My every breath, thought, attitude, choice, and action is by the grace of God. Yet, He gives me the freedom to align myself with Him as an expression of continuing and eternal gratitude or to rebel and do things my own sinful way. By the power of the Holy Spirit choosing God’s way is easy, but Satan constantly fans the rebellious flames of pride. The tension can only be resolved by spending time with God, God’s people, and habitually, deliberately choosing God’s way. “I am the way…” [John 14:6]
Tag: Science
True Faith Cannot Be Deceived
“Whatever you cannot understand commit to the security of the all-powerful God. Who does not deceive you. The man, however, who trusts in himself is deceived. God:
- Walks with sincere men,
- Reveals Himself to humble men,
- Enlightens the understanding of pure minds, and
- Hides His grace from the curious and the proud.
Human reason is weak and can be deceived. True faith, however, cannot be deceived. All reason and natural science ought to come after faith, not go before it, nor oppose it…God, eternal, incomprehensible, and infinitely powerful, does great and inscrutable things in heaven and on earth, and there is no searching into His marvelous works. If all the works of God were such that human reason could easily grasp them, they would not be called wonderful or beyond the power of words to tell.” Thomas a Kempis
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Famous Scientist Stands Up for God!
“Some…challenge science to prove the existence of god.. But must we light a candle to see the sun?…It is difficult for me to understand a scientist who does not acknowledge the presence of a superior rationality behind the existence of the universe…Viewing the awesome reaches of space…should only confirm our belief in the certainty of its Creator.” Wernher von Braun, Director of NASA and U.S. guided missile program (launched America’s first satellite)
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“Sonlight” is brighter than Sunlight!
The spiritual eye provides a kind of x-ray vision that sees through the candlelight of reason with the infinitely bright light of the Son!
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What TV shows are far better than American ones? (Part 2)
While The Ten Commandments in the first table (refer to Part 1 of this blog) exposes the differences between American and Asian entertainment, the second table reveals the effects of the glaring differences. Take a look! Once again, the flashing neon-like table needs no further amplification.
To the seasoned Western viewer, the tables may be intellectually satisfying and spiritually appealing, but may seem emotionally a bit wimpy, begging the question, “Exactly, what is the source of dramatic power in the Asian productions?” For there to be a struggle between good and evil, there has to be some form of evil.
In Asian TV dramas, the villain is not necessarily a murderous, unlawful villain; more often the “villain” is an unscrupulous emotional or spiritual villain resorting to various forms of skullduggery to break up love triangles. The most popular Asian TV dramas contain several overlapping love stories, because, “love covers a multitude of sins.” [1 Peter 4:8 NASB] For the sources of dramatic power in Asian TV dramas, here is the list:
- The storylines are amazingly creative unlike anything American have been able to produce. American cultural decay has produced one-dimensional movie/TV characters with a keen intellect and a severely limited range of emotions. Asian TV still produces three-dimensional characters using the full range of God-given intellectual, emotional, and spiritual faculties.
- Characters are fascinating, played by outstanding actors with endearing personal characteristics
- Selected characters have a vibrant sense of humor, backed by a soundtrack that demonstrates musical humor
- Drama aroused by conflicts and misunderstandings regarding ordinary and major life obstacles (romance, competition, illness, injury, separation, death)
- Rich interpersonal relationships among the characters fully engage the viewer
- Dramatic satisfaction is rooted in compelling illustrations of applying Biblical principles, producing the best possible results
- In a love triangle, the leading man invariable ends up with the girl who routinely meets the needs of others.
- Many scenes varying from heart-warming or heart-wrenching to heart-breaking, but nearly always reflecting positive character goals
- Dialogue exhibits amazing wisdom in ordinary and challenging situations—characters seem to say precisely the right thing at exactly the right time. The expressions of rightness paint spectacularly beautiful word pictures
- Most characters, other than villains, are positive role models. Even the villains repent by the end of the series.
American movies/TV routinely and aggressively break all ten of the commandments and then celebrates the outcomes. Asian TV celebrates godly virtues and character building.
