Genesis 8:20-22
Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean
animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The LORD
smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I
curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the
human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all
living creatures, as I have done. “As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night,
will never cease.”
Genesis 9:8-17
Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: “I now establish my
covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every
living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the
wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living
creature on earth. I establish my covenant with you: Never again will
all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there
be a flood to destroy the earth.” And God said, “This is the sign of the
covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with
you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in
the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the
earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in
the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all
living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a
flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I
will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all
living creatures of every kind on the earth.”
So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”
Saturday, April 16, 2016
Friday, March 25, 2016
The Voice of the Serpent
Why is it that the people who think their views should be tolerated, are the ones who are the least tolerant of others? Why do homosexuals think that we should tolerate their adverse behavior and allow them to call their union a marriage? Or let them adopt children? Why is it that children can learn in school about religious holidays and practices, such as the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah or Yom Kippur, along with the African-American celebration Kwanzaa, but not the celebration of Christ’s birth at Christmas or the true meaning of Easter? Most people celebrate Thanksgiving, but who are they expressing their thankfulness to? Why do we pledge our allegiance to One Nation under God, but at every turn we try to take Him out of it? Why is it ok to be pro abortion, including partial birth abortion (where the fetus is killed during birth) and to be vocal about it, but you can’t speak out against it or the sale of fetal parts? How did profanity and obscenity become an accepted part of the English language? Why is it that believers in Christ must learn to tolerate all these things, but no one seems to want to tolerate them? Why are Christians put down for wanting the world to have some shred of integrity, decency and moral fiber in it?
The new morale for the current American society is; there are no morals, no rules, nothing to guide us through life, except our own fantasies. Our own desires have become the focus and there is no right and wrong, no good or bad. The new philosophy of choice being that of secularism, which assumes that this world ”the material world” is all that we have by which and for which to live, so therefore any view of a spiritual essence or of other worldliness is by definition considered irrelevant or irrational. This form of secularization asserts that public life is to be governed by laws that are not influenced by religion, or any transcendent sacred notion. With the philosophy of pluralization all belief structures, such as religions, are held to be true, so you can believe anything you want and say that it is true. Then there is the privatization of beliefs, the socially required and legally enforced separation of our private lives and our public personas. In effect, privatization insists that issues of ultimate meaning be kept within our private spheres. If you take a close look at our society, you'll find that all those protesters from back in the sixties and seventies are now in positions of authority and who's agenda have they been pushing for?
We have let ourselves fall into the trap which was set back when time began, in the garden of long ago, when the serpent said to the woman “Did God really say you couldn't?” It has been a downward spiral for man ever since. The fall of mankind through Adam and Eve, brought sin and shame into this world and with them knowledge of what is right and wrong. They learned the lesson the hard way; they now knew the difference between right and wrong, but they had to leave their perfect home and life behind. After their exile from the garden they began what continues, even to this day, a constant battle to try to cover their shame and the guilt of sin on their own, apart from God. Each new generation putting that shame farther and farther behind them, until today we have no shame at all. We do the most heinous things without thinking; we live by our own terms, doing pretty much whatever we feel like. Then we try to remove the shame further by declaring it to be normal. As though it’s one's personal right to kill an unborn child, because a pregnant woman decides she can’t deal with the consequences of her behavior. There are circumstances such as rape or incest where pregnancy occurs, but those might be better dealt with in a more dignified manor for both the unborn child and the mother. Then some would have us believe that the sexual union of two people of the same sex is normal or that it is a natural thing for people to be attracted to others of the same sex. When we want to fulfill our desires, no matter how detestable or vile, we comfort ourselves by saying its normal and therefore ok. It’s as though we keep hearing the voice of the snake whispering in our ear, prodding us on, saying “Did God really say you couldn't? You will not surely die.” So we just keep twisting the truth to fit our desires.
The most upsetting thing is that the church has let this way of thinking filter into its very core, by accepting things as normal which are not, as though it is trying to fit into the world, when what it should be doing is putting God and Christ back where they belong, at the head and center of everything! Ravi Zacharias tells us the three moods of our current culture will do the following: secularization will hurt those we love through loss of shame, pluralization will hurt those we choose to hate through loss of reason and privatization will hurt ourselves through loss of meaning. Perhaps Christians and the church need to stop tolerating the things they know are wrong and start changing from within, putting the focus on becoming more Christ like in their dealings with the world by learning to address the needs of the individual and not to be distracted by their outward appearance or behavior. Maybe our society needs to return to its earlier morals, ethics and values and the church should lead the way!
Thursday, March 24, 2016
Profanity in Christian Music
Does profanity have a place in Christian songwriting?
I was very confused by an article I read in an online Christian Music magazine awhile back, it was about a disagreement that an artist, Derek Webb, had with his record label, INO. Apparently there was some problem with the release of his album “Stockholm Syndrome”, the matter was centered around his choice of words in the lyrics of a song. I hadn’t heard the song at that time, so I didn’t know the exact word he used. But from the article, I gathered it wasn’t a very nice one. Webb claimed that the song and its lyrics were very important to the album and his work.
