“…the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight.” I Corinthians 3:19 NIV
Category: God’s Love
Do YOU Really Think God Will Overlook the American Holocaust of Unborn Children?
Do YOU really think God will overlook the American Holocaust of unborn children? Consider the historical precedents.
American Civil War
On Saturday, March 4, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln delivered his Second Inaugural Address just a few weeks before his assassination. It’s the one with the famous line near the end, “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right…” let us repair the physical, emotional, and spiritual damage of the Civil War. The brief, but profound speech is inscribed on the wall of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC.
The Civil War was by far the bloodiest of all American Wars. More blood was shed and lives lost during the Civil War than all other wars involving Americans put together. Why? Lincoln provided an answer in the lines preceding the famous one:
Both [sides] read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invoked His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. “Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.” [Matthew 18:7 KJV]
If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away.
Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequired toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash (slavery) shall be paid by another drawn with the sword (war), as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said “the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.” (parentheses added)
Such is the “woe” (price) Americans apparently paid of the “offense” of slavery. Now, let’s fast forward to World War II.
Holocaust of World War II
We are accustomed to viewing World War II from the perspective of the Americans and Allied Forces. However, Anita Dittman provided another profound perspective in her just published book, Trapped in Hitler’s Hell: A Young Jewish Girl Discovers the Messiah’s faithfulness in the Midst of the Holocaust. Anita’s faith sustained her throughout the most horrifying times the human mind can possibly conjure. The book is her story.
Her comments near the end of the book highlight the enormous price Germany paid for the holocaust of the Jews:
Germany was a massive, burned-out crater by the end of the war. Three million of her soldiers died, and another million shivered in the prisons of Siberia (presumably dying there as well). More than half a million civilians perished in the air raids over Germany.
The Nazis did their best to exterminate the entire Jewish race. In so doing, the Germans lost nearly as many of their own citizens, in addition to massive material losses. “Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.” [Matthew 18:7 KJV] Although the Germans paid an astronomical price for their “woe,” there is yet another one in our time.
Holocaust of America’s Unborn Children
Since the U.S. Supreme Court rendered the infamous 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion, there has been a holocaust of nearly 58,000,000 unborn children. “But whoso shall offend one of these little ones…it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” [Matthew 18:6 KJV] Each individual childbirth is widely proclaimed to be a miracle from God. Can we reasonably expect God to keep His word with respect to the woe of slavery and the woe of the Jewish holocaust, yet look the other way regarding the modern woe (holocaust) of His miracle unborn children?
In a recent South Korean TV drama, a young girl discovers she’s pregnant following a single intimate encounter. She tells the father she’ll go to the hospital and have it “taken care of.” Neither liked the idea of abortion, but in the tense moments of the conversation, it seemed to be the only way to deal with the situation. The next morning, the father awakens to a note indicating that the mother was on the way to the hospital. The father rushes into the doctor’s office during a preliminary ultrasound. The father is told that the rhythmic sound emerging from a speaker is the baby’s heartbeat.
After a few anxious moments, both mother and father sign the consent form and the father walks to a waiting room. As he sits down, an immediate expression of anguish spreads across his face. He’s soon sweating bullets. When the tension exceeds his coping ability, he charges down the hospital hall faster than a 100-yard dasher, bursting into the operating room, screaming, “Stop!”
Moments later, the father and still-pregnant mother leave the hospital relieved to have avoided the abortion. The chuckling doctor turns to the nurse saying, “The heartbeat gets’em every time. Nine out of ten of them can’t go through with it after hearing the baby’s heartbeat.” The heart begins beating a mere 18 days after conception. Of course, life begins with God’s miracle at the moment of conception.
It’s fascinating that the Korean doctor’s do everything possible to discourage abortion. In contrast, the doctors in the American money-machine abortion mills do everything possible to encourage abortion. However, it’s not a matter of encouraging or discouraging abortion. The woe of the modern American holocaust of unborn children must be banned altogether.
Anita Dittman further charged that:
Many pastors and churches sold out to the Nazis or else turned a deaf ear and a blind eye to the suffering of Europe’s incarcerated. Satan worked himself into the very heart of the church in Germany and caused many church people—pastors and layman alike—to rationalize and compromise with the Nazis. A hear-no-evil, see-no-evil mentality swept the country with regard to her treatment of the Jews and other “undesirables.”
Today, it appears that many pastors and laymen are similarly turning a deaf hear to the holocaust of abortions. A compromise with evolution-rooted humanism, pressured by the beguiling notion of so called political correctness, is a compromise with Satan. How many Germans suffered severely just because they looked the other way. Do you really think that Americans can get away with “looking the other way?” What do YOU think?
“Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.” [Matthew 18:7 KJV] “But whoso shall offend one of these little ones…it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” [Matthew 18:6 KJV]
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The Family is Rock Solid!
The family is rock solid. Don’t miss out! The traditional family is one of the most awesome, breathtaking, and vitally important of all of God’s magnificent creations! Here’s why:
- God’s plan stabilizes and provides coherence to the family.
- The stabilized family builds stability and coherence into the national culture.
- A stable culture assures continuity of values across future generations.
- God’s plan facilitates the growth of the God-ordained marriage partnership and family.
- Married people are happier.
- Married people are healthier.
- Family is life’s boot camp for children, instilling virtues and guiding growth.
- True family-centered families—as opposed to career-centered family arrangements reduce crime.
- True family-centered families—as opposed to career-centered family arrangements reduce drug abuse.
- A loving family experience facilitates interpersonal relationships outside the family, enhancing the richness of career, hobby, volunteer, and recreational experiences.
- God’s plan enables family members to practice humility, forgiveness, mercy, longsuffering, and a servant’s spirit in a loving, nonthreatening environment.
- The positive character embedded in family members—parents and children—is carried to the outside community throughout life.
- Family members learn to overcome pride by serving other family members
- The family is an incubator for building God-ordained intellectual, emotional, and spiritual views and values (character development).
- The family aligned with God’s plan ultimately leaves the greatest of all possible legacies.
- The family aligned with God’s plan is the married couple’s gift back to God.
- The family aligned with God’s plan inspires frequent, comfortable, and nonthreatening opportunities for faith sharing.
The driving passion for the family visualized in God’s plan is the aggregate of:
- Gratitude for the Lord’s personally expressed infinite love.
- Desire to express that gratitude by serving Him and others as a way of life.
- Desire to be a conduit of His love to succeeding generations by embedding His love and character in the next generation’s children.
Anything that erodes family culture absolutely and irretrievably undermines national culture, at first weakening it and ultimately annihilating it. No culture has ever survived the breakdown of the family. Ours won’t either. It’s up to YOU to save America and the family. What do you think?
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What Did Einstein Think About God?
What did Albert Einstein, the monumental icon of the intellect, think about God? Let’s just let him speak for himself:
- “Everyone who is seriously interested in the pursuit of science become convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe—a spirit vastly superior to that of man, and one in the face of which we with our most modest powers must feel humble.”
- “His [scientist’s] religious feeling takes the form of a rapturous amazement at the harmony of natural law, which reveals an intelligence of such superiority that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection.”
- “As a child I received instruction in both the Bible and the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene… No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life.”
Perhaps, Einstein was inspired by Job 38:4-7, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Or…
- “The Lord by wisdom founded the earth.” [Proverbs 3:19]
- “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible…All things were created through Him and for Him.” [Colossians 1:16]
- “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.” [Revelation 4:11]
Sadly, today our culture has, “exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.” [Romans 1:25] When the God of the universe competes with man’s attempts to make himself his own god, who wins? Who do you think? Are YOU willing to stand with Albert Einstein in awe of the Creator and honor Him for all He has done?
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“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.” [Prov. 14:34 NIV]
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Evolution Blows Away Like a House of Cards in a Hurricane!
Darwin knew a living cell as only a blob of green protoplasm. However, in recent decades since the discovery of DNA, knowledge of cell structure has exploded at an exponential pace. A cell is like a micro-city. It has power plants (mitochondria), manufacturing plants (ribosomes), a central library or database (DNA), an “Interstate” highway system (microtubules), a distribution center (Golgi Complex), a fleet of trucks (vesicles), and provisions for water and wastewater treatment. Your body has 50-100 trillion of these micro-cities.
Each of your cells houses a DNA database that contains at least 3 gigabytes of information (think Encyclopedia Britannica) coded in a language that uses a four-letter alphabet (nitrogen bases). Each of 100,000 different proteins in the body is itself a massive molecule created from a language using a twenty-letter alphabet (amino acids). Proteins contain from 50 to 36,000 amino acids in a precisely programmed sequence. A single cell contains about 9,000 of these amazingly complex molecules in addition to the DNA.
To manufacture just one protein, the information coded in a very specific DNA location must be transcribed (like old-fashioned short hand) from coded information to information in a useful form (RNA). The information in the more useful form must be translated from a 4-letter alphabet language into different 20-letter alphabet language, similar to translating English into Chinese. Only then can the actual manufacture of the protein begin.
Even the DNA of a single-celled bacterium contains an amount of coded information in the megabyte range. Remember when computers had a memory measured in megabytes? We were amazed at even those computer capabilities at the time.
Did all this arise by time and chance alone? No way! Absolutely not! Simply imagining astronomical amounts of time cannot come anywhere close to explaining the creation of life.