So why not follow the Apostle Paul’s admonition, “…whatsoever things are true…honest…just…pure, whatsoever things are lovely…good report…think on these things.” Why not entertain ourselves with the good and the beautiful, rather than the sleazy, ugly, and evil. We cannot continue injecting ourselves with a dose of evil every time we turn on the TV or go to a movie.
If you have never seen any of the Asian dramas, you must try at least one. If you are curious, try “Autumn’s Concerto” (Taiwanese), “Descendants of the Sun” (South Korean), or “Tomorrow’s Cantabile” (South Korean). They are available on Netflix and other common outlets.
What does it take to wake up the body of believers?
What does it take to wake up the clergy?
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What’s So Great About “Generation Z?”
There’s a fresh demographic breeze blowing. It’s coming from the young and seems to be gaining speed!
“Generation Z” is the generation following the notoriously liberal Millennials. Generation Z seems to be emerging as the most conservative generation in living memory. They are generally the ones born after about 1995; those on the leading edge are now about 22 years old.
Generation Z is more politically conservative than Millennials, Generation X and the Baby Boomers. In addition, one study respectively reports young adulthood church attendance—41% Generation Z, 18% Millennials, 21% Generation X, and 26% Baby Boomers (figures for each generation, when they were at the age of today’s Generation Z). [Hope, J (2016). “Get your campus ready for Generation Z”. Dean & Provost. 17 (8): 1–7]
They have come of age since 9/11. Although modern consumer technology is part of who they are, culturally they have only known chaos, a declining America, erratic, confusing morality, and increasing reports of terrorism and domestic crime—hardly a recipe for building confidence and optimism.
Eric Metaxas reports, “Eight out of ten of these kids identify themselves as “fiscally conservative,” and they prefer saving to spending — at rates not seen since the Silent Generation.” Further,
…almost sixty percent of Gen Z respondents in the U.K. described their views on “same-sex marriage, transgender rights and marijuana legalization” as “conservative” or “moderate,” compared with a whopping 83% of Millennials who called themselves “quite” or “very liberal” on these issues. The Gen Z participants were even ten times more likely than Millennials to dislike tattoos and body piercings!
Why the apparently stark change despite overwhelming liberal/progressive cultural pressures from the public school system, media, entertainment industry, and wayward sports heroes? Could it be that Generation Z,
- Is fed up with the sick American culture and want to be part of the healing
- Disgusted with the worm-eaten baton that is being passed to them by recent previous generations
- Dissatisfied with a bloated inefficient, unresponsive government
- Yearn for something much better?
Could it be that God has a hand in the change?
Generation Z is clearly aware of our cultural problems, but may remain a bit foggy about the remedies.
Wow! What a great time to share the good news of the saving Biblical message about Jesus. How refreshing would it be for them to learn that the root cause of virtually every one of America’s problems is a decades-old progressive abandonment of God. Many problems; just one very simple remedy.
The 1960s hippie-driven chaos that separated centuries of Judeo-Christian love and stability in favor of the tragedy of massive moral decay camouflaged and promoted as “sexual freedom,” was often described as a “counter cultural revolution.” It accelerated a liberal/progressive movement that has relentlessly worked to destroy the traditional family, the free enterprise system, the U.S. Constitution, and replace democracy with socialism.
The movement has failed by every measure, a failure that has become increasingly obvious to Generation Z. They could become the driver of a new counter cultural revolution that moves in a direction exactly opposite the earlier one.
Generation Z could be the hinge generation to recover cultural sanity, Biblical standards, and American exceptionalism.
Finally, Metaxes proclaims, “A tendency toward traditional values, by itself, means nothing unless those who believe in revealed Truth, the Gospel, the natural family, and political and religious liberty step forward and train the next generation to articulate and live out these truths.”
The first counter-cultural revolution championed the slogan, “Never trust anyone over 30.” Perhaps Generation Z could adopt the same slogan, for reasons exactly opposite those used the first time around. What do YOU think?
For further details follow the link to the Metaxas article:
http://www.christianpost.com/news/generation-z-most-conservative-since-wwii-177793/
What does it take to wake up the body of believers?
What does it take to wake up the clergy?
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Calling All Skeptics: The Virgin Birth Was Real!
