty and meaningless. Love without doctrine is cheap and shallow and doctrine without love is only noise.
Therefore like Christ let us return to a proper balance, always loving and always upholding doctrine.
Moreover, we must also take heed of the current situation in America lest the age old adage "history repeats itself" become true of the US. Sadly it appears that this nation has already slipped far down the slippery slope and is nigh unrecoverable. But there is hope and it lies in prayer. All revivals have their birth herein because only God can take such calloused and hardened hearts and make them soft and open again.
Yet hope lies in the future as well if we should fail to climb back up the peak. History reveals that as one nation falls another picks up the banner. Looking to the East, Asia, particularly China shows great potential and is perhaps already prepared by God and poised to seize the standard! Thank God for His knowledge to know all things, wisdom and discernment to act righteously and best and His power to work them out!
Every nation, people and culture which has had the privilege of a strong Christian influence has allowed time or culture to negatively influence the faith. In Greece and America culture is the bane. Time and the complacency it breeds are the culprits in Rome and Europe. The results of their gradual fall we see mentioned above. They now, like the cities of antiquity, have only a semblance of their former glory.
When I walk the book isles, browse the music section and take a general inventory of Christianity in America today I am sickened! Christian material is too often marketed with money at the heart rather than Christ and the edification of believers...especially when a particular product does well! It is a business attitude that dictates product placement and advertisement not the will of God...or at least The God. Sadly much of the Christian community has chosen the master wealth and God is at their back. For Christ said, "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth" (Matthew 6:24).
Moreover, churches have succumbed to this worldliness and joined hands with business and entertainment for the sake of numerical growth. "The rise of the evangelical churches, especially the megachurches, is a consumer-driven movement similar to changes seen in politics, art and education, said James Twitchell, author of 'Shopping for God: How Christianity Went From in Your Heart to in Your Face.' 'Successful churches,' Twitchell said, 'have one thing in common: They are entertaining'" (Denver Post 26.2.08- "Americans restless in search for God" by Electa Draper; http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_8362744). As a result truth is little preached and few disciples made (true there are many Christians, or perhaps very few once the surface is breached). Depth has taken a backseat, if it is even in the vehicle, to width. That is, the only sacrifice made on the alter has been quality in order to make room for quantity.
Love too has been a victim. Those swinging to the other side of the pendulum in reaction to the aforementioned movement have offered a different but equally offensive sacrifice. Christ NEVER ceded doctrine but He also NEVER ceased to love. One without the other is empty and meaningless. Love without doctrine is cheap and shallow and doctrine without love is only noise.
Therefore like Christ let us return to a proper balance, always loving and always upholding doctrine.
Moreover, we must also take heed of the current situation in America lest the age old adage "history repeats itself" become true of the US. Sadly it appears that this nation has already slipped far down the slippery slope and is nigh unrecoverable. But there is hope and it lies in prayer. All revivals have their birth herein because only God can take such calloused and hardened hearts and make them soft and open again.
Yet hope lies in the future as well if we should fail to climb back up the peak. History reveals that as one nation falls another picks up the banner. Looking to the East, Asia, particularly China shows great potential and is perhaps already prepared by God and poised to seize the standard! Thank God for His knowledge to know all things, wisdom and discernment to act righteously and best and His power to work them out!
6.2.08
The Wars Within
Today America enjoys great internal peace. Foreign nations no longer occupy the soil, North and South have now been reunited for over a century and civil unrest is microscopic. However, while physical internal peace is realized new enemies have risen in the conflict vacuum. Now that peace has been accomplished people feel free to engage in other forms of warfare. Today there is an ideological war being waged amongst the general American populace and a power struggle of similar character taking place between branches of government.
Before the 60's most American's more or less held the same moral and ethical values. They believed in truth and right and wrong. Yet during the tumultuous 60's youths began to rebel against those long held principles. Black and white blurred into grey, all things were relative, peace and love was the motto. This time appears to be the mother of liberalism, especially the extreme left. As it has developed and "matured" the political spectrum has been stretched greatly. In the process innumerable variations and combinations of the two ideologies have been created between the extreme left and fundamental right. Consequently the gorge separating left from right, liberal from conservative, has grown into a cavernous valley, one side is barely visible from the other. Indeed France cannot be seen from New England's coast.
Unable to find much common ground the two sides have become increasingly opposed to one another. Israel and Judah though of the same father had little other resemblance in the days of Asa and Ahab. Little trace of amity in either word or action can be found any longer. Ergo American society has become alarmingly incongruous. In fact, the country has decidingly split between two camps, the Democratic and the Republican, the Liberal and the Conservative. The sea appears calm on the surface but beneath strong currents oppose one another. Ideological militancy is beginning to emerge and if nothing is done to alleviate the tension then physical conflict is a viable possibility. The volcano erupts when pressure becomes too great. Sufficient is history's testimony.
Let me here digress and address the issue of governmental conflict. Today I heard it said by several coworkers that the Bush administration is Monarchal in nature. Mulling over their comment a possible reason for their impression came to me. Bush is a steady president not fickle and wishy washy. Therefore he does not tolerate being treated as a puppet of the Legislative branch. It could appear then that the flexing of executive power is to a detrimental degree. Yet it is needed. For there is a very real power struggle between the two branches, especially when opposing parties occupy the separate branches. As with the American society, the branches of government are at odds with one another due to their radically different views. At every level this rift is apparent.
In conclusion superficial peace exists and must be dealt with in one way or another. There is little evidence though that the conflict will be reconciled peacefully. America is not even hinted at in end times prophecy so it must be deduced that a catastrophic event befalls this nation who is a world player and power. United we stand, divide we fall. Will America's end be at our own hands or by another nation's?