I had really liked Derek Webb and loved his work with the group, Caedmon’s Call. I own one of his solo albums and was considering checking out more of his work, but this story had left me very troubled. I later had the misfortune of hearing firsthand the song and the lyric, which turned out to be the infamous “S-word” at a Christian Music Festival in a room filled with people of all ages, including young children! Why would Webb, a Christian artist or an artist with Christian beliefs, find it necessary to use profanity in his song? As believers and followers of Christ, we are to be living and behaving in a manner that was exemplified by Christ and ultimately glorifies God! So my question is this “does the use of profanity glorify God and if not, then why use it?” The Bible gives us some clear guidelines as to how followers should try to conduct themselves. The Old Testament states in Psalm 63:3 “Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.” Then in Proverbs 4:24 it says “Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips.” And again in Proverbs 10:32 “The lips of the righteous know what is fitting, but the mouth of the wicked only what is perverse.” Along with the idea that we are to be reborn and therefore changed, it tells us in Colossians 3:8 “But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.”
With all this in mind, I just don’t understand the need to include crude words in the lyrics of a song, especially songs written with the express purpose of spreading the word of God and the message of his love to others. But even if Webb’s song is just a song about his life, his own experiences or life in general, why add an unsavory word? We would expect to find this type of thing in the secular, unsaved world, as the prowess of mainstream bands today is built on how lewd and graphic their lyrics are, as though this makes them more creditable musicians and better songwriters. Bands like Green Day, Blink 182, and so many others have always said whatever they felt would shock and wow the listener. But when bands like Lincoln Park, who boasted that they didn’t need to use profanity to get their message across, decide to add so much, that their music now carries a “Parental Warning” label, it becomes really sad! Although bands sometimes find it necessary to re-invent themselves, changing their music styles or sound, which is understandable in the market these days, where there is so much music, that it all starts to sound the same. But Lincoln Park’s decision doesn't seem to be about their re-invention and this type of behavior takes away from their credibility and makes me think they are small minds with little talent! What about the argument, art for art sake? But is it really art or just garbage? I tend to think true artists, with true gifts, would be able to express themselves without degrading others or life itself! Should we sacrifice our principles for art? At what cost? Wouldn’t it be more admirable to sacrifice our art for our principles? Whatever happened to the moral majority? It has become the moral minority!
Even before I discovered Christ, after having kids and driving around listening to the same music I’d listened to since I was a teen, I had the revelation one day that most of it was unfit for little ears. So I continued to listen, but only in private, away from the kids, kinda like a music junkie! But when I found Christ (or He found me) I could no longer ignore such issues, how could I continue to listen to music so highly saturated with coarse language and explicit imagery in good conscience? Then came my discovery of “Christian” music, I was so thrilled to find another realm of music that would fulfill my inner need to rock, head bang, whatever, but is way better for my soul and those little ears!
I started listening to “Christian Music” to escape the madness! But now, has that madness found a way into my new realm? Maybe there is something deeper to consider here, if Webb and other Christian artists start using these words in their songs, what will the world imply from it? That Christians are just another bunch of hypocrites, or that they are just like everyone else? As Christians, we are to be set apart from the things of this world that will drag us down into the pit. There is a very fine line here and I wonder if it really should be crossed. Does the use of this word glorify God in anyway? What about integrity? When artists do things like this, I believe it corrupts the integrity of their work. To me they seem to have lost sight of some of their original intentions behind their music, the ones that sent them on the journey in the first place! The Bible puts it this way in 1 Corinthians 6:12 “Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.” It also gives us these warnings in 1 Timothy 4:12 “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” Then again in Titus 2:7-8 “In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching, show integrity, seriousness, and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may have nothing bad to say about us.”
By using profanity in their songs what kind of example are believers setting for the rest of the world? Will it just give the world more bad things to say about Christians? My hope is that Webb and others will have well thought out answers to these questions!
I was very confused by an article I read in an online Christian Music magazine awhile back, it was about a disagreement that an artist, Derek Webb, had with his record label, INO. Apparently there was some problem with the release of his album “Stockholm Syndrome”, the matter was centered around his choice of words in the lyrics of a song. I hadn’t heard the song at that time, so I didn’t know the exact word he used. But from the article, I gathered it wasn’t a very nice one. Webb claimed that the song and its lyrics were very important to the album and his work.
I had really liked Derek Webb and loved his work with the group, Caedmon’s Call. I own one of his solo albums and was considering checking out more of his work, but this story had left me very troubled. I later had the misfortune of hearing firsthand the song and the lyric, which turned out to be the infamous “S-word” at a Christian Music Festival in a room filled with people of all ages, including young children! Why would Webb, a Christian artist or an artist with Christian beliefs, find it necessary to use profanity in his song? As believers and followers of Christ, we are to be living and behaving in a manner that was exemplified by Christ and ultimately glorifies God! So my question is this “does the use of profanity glorify God and if not, then why use it?” The Bible gives us some clear guidelines as to how followers should try to conduct themselves. The Old Testament states in Psalm 63:3 “Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.” Then in Proverbs 4:24 it says “Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips.” And again in Proverbs 10:32 “The lips of the righteous know what is fitting, but the mouth of the wicked only what is perverse.” Along with the idea that we are to be reborn and therefore changed, it tells us in Colossians 3:8 “But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.”