During the holiday season, there is no shortage of skeptics enthusiastically challenging, ridiculing, or casting doubt on the Biblical narrative about the virgin birth of Jesus.
- True skeptics are not likely to change; wild emotional claims suit their purpose just fine.
- Believers who have a soul-deep conviction regarding the Biblical record of the virgin birth are not likely to be dissuaded.
- In between, lie significant numbers of believers harboring views ranging from mild discomfort to serious questions about the virgin birth of Jesus.
The in-betweeners arise, in part, because the body of believers is sailing down the river rapids of cultural Humanism, while the believers are trying to paddle upstream, following the Biblical worldview.
The in-betweeners are not likely to raise questions within their place of worship for fear of embarrassment in front of fellow believers. They are unlikely to raise questions outside their place of worship, because the information is often not trustworthy.
The short answer to the dilemma perceived by some is that God created the “heaven and the earth.” [Genesis 1:1 KJV]. For the Creator of the universe, a virgin birth is no problem at all.
Nevertheless, for the finite human brain it is often helpful to cite illustrations that are a bit closer to human reality than the whole of Creation. For example, the Biblical record includes numerous births that are even more miraculous than the virgin birth of Jesus.
For example, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Samson, Samuel, and John the Baptist were all born to conspicuously barren women in an ancient culture that regarded barrenness a curse or a punishment from God. Although the mothers of these great Biblical figures may have lived prior to the writing of the Book of Proverbs, they clearly understood the principles of the thirtieth chapter:
“There are three things that are never satisfied, four that never say, ‘Enough!’: 16 the grave, the barren womb, land, which is never satisfied with water, and fire, which never says, ‘Enough!’ [Proverbs 30:15-16 NIV Emphasis added]
Barrenness was a very serious condition. At that time, only a very rare woman would be childless by choice, a married woman—never. As indicated in the table, Scripture clearly confirms that the mothers of these men were barren (Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Manoah’s wife, Hannah, and Elisabeth, respectively). Although all the mothers were mature, Sarah and Elisabeth were particularly old, as if the Lord was underscoring their extreme inability to bear a child, without Divine assistance.
Compare those births with the birth of Jesus who was born to a healthy, fertile, young woman, albeit a virgin. The miracle of the virgin birth required only a momentary overshadowing by the Holy Spirit. [Luke 1:35 KJV] There followed a pregnancy that was normal in every respect, except that Mary was hosting in her womb, the Savior forecast hundreds of years earlier. “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” [Isaiah 7:14 KJV]
The birth of Isaac was announced by God; the births of Samson, John the Baptist, and Jesus were announced by angels. The births of Jacob, Joseph, and Samuel were late in life and were answers to particular prayers. In all cases, Scripture emphasizes the barrenness of the mothers.
Sarah and Elisabeth were particularly old, far beyond childbearing years. Their husbands, Abraham and Zachariah, respectively, were also very old. All the supernatural births before the birth of Jesus, required a continuous series of daily miracles from conception until the baby was weaned from its mother’s breast.
At least for Abraham and Zachariah, the Lord had to completely restore their reproductive systems to enable them to participate in their role in conception. However, the string of miracles for the mothers was far greater, at least from a human viewpoint, especially for Sarah and Elisabeth.
Their reproductive systems had to be completely restored and rejuvenated. The Lord had to give them the ability to produce an egg, for them a long lost ability.
The mother’s uterus was completely restored with the with the ability to initially embed the baby in the wall of the uterus, allowing the formation of the umbilical cord through which life sustaining oxygen and nourishment would flow for nine months. The uterine muscles were given the strength to hold a baby for nine months, without rupturing or any form of physical damage.
For these women to bear a child, the entire endocrine system was restored to produce the great array of hormones necessary to sustain pregnancy, throughout the nine month period. Each mother’s uterus was altered to withstand the rigors of pregnancy and daily biochemical changes as well as the later movement of the child.
As childbirth approached, another burst of hormones prepared the way, softening the birth canal and initiating the childbirth sequence. About that time, a hormonal flush prepared the mother’s breasts for feeding the baby. Since baby formulas did not exist in ancient times, feeding a baby with the mother’s milk was essential. All the supernatural births in the above table could not have happened without the mothers’ physical support and nourishment before birth and the mothers’ personal breast milk nourishment for a long period after birth.