Today, Charles Darwin would likely doubt, if not repudiate, his own theory. Toward the end of his life, he observed:
I was a young man with unformed ideas. I threw out queries, suggestions, wondering all the time over everything; and to my astonishment the ideas took like wildfire. People made a religion of them. Charles Darwin
Praise God from whom ALL things flow!
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“Only fools say in their hearts, ‘There is no God.'” [Psalms 14:1 NLT]
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Two Opposing Worldviews Cannot Coexist
The most important of all life’s decisions is the acceptance or denial of the existence of God and recognition of His active presence in the life of anyone accepting Him. It is a critical decision, because in addition to eternal consequences, the choice becomes the driving force of the present life. The unbeliever tends to live for the benefit of self, within few moral/ethical constraints. The believer matures by learning the importance of serving others, adhering to God’s moral standards as an expression of love, and knowing that focusing on the needs of others inspires the richest possible life experience. God’s moral standards require continuing progress along the lifelong journey to maturity, a journey where an individual should become substantially more humble, forgiving, merciful, and longsuffering, while developing a servant’s spirit.
In contrast, mankind’s own evolution-rooted standards incites a drive toward the opposing view, including selfishness, scorn, vengeance, impatience, and a demanding spirit. Although there are more polite terms for these seemingly negative values, they are all provoked by an unhealthy form of pride. The contrast between the evolutionist/secular view and the Christian view could not be greater. Consider the Table 6.1 comparison between the two views.
The evolutionist/secular humanist view appears to provide a path to a strained conclusion that God does not exist, evoking the post-modern conclusions that there is no objective truth and therefore no overarching values that apply to all people. Essentially, man becomes his/her own god, scorning religion and depending on the authority only of self, evoking decisions rendered primarily for the benefit of self. The absence of values anchored to incontrovertible virtues prompts severe criticism of the traditional Judeo-Christian American culture. One casualty of the loss of a stable culture is the replacement of commonly held values with extreme tolerance, which is indistinguishable from indifference. The absence of moral responsibilities combined with the perception that life is absolute and absolutely short elevates a prideful and extreme pursuit of wealth. With the public distracted by materialism, the self-proclaimed elite are able to pursue, virtually unhindered, their perception of a utopia that they believe can only be achieved by total government control of all people, except the elite themselves. Note the tendency of the U.S. Congress to exempt themselves from many pieces of legislation.
The Judeo-Christian view is that God is the Creator of all things and all life. He is personally interested in every individual. Since God is truth, objective truth is derived from Him and the study of His Creation. As such, the Christian depends on the authority of God, rather than self, recognizing that American exceptionalism arose from Judeo-Christian tradition. That tradition produced the best quality-of-life and the highest standard-of-living in the world. There is no other explanation. A Christian values faith and love above all else, keeping a healthy and balanced perspective of materialistic pursuits. He/she recognizes that God provided moral limitations for the benefit of people not to control them. Moral limitations are a safe harbor leading to reduced stress, the full richness of the human experience, stable families and a cohesive culture that is readily sustained from generation to generation. God has already created paradise in the Garden of Eden and in Heaven. Mankind’s own failures have caused the problems in between. The Christian’s life focus is on serving others and maturing by growing in godly character. Finally, the Christian seeks wisdom, noting that the Holy Bible and the clergy are reliable points of reference, not government leaders.
Despite the extreme and life-changing importance attached to the choice of a world view, many people drift toward a view without serious consideration of the alternatives. Although the choice is the most influential driving force of life, many people simply yield to cultural pressure institutionalized in the public education system, moving gradually toward an evolutionist/secular view. Even many people claiming to hold the Christian view do so on a somewhat shallow level bending to the winds of cultural decline as a matter of practical living. God’s view is clear, but often misunderstood, because modern Christians tend to limit God’s Word, the Bible, by depending on detailed analysis to mine a new nugget of wisdom (zoom in). However, God’s view is holistic (zoom out). Rather than viewing God’s Word from the “bottom up,” Christians must learn, insofar as possible to also appreciate in a pervasive way, the wholeness of God’s Word, as He views it.
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Do People Ask YOU About Your Faith? Why? When?
Recently, I was reminded that Christian leaders encouraging believers to share their faith often cite 1 Peter 3:15, which reads, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” [NIV] The context of the presentation is usually an effort to persuade believers to ask a clever question, which will turn the conversation in a spiritual direction.
However, the Scriptural context is always being ready, when someone, usually an unbeliever, asks the believer about his hope. Do people ask YOU about your hope? Why or why not? The sense of the Scriptural passage is that the hope must be visible or no one would be inclined to ask.
How does hope become visible? 2 Corinthians 6:17 echoes the same thought, “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord.” [NIV] Being separate indicates visibility; hope clearly means visibility in a positive, attractive, and encouraging way.