Before the 60's most American's more or less held the same moral and ethical values. They believed in truth and right and wrong. Yet during the tumultuous 60's youths began to rebel against those long held principles. Black and white blurred into grey, all things were relative, peace and love was the motto. This time appears to be the mother of liberalism, especially the extreme left. As it has developed and "matured" the political spectrum has been stretched greatly. In the process innumerable variations and combinations of the two ideologies have been created between the extreme left and fundamental right. Consequently the gorge separating left from right, liberal from conservative, has grown into a cavernous valley, one side is barely visible from the other. Indeed France cannot be seen from New England's coast.
Unable to find much common ground the two sides have become increasingly opposed to one another. Israel and Judah though of the same father had little other resemblance in the days of Asa and Ahab. Little trace of amity in either word or action can be found any longer. Ergo American society has become alarmingly incongruous. In fact, the country has decidingly split between two camps, the Democratic and the Republican, the Liberal and the Conservative. The sea appears calm on the surface but beneath strong currents oppose one another. Ideological militancy is beginning to emerge and if nothing is done to alleviate the tension then physical conflict is a viable possibility. The volcano erupts when pressure becomes too great. Sufficient is history's testimony.
Let me here digress and address the issue of governmental conflict. Today I heard it said by several coworkers that the Bush administration is Monarchal in nature. Mulling over their comment a possible reason for their impression came to me. Bush is a steady president not fickle and wishy washy. Therefore he does not tolerate being treated as a puppet of the Legislative branch. It could appear then that the flexing of executive power is to a detrimental degree. Yet it is needed. For there is a very real power struggle between the two branches, especially when opposing parties occupy the separate branches. As with the American society, the branches of government are at odds with one another due to their radically different views. At every level this rift is apparent.
In conclusion superficial peace exists and must be dealt with in one way or another. There is little evidence though that the conflict will be reconciled peacefully. America is not even hinted at in end times prophecy so it must be deduced that a catastrophic event befalls this nation who is a world player and power. United we stand, divide we fall. Will America's end be at our own hands or by another nation's?
5.2.08
Addendum to "Evolution and Man"
In my reading I recently came across these quotes from Charles Darwin which are case in point of the aforementioned post. As one will see, the creator of the Evolutionary Theory himself realized the implications of his proposal. "Even the subtitle for Charles Darwin's groundbreaking 1859 book Origin of Species reflects this particular aspect of "natural selection": The Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life" (ICR "Acts and Facts" article "One Birthday, Two Legacies by Beth Mull- http://www.icr.org/article/3653/).
"I could show fight on natural selection having done and doing more for the progress of civilization than you seem inclined to admit.... The more civilized so-called Caucasian races have beaten the Turkish hollow in the struggle for existence. Looking to the world at no very distant date, what an endless number of the lower races will have been eliminated by the higher civilized races throughout the world" (ICR "Acts and Facts" article "One Birthday, Two Legacies by Beth Mull- Charles Darwin: Life and Letters, I, letter to W. Graham, July 3, 1881, 316; cited in Himmelfarb, G. 1959. Darwin and the Darwinian Revolution. London: Chatto and Windus, 343).
"He ranked certain races as being between "the Caucasian" and the baboon.
At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilized races of man will almost certainly exterminate, and replace, the savage races throughout the world. At the same time, the anthropomorphous apes...will no doubt be exterminated. The break between man and his nearest allies will then be wider, for it will intervene between man in a more civilized state, as we may hope, even than the Caucasian, and some ape as low as a baboon, instead of as now between the negro sic or Australian and the gorilla" (ICR "Acts and Facts" article "One Birthday, Two Legacies by Beth Mull- Darwin C. 1901. The Descent of Man. London: John Murray, 241-242).
Again Evolution enslaves and degrades mankind but God and Scripture frees and elevates him to his rightful place as beings created in God's image. Thus they are to be treated and respected as such. In the latter faith all men are created equal.
"I could show fight on natural selection having done and doing more for the progress of civilization than you seem inclined to admit.... The more civilized so-called Caucasian races have beaten the Turkish hollow in the struggle for existence. Looking to the world at no very distant date, what an endless number of the lower races will have been eliminated by the higher civilized races throughout the world" (ICR "Acts and Facts" article "One Birthday, Two Legacies by Beth Mull- Charles Darwin: Life and Letters, I, letter to W. Graham, July 3, 1881, 316; cited in Himmelfarb, G. 1959. Darwin and the Darwinian Revolution. London: Chatto and Windus, 343).
"He ranked certain races as being between "the Caucasian" and the baboon.
At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilized races of man will almost certainly exterminate, and replace, the savage races throughout the world. At the same time, the anthropomorphous apes...will no doubt be exterminated. The break between man and his nearest allies will then be wider, for it will intervene between man in a more civilized state, as we may hope, even than the Caucasian, and some ape as low as a baboon, instead of as now between the negro sic or Australian and the gorilla" (ICR "Acts and Facts" article "One Birthday, Two Legacies by Beth Mull- Darwin C. 1901. The Descent of Man. London: John Murray, 241-242).
Again Evolution enslaves and degrades mankind but God and Scripture frees and elevates him to his rightful place as beings created in God's image. Thus they are to be treated and respected as such. In the latter faith all men are created equal.
3.2.08
Paper or Plastic?
Does anyone find it ironic, even funny, that just about ten years ago Americans and the world were trying to save trees and thus boycotted paper bags and switched to plastic but today, in the name of the same fight, are boycotting plastic?
This sounds earily similar to the ice age scare of my father's generation and the global warming scare of my generation.
This sounds earily similar to the ice age scare of my father's generation and the global warming scare of my generation.
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