All of these complex birth patterns, completely unnatural in barren and old women, required many miracles greater than the virgin birth. For these mothers, pregnancy and nursing (breast feeding), became a series of daily miracles lasting years (nine months + nursing period)
Indeed, when the angel Gabriel was sharing, with Mary, God’s plan for her to give birth to the Savior, Gabriel further explained to Mary that her cousin Elisabeth had “…also conceived a son in her old age…(one) who was called barren.” Just to make sure the message is not in any way misunderstood, Gabriel immediately added, “For with God nothing shall be impossible.” [Luke 1:36, 37 KJV] The angel’s abundantly clear message was that if Elisabeth could give birth in her old age, Mary should not be surprised any longer or doubt God’s ability to enable her virgin birth.
John the Baptist is well known for preparing the way for the coming Messiah Jesus. Less often considered is that John’s preparation responsibilities began at his own conception. His presence in the previously barren womb of the old woman Elisabeth, prepared Mary for her virgin birth.
As one final nail in the skeptic’s intellectual coffin, consider God’s proclamation in the Book of Psalms:
13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. [Psalm 139:13-16 NIV]
Since God created every individual who has ever lived from the Garden of Eden through today, how could a simple virgin birth possible be a problem for Him?
OK, skeptics! It’s your turn. For Bible-believing Christ-followers, the virgin birth is exciting, but not a problem.
What does it take to wake up the body of believers?
What does it take to wake up the clergy?
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Diversity Madness and Matrimony
Diversity! Diversity! Diversity! It’s everywhere; it’s proclaimed incessantly by the media; it’s embedded in many textbooks and taught as axiomatic throughout the educational system; it’s treated with Humanistic reverence by politicians. Diversity is the buzzword and allegedly one of the most important cultural goals of our time.
In truth, it is a powerful liberal/progressive/Humanistic weapon designed to convert America’s beautiful Judeo-Christian culture into a chaotic scrambled eggs-like mass of languages and customs that can be easily controlled by the globalist elite. Break the American culture by breaking the whole into an infinite number of parts that are easily scrambled and easily subdued.
Celebrate the differences, they said. Yet, there is one glaring exception to the insane diversity craze.
For decades, the same groups championing diversity without substance have loudly proclaimed that there is no difference between a man and woman except for a few pieces of external plumbing. Men and woman were regarded as interchangeable. A single parent was all that was necessary for a “family.” The God of the Bible was replaced by the god of government.
The attacks on the traditional American family have been brutal and relentless. The attacks are an essential part of the liberal/progressive/Humanist strategy of breaking the culture to facilitate a fundamental transformation from a democracy to a socialist state. The results have been so disastrous that they have become conspicuously clear to most people.
Celebrate the sameness, they said. But, the simple and relentless proclamation of no difference between a man and a woman is no longer sufficient. The differences are far too obvious. Then came Plan B. Instead of simply proclaiming sameness, they sought to smear the obvious differences.
The liberal/progressive/Humanist movement has increasingly smeared the two sexes into an imagined spectrum of maleness, femaleness, and gender identity. The movement has latched onto LGBTQ causes as the Plan B weapon. Regardless of obvious physical, emotional, and spiritual attributes, a man may self “identify” as a woman or a woman may self “identify” as a man.
God, it seems, can be overruled by a single selfish, self-serving statement of feelings. Humanist surgeons are all too happy to rearrange the external plumbing to accommodate perceived sexual “feelings.”
Further confusion is facilitated by emerging concepts such as gender and species-fluidity. Someone may identify as a man today, a woman tomorrow, a four-year old child the third day, and cocker spaniel on the fourth day. Watch out for the self-identified rabbits! That should slow down the body-mutilating surgeons a bit. Consider just two absurd examples.
Canadian Lauren Southern is clearly all woman. As an underground reporter, she exposes how easy it is to convince a doctor to certify that she’s a man. Using the doctor’s letter, she visits a government agency and obtains a government ID card legally declaring that she’s a man. Finally, Lauren exposes the disastrous cultural repercussions of such idiocy. Refer to “Lauren Southern Becomes a Man” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGpZSefYvwM Know in advance that there is a little bit of course language in the opening seconds of the video.