But today, many in the body of Christian believers are largely invisible—lost in the crowded background culture. We look like everyone else. We dress like everyone else, within limits of modesty. We talk like everyone else, but usually choose to avoid profanity. We socialize like everyone else, but avoid certain movies or particularly sinful places. However, what we don’t wear, don’t say, or places we choose not to go are negatives, which are essentially not visible. Yet, we are known as a people who aspire to live life on a higher plane. When the higher plane is not visible, the result is the common accusation that we are judgmental, narrow minded, dupes.
The vital question remains, “How are we to be separate and visible in a positive or desirable way?” Matthew 7:20 is a big help, “…by their fruit you will recognize them.” [NIV] What fruit? The fruit of godly character and the fruit of love, which is the fruit of the Spirit!
A previous blog demonstrated that love is spiritual energy and that ALL love comes from God. God’s infinite love passes through the prism of YOU and me, to the extent that it is not hindered by the interference of our pride, separating love into its components, which are humility, forgiveness, mercy, longsuffering, and a servant’s spirit. We grow and mature by actively and routinely choosing to be humble, forgiving, merciful, longsuffering, and being a servant to others. These are the actions that become visible in our culture, when we exhibit them as a lifestyle.
But there is more, much more. Our character and visibility grow as we encounter opportunities to be humble, forgiving, merciful, longsuffering, and a servant to others. Character growth allows us to experience one of God’s most incredible promises, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” [Galatians 5:22 NIV] All the time, during and in between character-building events, we are privileged to experience, express, and exhibit the pervasive overwhelming fruit of the Spirit.
Now, that’s positive, endearing visibility. The fruit of the Spirit creates a glow and spiritual allure unlike anything else. That’s when people will ask us about the hope that we have. That’s when YOU must, “Always be prepared to give an answer…” What do YOU think?
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“Mothers constitute the only universal agent of civilization. Nature has placed in her hands both infancy and youth. The vital interest of America hang largely upon the influence of mothers.” T.W. Shannon
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Dad and Mom Are Superheroes
Both the Old and New Testaments summarize the Ten Commandments into just two. “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” [Matthew 22:37-40; Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18 NIV] Both commandments represent ultimate love characterized by extreme giving. The first is a vertical love of God; the second is a horizontal love of others.
Consider how those two commandments uniquely apply to marriage. Scripture explains the marriage relationship:
Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear (reverence, awe) of God. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. [Ephesians 5:21-28 KJV (emphasis added)]
A husband must give himself for his family so they may become as perfect and blameless as is humanly possible. In essence, the husband and wife are mutual givers, but there is more, much more.
The earthly marriage is a representation of an eternal relationship with God. The Lord is illustrated scripturally as the bridegroom coming for his bride, the worldwide body of believers. “Let us rejoice and be glad and give him (Messiah) glory! For the wedding of the Lamb (Y’shua; Jesus) has come, and his bride has made herself ready…blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb…These are the true words of God.” [Revelation 19:7&9 NIV] The Bible further clarifies that the apostle John, “saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” [Revelation 21:2 KJV]
Scripturally, the order of the universe is that the Lord is the bridegroom and the body of believers is the bride. Of course, in any earthly marriage the man is the bridegroom and the bride is the beautiful woman spectacularly dressed in a white wedding gown walking down the aisle to meet her man. But in a larger sense, the bride is not just the woman at the ceremony, the bride is the woman and by extension the children she later produces, often referred to as the fruit of her womb. The husband is required to love the wholeness of his bride, i.e. the wholeness of his family, even as the Messiah also loved the church, to the point of the husband’s own death if necessary.
Fallows magnificently explains, “The husband is the ‘house band,’ the earthly giver of life, uniting the divine with the human in the supreme function of fatherhood.” The wife is ‘the weaver,’ shaping and coloring in the prenatal and postnatal influences of sacred motherhood the destinies of her offspring.” “As the “earthly giver of life, uniting the divine with the human,” the husband/father becomes the role model for “the first and greatest commandment” to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”
As the “weaver,” the wife/mother is the connection between the past and future generations of her family, but also the past and future generations of the culture. She is the role model for the second summary commandment to ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Shannon clarifies,
Mothers constitute the only universal agent of civilization. Nature has placed in her hands both infancy and youth. The vital interest of America hang largely upon the influence of mothers.” The queen that sits upon the throne of home, crowned and sceptered as none other ever can be, is—mother. Her enthronement is complete, her reign unrivaled, and the moral issues of her empire are eternal. “Her children rise up, and call her blessed.” Rebellious at times, as the subjects of her government may be, she rules them with marvelous patience, winning tenderness and undying love. She so presents and exemplifies divine truth, that it reproduces itself in the happiest development of childhood—character and life…An ounce of mother is worth more than a pound of clergy.
The complementary responsibilities of the husband/father and the wife/mother are awesome and readily illustrated by The Cross of Family Life, which of course resembles the iconic ancient cross used for crucifixion. Although the old Roman cross was a notorious instrument of extreme torture and ultimate sacrifice, for Christians it is also a symbol of incomparable love. The Lord’s amazing self-sacrifice was an expression of his infinite love for all mankind for all time. Similarly, The Cross of Family Life is a representation of the parents’ many daily sacrifices as an expression of their love. As an expression of God’s infinite love, Dad and Mom routinely set aside their own desires as an expression of love for each other, the children, and the larger culture.
Sadly, far too many dads in modern America fail to carry out their God-assigned, high- priority, family responsibilities, either due to a lack of holistic understanding, the powerful lure of excessive materialism or both. Far too many moms fall short by not being there and available for raising the children. Together, such parents effectively sacrifice their children on the altar of the false god of materialism. However, when Dad and Mom lovingly and enthusiastically bear The Cross of Family Life, the results can be deeply heartwarming and sometimes even breathtaking. When they do not, the results can range from troublesome to tragic.
Some time ago, I devoted seven years to meeting virtually all the needs and providing around-the-clock care for my terminally ill late wife. She endured a neurodegenerative condition similar to Alzheimer’s disease. After her passing, a well-wisher said. “You really sacrificed a lot during those years.” I thanked her and replied that it did not seem like I sacrificed anything. Providing total care was more important than anything else I could have been doing during that time. It was a monumentally life-changing experience that has had long-term impacts on me and those around me and will continue to do so far into the future.
Together, fueled by God’s infinite supply of love, Dad and Mom become virtual super heroes, an incredibly awesome team stabilizing God’s brilliantly designed family and the national culture as a whole. A child forms a vertical relationship with God, primarily, though not exclusively, through the role model of the father; a child forms horizontal relationships with others within and beyond the family primarily, though not exclusively, through the role model of the mother. The complementary combination produces godly character in the child. The actions of role modeling build character in the parents. The character of every family member extends outward to the community and the nation.
That is God’s grand design for Dad and Mom. What incredible superheroes!
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Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. [and] …love your neighbor as yourself.
Deuteronomy 6:5 & Leviticus 19:18/Matthew 22:37 & 39/Mark 12:30 & 31 NIV
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All Love Comes from God
Significant spiritual growth occurs only to the extent that a Judeo-Christian believer routinely serves the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of others thus growing in the character, by becoming increasingly humble, forgiving, merciful, longsuffering, and serving. That is God’s will for YOUR life.
As a child, did you ever play with a glass prism? It is a small wedge-shaped piece of glass with two triangular sides and three rectangular sides (one is the base). When sunlight or white light from any source is passed through the prism, the light is separated into its components revealing all the colors of the rainbow.
Scientists have demonstrated that all physical energy originates from the sun. Fossil fuels, for example, were once plants that absorbed solar energy through a process called photosynthesis. The plants used the energy from sunlight to combine water and carbon dioxide, producing glucose (a form of sugar) and oxygen. Large masses of dead plants exposed to elevated temperatures and pressures deep within the earth eventually became the crude oil and natural gas that are burned today to produce energy. Even the energy that supports our own life arises from the plants we eat or the animals we eat that have themselves fed on plants. Hence, we “burn calories” to release the energy that supports all body functions.
In contrast, love is spiritual energy. Just as the sun is the source of all physical energy, God is the source of all spiritual energy, because “…God is love…” [1 John 4:16 KJV] and “…love comes from God. [1 John 4:7 NIV] Similarly as light (physical/electromagnetic energy) is separated into its influences—a rainbow of colors—when the light passes through a glass prism, God’s love (spiritual energy) is separated into its influences when it passes through the prism of you and me.
The graphic shows how God’s infinite love is expressed through people. The components of love are expressed as attitudes and specific acts of humility, forgiveness, mercy, long-suffering, and a servant’s spirit. Collectively, the growth of those influences in each person’s life moves him/her toward the perfection of godly character, i.e. maturity. Multiple actions that spread God’s love in turn produce the fruit of that Spirit of giving, including love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Sadly, the prism of our life is not as clear as the glass prism we played with children. The prism of your life and mine is a bit fogged by the pride that becomes a barrier to the free flow of God’s love through us. That pride is our insistence on doing things our way instead of God’s way; it’s our personal war with God. It is pride that interferes with or obstructs efforts or even desire to be humble, forgiving, merciful, longsuffering, and having a servant’s spirit. Maturity is a lifelong process of overcoming pride. It is as if we hear God saying, “Get you pride out of the way and let My love pass through!” What do you think?