Lauren quickly observes that this diversity madness forces society to give up its sense of honesty, objectivity, and respect for facts. Reality is replaced by a “toxic hedonism” that celebrates feelings over objective honesty.
The second illustration is provide by the Family Policy Institute of Washington (FPIW) who visited Seattle University. In a series of interviews, the university students were genuinely unable to explain one of the most obvious facts of human existence, the difference between male and female. Statistically, at least a few of them must have been Judeo-Christian believers. Refer to “College Kids Say the Darndest Things on Gender,” https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=robo&p=YouTube+University+of+Seattle+male+v+female+interviews#id=1&vid=0b8857b4d833e74925f211394d5fed8a&action=click
Tragically, many Judeo-Christian believers have bought in to this insanity.
Folks, we’re in deep tapioca!
The problems incited by all the cultural lunacy are numerous, huge, and devastating. For now, consider just one. Each of us carries between 50 trillion and 100 trillion cells in our body. Each cell contains a nucleus, within which resides a strand of DNA that loudly and unambiguously proclaims the YOU are either a man or a woman. Nearly 100 trillion witnesses “take the stand” certifying that you are either a man or a woman. That binary distinction is clear, unarguable, and permanent. Feelings or identity does not change this simple conspicuously obvious biological fact.
It is astonishing how easily the public, including, believers, accepts the sheer idiocy of no difference or alternatively an unbroken spectrum of sexual “identities.”
The distinction between a man and a woman, is a creation of God and emerges from His limitless wisdom. In His infinite genius, God, “…created them male and female and blessed them.” [Genesis 5:2 NIV] “Jesus answered, Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female’” [Matthew 19:4 NAS] “However, from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’” [Mark 10:6 NAS]
Celebrate the differences, God said.
If God made YOU a man that is awesome; if He made YOU a woman that is incredible. Be excited, thankful, and humbled by the God that created YOU as one sex or the other. Either way, you have an important and powerful role in the family of God and in your own home family. Celebrate the differences between a man and a woman, as God created them.
What does it take to wake up the body of believers?
What does it take to wake up the clergy?
The next blog will explore the magnificent differences between a man and a woman.
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What the Public School is Teaching Your Children/Grandchildren is Shocking!
The public schools are a reflection of the American culture. As the culture falls, the standards in the public schools are deteriorating at an accelerating rate. The concepts taught today are far different than even a generation ago.
Although there are many dedicated and hardworking Christians and Jews teaching and working in the school systems, their views and values have been largely shut down by the cultural and now legal pressures of political correctness. Indeed, many principals and boards of education exert politically correct demands far beyond the requirements of the law.
The intimidation of believers varies from daunting to frightening and may include harsh, precedent setting legal action. Some have lost their jobs. Even threatened legal action has a profound chilling effect on expressing views counter to the dictum of politically correctness. Heavy fines and jail time cannot be far behind.
Long ago, Abraham Lincoln warned, The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next. Much more recently, Ronald Reagan proclaimed,
Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.
We tend to hear bits and pieces in the news. However, the overall package of what is being taught today is beyond disturbing. As you consider this partial list, know that it does not reflect merely reflect periodic shotgun style teaching. Each item is embedded throughout the academic culture from kindergarten through the 12th grade and repeatedly reaffirmed in the universities. Each item demands a detailed discussion. But for now, it is more important to zoom out and consider the list as a whole
Most believers will recognize these items as false. Yet, they are being taught as undeniable truth in the public schools. The effect on the American culture has been devastating and is the harbinger of even worse in the near future.
Science
- The theory of evolution is fact.
- Science is a greater arbiter of truth than the Bible.
- Extreme environmentalism is necessary to prevent human extinction nad destruction of the planet.
- Global warming is taught as incontrovertible fact along with images portending colossal disaster.
- Homosexuals, lesbians, and transexuals are born that way and cannot change (genetics).
- Due to the alleged population explosion, couples should not have babies.