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Biblical and Evolutionary Worldviews Cannot Coexist
Evolution, also known as scientific naturalism, is a faith system that underlies secular humanism. According to The Humanist Manifesto 2000, “The unique message of humanism on the current world scene is its commitment to scientific naturalism.” In 1961, the Unites States Supreme Court declared, “Among religions in this country which do not teach what would generally be considered a belief in the existence of God are…Secular Humanism, and others.” MacArthur observes that,
Religion is exactly the right word to describe naturalism. The entire philosophy is built on a faith-based premise. Its basic presupposition—a rejection of everything supernatural—requires a giant leap of faith…The notion that natural evolutionary processes can account for the origin of all living species has never been and never will be established as fact. Nor is it “scientific” in any true sense of the word. Science deals with what can be observed and reproduced by experimentation. The origin of life can neither be observed nor reproduced in any laboratory. By definition, then, true science can give us no knowledge whatsoever about where we came from or how we got here. Belief in evolutionary theory is a matter of sheer faith. And dogmatic belief in any naturalistic theory is not more “scientific” than any other kind of religious faith.
Even Charles Darwin remarked, “I was a young man with unformed ideas…to my astonishment the ideas took like wildfire. People made a religion of them.” A century later, Whittaker Chambers added, “Humanism is not new. It is, in fact, man’s second oldest faith. It’s promise was whispered in the first days of the Creation under the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil: “Ye shall be as gods.”
Consider the practical implications of the two opposing worldviews expressed in Figure. The dichotomy of the two worldviews is clear. The evolution dominated worldview isolates the individual as a temporary, purposeless, and insignificant fragment of the universe dedicated to self-centered survival, a self-indulgent life and promotion of self-interests. It is a view that evokes all the characteristics on the left side of the Figure. Civilization eventually dissolves into chaos, which is soon overtaken by totalitarianism, personal freedom is lost and the individual is controlled by others. Ultimately he/she dies—that is the end—there is nothing more.
In contrast, the Judeo-Christian worldview recognizes the uniqueness of a person made in the image of God and assigned the dual purpose of loving Him and loving others. “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[Matthew 22:37; Deuteronomy 6:5 NIV] This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ [Matthew 22:39; Leviticus 19:18 NIV] All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” [Matthew 22:40 NIV] The Judeo-Christian worldview considers life as sacred to be honored and protected. The focus is on self-sacrifice, giving, and meeting the needs of others. Culture (civilization) is strengthened and personal freedom is maximized and guaranteed by a limited representational government. Ultimately, his/her eternal life is the supreme joy of being forever in the presence of the Creator.
Which do you prefer? Is it the frantic and frenzied high-stress short-term hedonistic pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain ending in annihilation (death)? Or is it the orderly, joyful satisfaction of meeting the needs of others, sharing life in a network of many others holding similar views, relishing the ultimate joy of sharing eternity with God and others in a place called Heaven? The choice should be an easy one, don’t you agree?
There is no evolutionist that perfectly fits the left side of the Figure. Similarly, there is no Christian that perfectly fits the right side. Nevertheless, a person’s wholly or partially adopted worldview will tend to drive him/her either toward the left or the right. Life is not static; the absence of movement is not possible. There will be “growth” in one direction or the other. In recent decades, growing cultural pressure has resulted in a general drift to the left of both the background American culture and also the Judeo-Christian culture, although the believers’ culture tends to be a few steps “behind” the background culture.
Jews and Christians have collectively displayed a growing character weakness primarily because they must live within a culture saturated with the fruit of evolutionary thinking. However, they are only available to a gathering of other believers in the churches and synagogues a few hours each week for what tends to be primarily a one-dimensional, spoon-fed intellectual education, i.e. listening to the teacher/preacher/rabbi in an atmosphere devoid of real personal experience. Believers often lack the soul-deep tools for resisting the nearly overwhelming cultural pressure. Consequently, a series of very slight compromises causes a sort of devolution (evolution in reverse) of moral sensitivities. The aggregate result of thousands of very slight compromises, by many people, is the leftward drift of the Judeo-Christian culture. The remedies will be in upcoming blogs. Meanwhile, what do YOU think?
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“God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God?” Thomas Jefferson [Engraved on the walls of the Jefferson Memorial]
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Public Apathy Enables Rise of Statism Said President Ronald Reagan!
At Reunion Arena in Dallas, 1984, President Ronald Reagan stated: “Without God there is no virtue because there is no prompting of the conscience. … Without God there is a coarsening of the society; without God democracy will not and cannot long endure. … America needs God more than God needs America. If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a Nation gone under.”