- Marijuana use is good recreation and especially desirable for medical treatment of pain.
Religion
- All religions, including Judeo-Christian tradition, are manmade myths
- All religions are equal and equally fanciful.
- All public expression or symbols of religion must be barred. The concept of separation of church and state has been turned upside down.
- Judeo-Christian tradition is radical, extreme, and dangerous.
- Religion is the cause of virtually all cultural problems and cultural violence throughout history.
- Islam is a peaceful religion.
Humanity (Humanism)
- Theory of evolution supports the erroneous conclusion that there is no god.
- There is no objective truth.
- There are no overarching values applicable to all people.
Gender
- Gender is fluid, based on feelings and identity, rather than biology.
- There are no differences between men and women except the external plumbing.
- All LBGTQ lifestyles are acceptable, desirable, and merely a matter of personal choice.
Family
- The “family” is whatever any consenting group declares it to be.
- Career is more important than family.
- Cohabitation is an acceptable means to test a relationship before marriage.
- Marriage is not a necessary prerequisite for having children.
- A father is not necessary for raising a child.
- Producing children is undesirable due to the population explosion and interference with careers of parents.
- Abortions are morally acceptable (not just legal) for birth control and to terminate inconvenient pregnancies.
- “Imperfect” babies should be aborted.
- Same-sex marriage is acceptable, desirable, and morally equivalent to traditional marriage. (An abomination to the Lord has become a Constitutional “right.”). Textbooks are being hastily rewritten to accommodate last year’s shocking U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
- Nursing homes are convenient places to sidebar inconvenient relatives, especially if home care would interfere with the careers of others in the home.
- Divorce is a readily available and morally acceptable means to escape difficult marital issues.
Culture
- All cultures are equally valid and equally desirable.
- The Founders of the Unites States were white, rich, selfish, slave-owning bigots.
- America is evil, acquiring wealth on the backs of slaves, atrocities to the American Indians, and resources “stolen” from other nations.
- Patriotism must be discouraged in favor of globalism.
- The American flag is offensive as a symbol of America’s “sins.”
- Profanity is merely a colorful expression of the culture.
- Virtually unlimited immigration is good.
- National borders must be abolished.
Entertainment
- Overt sexuality in movies and television is healthy entertainment.
- There is virtually no cultural effect linked to violence in entertainment (movies, television, video games).
- There is no need to promote morality in entertainment, because there are no longer any culturally agreed upon standards of morality.
- Pornography is healthy and acceptable.
Government
- Socialism is superior to capitalism.
- Animals have rights equal to humans.
- The government must provide for children to the greatest extent possible so the parents can do useful work.
- The “experts” in the public schools raise children better than their parents (Such was also the view in Nazi Germany, Stalinist Russia, and Communist China.).
You have likely heard that, “Nature abhors a vacuum.” The concept is not limited to just the physical realm. It applies also to the emotional and spiritual realms. In the 1970s, a cultural decision was made to discontinue teaching values in the public schools, emphasizing academic knowledge instead. Since then, the values vacuum has been filled. The perfect God-created Judeo-Christian values have been replaced by seriously flawed man-invented Humanist values. The results have been tragic. “Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil.” C. S. Lewis
As believing parents and grandparents, are these lesson shocking? They should be! They would have triggered loud and angry protests from YOUR grandparents. It is astonishing that such a cultural collapse could occur in little more than a generation. Consider a few declarations from the past.
I would advise no one to send his child where the Holy Scriptures are not supreme. Every institution that does not unceasingly pursue the study of God’s Word becomes corrupt…I greatly fear that the [schools], unless they teach the Holy Scriptures diligently and impress them on the young students, are wide gates to Hell. Martin Luther
[T] Bible…should be read in our schools in preference to all other books.
Dr. Benjamin Rush, Signer of Declaration of Independence
The only foundation for useful education in a republic is to be laid in religion.
Thomas Jefferson
Religion is the only solid basis of good morals; therefore education should teach the precepts of religion, and the duties of man toward God.
Gouverneur Morris, Author/Signer U.S. Constitution
Education is useless without the Bible. Noah Webster
Religion and virtue are the only foundations, not only of all free government, but of social felicity under all governments and in all the combinations of human society. President John Adams
Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great Pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and Citizens. President George Washington
There are, of course, alternatives to government-forced indoctrination in the public schools:
- Homeschooling—The homeschooling movement has matured greatly in the last 30 years. At least ten times more families should be participating.
- Private or faith-based schools—Although private schooling is available, much of it has become priced beyond the budget of the average family. Many have also compromised their values.
- New schools developed by churches/synagogues—There are large numbers of churches/synagogues in every city. Most are occupied sporadically on evenings and weekends. Places of worship are generally vacant during primetime all day every day five days a week. The physical plant is already there. The building could and must be use for schools during the week.
Apathy is no longer an option. The entire body of believers must act now and continuously to prevent the total loss of the freedom bestowed as a gift from God, not a grant from government. Otherwise, as President Reagan said near the beginning of this piece, “one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.” If we ignore this perhaps last opportunity, we will later face God with only feeble excuses.
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DNA Science is Unraveling Darwin’s Theory of Evolution
The best most concise summary I’ve seen.
Sorry Darwin.
There is no model in science for increasing information through natural selection. Darwin assumed there was.
Modern science proves natural selection loses information and results in degradation. Subtraction cannot result in addition.
You just can’t get 3.2 billion bits of genetic information code in every strand of human DNA that way.
But then if we see a red octagon shaped sign with STOP written on it, we would never assume it got there by random time plus matter plus chance. We would know an intelligent being put that information there.
We have God’s signature in our cells. We know it as DNA. Information with order. Words with meaning.
That is intelligence.
Of Jesus Christ, John’s Gospel says,
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
“He was in the beginning with God.”
“All things were made through Him, and without…
View original post 12 more words
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Human (Fallen) Science Increasingly Strayed from True Science
Modern science did not emerge spontaneously. It emerged from the Church and could not have progressed without the support of the Church. Similarly, the migration to methodological naturalism (science is limited by arbitrary definition to only naturalistic explanations) could not have happened without widespread church support. Even today so-called “mainstream” liberal religious movements remain solidly behind the theory of evolution and the artificially constrained definition of science.
Naturalistic explanations of evolution seem to leave God without a job to do or a purpose. Without a purpose, it is a short step to the tragic no-god conclusion. Of course, that conclusion totally ignores the relationships between God and His people and the millions of changed lives throughout millennia of time.
Figure 13.3 maps the progressive isolation of science. Renaissance theologians found the concept of naturalism to be satisfying, because it seemed to support the notion of a perfect God who never makes mistakes. It did not seem reasonable to them that God would create a natural environment that was so brutally violent in the animal kingdom or an array of harmful insects or numerous reptiles and other animals that would prey upon mankind.
Accordingly, a natural environment that appeared in another way would not require God’s intervention. The theologians of the time viewed the imperfect environment as incompatible with a perfect God. They apparently did not recognize that all of creation fell at the time Adam and Eve rebelled and were cast out of the Garden of Eden.
Since the physical laws of the universe appeared to be universal, stable, and unchanging, it seemed reasonable to extrapolate the operation of those laws from historic time past to projected time in the future. But the “laws” are man’s mathematical description of natural phenomena using man-created mathematical language. The laws were later found to be approximations often superseded by later research.
Why should God be confined to the limits of mathematical language invented by man used to describe physical laws that are approximations? Of course, God cannot be held to the limits of the human mind. However, the laws appeared firm and rigid in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Simplified laws are comfortable and satisfying to mankind’s limited frame of reference. Since orderly scientific investigation originated in the
Church, the church culture and the emerging scientific culture migrated together in the direction of naturalism. Of course, most modern scientists would agree that it is risky to extrapolate (extend) data beyond a measured range. Nevertheless, the apparent stability of natural processes enabled early investigators to feel comfortable with the extrapolation.
The apparent uniformity of observed natural processes allowed historic geologists and evolutionary biologists to falsely assume extreme mind-boggling lengths of time to support evolutionary theory. Reliance on extreme lengths of time enabled some scientists to tragically conclude that there is no god. Later, publications, Charles Lyell’s Principles of Geology and Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species provoked a shift from advocating naturalism to explaining naturalism.15 Naturalism (evolution) became the culturally embedded axiomatic assumption that could no longer be challenged without the critic being ruthlessly persecuted, possibly losing reputation, job, and career. Nevertheless, many scientists today and the general public continue to firmly adhere to their faith in God.