In 1961, Ronald Reagan stated: “One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine. It’s very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian project. … James Madison in 1788 … said … ‘There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachment of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpations.’ … What can we do about this? … We can write to our congressmen and our senators. … Say right now that we want no further encroachment on these individual liberties and freedoms. … We do not want socialized medicine. … If you don’t, this program I promise you will pass … and behind it will come other federal programs that will invade every area of freedom as we have known … until, one day … we will awake to find that we have socialism. And … you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children, what it once was like in America when men were free.”
Excerpts courtesy of Bill Federer
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“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” 1Peter 4:8 NIV “Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs.” Proverbs 10:12 NIV
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Happiness Arises from Good Health and Growing Interpersonal Relationships
The Declaration of Independence stipulates that, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” [emphasis added] Since these rights have been established and given by God, they are self-evident, requiring no further explanation or support. Such rights are unalienable, meaning that they cannot be abridged or infringed upon in any way by government. However, “we may do something ourselves to forfeit the unalienable rights endowed by the Creator, but no one else can TAKE those rights from us without being subject to God’s justice.” An example of forfeiture may be committing a crime that requires incarceration. Now that our right to the pursuit of happiness is locked in exactly what is it?
Happiness is often equated with momentary or short-term excitement. “My favorite team won the Super Bowl!” “I got an ‘A’ in chemistry!” “She said ‘YES!’” There is no doubt about it; everyone enjoys that type of feel-good excitement. But it is based on emotion; it does not last. No one can live on a perpetual emotional high.
In contrast, a lifetime of long-term happiness has deeper spiritual roots that provide the support to withstand life’s challenges and hardships as well as celebrate the victories. That dimension of happiness reflects an inner joy anchored in a robust faith in God. Ever since Adam and Eve were evicted from the Garden of Eden for disobeying God, every life has experienced occasional or sometimes long-term suffering. But a robust faith provides a clear vision of the light at the end of the tunnel and an appreciation of the character building opportunities associated with the hardships. The inner joy may be severely challenged but remains secure despite the pain.
Although my late wife never suffered any real physical pain, she did endure the progressive loss of physical mobility and mental capacity. Did her suffering have a purpose? Absolutely! Her experience dramatically and permanently changed my life and has had a rapidly expanding rippling effect on everyone with whom I come in contact. I explained to a rather large crowd at her memorial service that she and God gave me one of the greatest gifts I have ever received—the wonderful and glorious gift of tears. As a man, an engineer trained in logic, and the product of a rather stoic family, there was not much room for a manly expression of tears. But the wonderful and glorious gift of tears stirred by seven years of accommodating her progressive loss opened up to me whole new realms of life experience both emotionally and spiritually that were not previously available. I became much more sensitive to the needs of disabled people and virtually everyone else as well. Her experience also contributed greatly to the motivation to write this book.
Happiness is the Result of Virtuous Living
Here’s the deal: Ultimately, happiness is the result of living a virtuous life. How boring is that? Actually, a virtuous life is not boring at all; it is very rich, satisfying, and happy. During George Washington’s First Inaugural Address, he emphasized, “…there is no truth more thoroughly established, than that there exists…an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness…” To President Washington, the link between “goodness and happiness” was plain and inescapable.” Further, Noah Webster found that, “If a republican government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the divine commands, and elect bad man to make and administer the laws.” A life based on virtues anchored deeply in the soul produces goodness of choices and actions that ignite a happy and joyful spirit within an individual and ultimately across cultures.
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“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.” Thomas Paine
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Your Worldview Drives Who You Are, What You Think, the Decisions You Make, and How You Act!
What Is a Worldview? Why Should I Care?
Everyone has a worldview, whether they know it or not. A worldview is a soul-deep spiritual-level conviction regarding life’s most basic questions: Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? The most basic conviction arises from a personal determination, either by investigation or by tacitly going along with the cultural crowd, regarding the existence or non-existence of God. That conviction becomes the passion that drives the rest of a person’s life.
Consider the difference between an emotional passion and a spiritual passion, which is easily clarified with a sports analogy. Suppose your favorite NFL football team has a great season and makes it all the way to the Super Bowl. For a week or so, before the big game the excitement builds until it becomes hard to think of anything else. Unless you have the means to travel a long distance and pay a very high price for tickets, you probably invite your friends over on the big day and put on a pot of your favorite chili.
An evening of screaming and hollering leaves you nearly voiceless. Win or lose, the game is the topic of water cooler conversation for the next day or so. Then—it’s gone—it’s over—just another statistic in sports history. That is an emotional passion. It is a temporary emotional roller coaster ride. It is great fun, but just does not last.
In contrast, consider the Olympic athlete who intensely trains for four, eight, twelve, or sixteen years enduring considerable pain along the way often sacrificing important aspects of life such as dating or family, in a relentless pursuit of the privilege of competing for one or a small number of Olympic medals. The medals do not have a great deal of tangible value and only a privileged few are ever pictured on the front of a Wheaties cereal box. However, the victories represented by the medals do attach significance and meaning to the life of the competitor, satisfying deep spiritual needs.
The victories or near victories separate the athlete from the vast majority of others who participate in the same sport, from childhood teams all the way to the Olympic team. Winning an Olympic medal is truly a world class achievement. Such an enduring passion and total commitment is a spiritual passion. The championship Super Bowl team may have pursued a spiritual passion as well. But for the fans, the game is merely an emotional passion.
A spiritual passion is the soul-deep conviction that forms a worldview and drives all aspects of life, including the choices made to satisfy the deepest spiritual yearnings for significance and meaning in life. Currently, there is a well-known credit card marketing campaign that uses the tag line, “What’s in your wallet?” The sponsors want their card to be in the deepest most secure part of your wallet, from where it will be used to transact most of your future purchases. Similarly, the worldview that is in your spiritual “wallet” will control most of life’s “transactions.” Consequently, the often taken-for-granted, neglected, or innocently assimilated worldview takes on monumental significance. Ultimately, there are only two worldviews. Either God exists or God does not exist.
Most of the early settlers arriving on the North American shores were seeking religious freedom. Their predetermined worldview confirmed the existence of God and His exclusive role as the only agent capable of completely satisfying all of a person’s spiritual needs. Judeo-Christian tradition formed both the foundation and the driving force of their lives.
Two hundred years later, the same culture became embedded in the culture of the United States of America, codified through the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. Although not everyone in the fledgling nation was a devout Christian believer, Judeo-Christian tradition so permeated the culture that it had a strong influence on virtually everyone’s sense of right and wrong, moral behavior, personal conduct, and interpersonal relationships. The American culture experienced a unique cohesiveness that successfully resisted the negative influences of other philosophies or belief systems.
As a result, the United States was blessed with remarkably close families and an abundance of prosperity. Unprecedented intellectual, emotional, and spiritual growth produced an outstanding quality-of-life resulting in generally good or improving personal health and a rich network of interpersonal relationships, beginning with the family and working outward. Similarly, America has enjoyed the world’s highest standard-of-living, related to accumulated material blessings. Both emerged from a God-centered worldview.
An opposing worldview, championed by pagan religious systems for several millennia, received a credibility boost when Charles Darwin published, The Origin of the Species By Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life in 1859. His concepts became known as the theory of evolution. Unlike passive religious systems, advocates for evolution quickly developed a confrontational relationship with Judeo-Christian tradition, because evolution appeared to provide a naturalistic explanation for every living and non-living thing in the universe. The naturalistic explanation became the basis for denying or marginalizing the existence of God. Two thousand years ago, the Apostle Paul accurately described the confrontation. To other believers we are the “fragrance of life;” to evolution-driven people, we are the “smell of death.” [2 Corinthians 2:15-16]
The two opposing worldviews rest on the most fundamental question of the ages. Does God exist? The Judeo-Christian worldview says that God of love absolutely does exist and is personally interested in our earthly affairs and our ultimate eternal destination. The Judeo-Christian worldview is supported by nature and God’s revelation of Himself throughout Divinely inspired inerrant Scripture—The Holy Bible.
The evolutionary worldview, championed by Charles Darwin and a host of others purports that all life forms emerged from a combination of extraordinary lengths of time, chance, and necessity (natural physical laws). Although the scientific support for the theory is astonishingly thin, the culture’s blind confidence in science has enabled the theory of evolution to be widely accepted as fact—a “fact” which has had catastrophic effects on the American culture.
People of faith often find themselves caught in the crossfire between the two major worldviews. Most people do not spend hours and hours sitting around discussing the details of the theory of evolution or its impact on society. However, they do emerge from the public school system and many private school systems with an embedded bottom line image of man as simply a highly evolved animal. The schools disallow any discussion of the flaws of evolution or any possible alternatives.
For Christians and others, the mental image of mankind as a product of evolution is sufficient to cast doubt on the Genesis accounts of the beginnings, creating a vulnerability to increasing cultural pressure that is continually reinforced by politicians, news media, all manner of entertainment outlets, neighbors, work associates, and friends. The cultural pressure has been so great that there have been increasing attempts to compromise Scripture to accommodate science.
Whoa! What exactly is being compared? “The Bible is supreme truth, and therefore it is the standard by which scientific theory should be evaluated, not vice versa. Scripture is God’s own eyewitness account of what happened in the beginning.” John MacArthur Why should anyone seek to compromise God’s perfect Word to achieve apparent consistency with the woefully incomplete and imperfect findings of human scientists? What do you think?
Dr. Lloyd Stebbins 