Without God, man becomes the highest being in the universe. Pride anoints man as his own god, i.e. his own idol. Since the most obvious distinction between man and (other) animals is intelligence, man’s intellect and reasoning ability become an idols’ idol. The existence of a man’s spirit is summarily dismissed; emotions are treated as a nuisance or interference with respect to science.
Finally the definition of science is progressively restricted until it allows only observations, and measurements within reach of the five physical senses, later extended by increasingly sophisticated instruments. The observations and measurements can only be evaluated and manipulated within the limits of man’s intellect (reasoning ability), using the manmade construction of the rules of logic. All other emotional or spiritual influences are arbitrarily barred from the realm of science.
Science has migrated from the handmaiden of theology (holistic) to the priesthood of humanism. But science as commonly defined in contemporary culture can observe only a part of the universal reality. Science’s endless pursuit of physical reductionism becomes unavoidable as its inability to understand anything outside of the physical realm.
What do YOU think?
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“Scientific concepts exist only in the minds of men. Behind these concepts lies the reality which is being revealed to us, but only by the grace of God.” Wernher Bon Braun, “Founder of Rocketry”
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Modern Science Emerged from Judeo-Christian Tradition
Today, there is a common view that faith and science are in conflict, irreconcilable opposites. The view is a myth, popularized by those who seek to avoid accountability to God and ultimately deny His existence. Actually, modern science emerged from a Judeo-Christian worldview. What happened? It is an amazing story.
The Middle Ages was not a period devoid of progress. The Middle Ages were not the “Dark Ages.” Actually, the term “Dark Ages was not coined until the 19th Century. During the so-called Middle Ages, Europeans invented spectacles, the mechanical clock, the windmill, the blast furnace, lenses, cameras, and almost all kinds of machinery. In addition, they developed to a far higher level other inventions that originated in the Far East, including the compass, paper, printing, stirrups, and gunpowder.1
The Church has been accused of obstructing of even blocking scientific investigations. The truth is “the Church never supported the idea that the earth is flat, never banned human dissection, never banned the zero, and certainly never burned anyone at the stake for scientific ideas.” During that period, the priests were among the most educated people. They began studies of nature as a way to improve their understanding of God. They taught that God created an orderly universe that was amenable to human understanding, if investigators proceeded in an orderly manner with each generation peeling back successive layers of the cosmic onion. Sir Isaac Newton’s famous quote, “If I have seen a little further, then it is by standing on the shoulders of giants,” was actually originated by the theologian Bernard of Chartres (died about 1130). “Science” had a far broader definition at that time.
The word, science is derived from the Latin word scientia meaning knowledge. Science originally included the entire realm of human knowledge, including politics, theology, and philosophy. Theology, the study of God and His relation to man and the world, was known as the queen of the sciences. The study of nature was known as natural philosophy. Emerging as a distinct discipline, science became widely known as the handmaiden of theology (servant). The prevailing view was that mankind could learn about God from two books, the book of nature and the book of revealed knowledge (scriptures). However, human pride is tenacious and easily inflated, especially among those gifted with higher than average intelligence. The ability to reason is itself clearly a gift as well as an important and useful tool to learn about everything in the universe. Faith and reason are a powerful combination for discerning the whole of creation. However, an accumulating array of small, pride-induced compromises within the Church allowed reason to overtake faith and in some cases replace faith in the marketplace of ideas. The trend gave birth to the “Age of Reason.” When reason is not tempered by faith, reason tends to puff pride. Satan has never stopped asking the question, “Did God really say_______?” [Genesis 3:1 NIV] However, placing reason before faith puts mankind in the position of judging God, a fearsome place to be, indeed.
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“…the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight.” I Corinthians 3:19 NIV
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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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“A little science estranges a man from God. A lot of science brings him back.” Francis Bacon
Dr. Lloyd Stebbins 