With all this in mind, I just don’t understand the need to include crude words in the lyrics of a song, especially songs written with the express purpose of spreading the word of God and the message of his love to others. But even if Webb’s song is just a song about his life, his own experiences or life in general, why add an unsavory word? We would expect to find this type of thing in the secular, unsaved world, as the prowess of mainstream bands today is built on how lewd and graphic their lyrics are, as though this makes them more creditable musicians and better songwriters. Bands like Green Day, Blink 182, and so many others have always said whatever they felt would shock and wow the listener. But when bands like Lincoln Park, who boasted that they didn’t need to use profanity to get their message across, decide to add so much, that their music now carries a “Parental Warning” label, it becomes really sad! Although bands sometimes find it necessary to re-invent themselves, changing their music styles or sound, which is understandable in the market these days, where there is so much music, that it all starts to sound the same. But Lincoln Park’s decision doesn't seem to be about their re-invention and this type of behavior takes away from their credibility and makes me think they are small minds with little talent! What about the argument, art for art sake? But is it really art or just garbage? I tend to think true artists, with true gifts, would be able to express themselves without degrading others or life itself! Should we sacrifice our principles for art? At what cost? Wouldn’t it be more admirable to sacrifice our art for our principles? Whatever happened to the moral majority? It has become the moral minority!
Even before I discovered Christ, after having kids and driving around listening to the same music I’d listened to since I was a teen, I had the revelation one day that most of it was unfit for little ears. So I continued to listen, but only in private, away from the kids, kinda like a music junkie! But when I found Christ (or He found me) I could no longer ignore such issues, how could I continue to listen to music so highly saturated with coarse language and explicit imagery in good conscience? Then came my discovery of “Christian” music, I was so thrilled to find another realm of music that would fulfill my inner need to rock, head bang, whatever, but is way better for my soul and those little ears!
I started listening to “Christian Music” to escape the madness! But now, has that madness found a way into my new realm? Maybe there is something deeper to consider here, if Webb and other Christian artists start using these words in their songs, what will the world imply from it? That Christians are just another bunch of hypocrites, or that they are just like everyone else? As Christians, we are to be set apart from the things of this world that will drag us down into the pit. There is a very fine line here and I wonder if it really should be crossed. Does the use of this word glorify God in anyway? What about integrity? When artists do things like this, I believe it corrupts the integrity of their work. To me they seem to have lost sight of some of their original intentions behind their music, the ones that sent them on the journey in the first place! The Bible puts it this way in 1 Corinthians 6:12 “Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.” It also gives us these warnings in 1 Timothy 4:12 “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” Then again in Titus 2:7-8 “In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching, show integrity, seriousness, and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may have nothing bad to say about us.”
By using profanity in their songs what kind of example are believers setting for the rest of the world? Will it just give the world more bad things to say about Christians? My hope is that Webb and others will have well thought out answers to these questions!
Thursday, December 31, 2015
Wolves in Sheep's Clothing
Are there
really such things as False Prophets or false teachers, out there in the world today?
I hadn’t really given it much thought until recently, when I received an email
from the Barnes and Nobel store about some new books by authors I was
unfamiliar with. But there was one I thought I had heard of before, Joel
Osteen. I didn’t know anything about him except that I had seen him speaking on
T.V. a few times and I was wondering if he was a Christian preacher or what. So
on a whim, I Googled him and found some unsettling stuff, one article was
titled “Is Joel Osteen a False Prophet” and another was “Why I Called Out Joel
Osteen and Joyce Meyer”.
In the Bible
there are many warnings of False Prophets, in Matthew 7:15-20, Jesus says this
“Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really
vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they
act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree
produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t
produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that
does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just
as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their
actions.”
1Timothy 6:5
tells us “These people always cause trouble. Their minds are corrupt, and they
have turned their backs on the truth, to them a show of godliness is just a way
to become wealthy.” And in Galatians 1:6&7 we are told “I am shocked that
you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the
loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be
the Good News but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those
who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ.”
In Romans
16:17&18 we read “I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause
divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you
have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord
Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the
minds of naïve people.” And Colossians 2:8 where we read “See to it that no one
takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on
human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.”
As I read
through these articles I was greatly disturbed by the allegations, I had seen
Joyce Meyer on T.V. before, but never really took the time to listen to what
she was preaching. She and Osteen never seemed to be presenting the Gospel in a
fashion that drew me in and made me want to watch and listen, actually it never
really appeared like they presented it at all!
I had grown
up in the Protestant and Methodist churches which never seemed to preach from
the Bible and I didn’t really learn a whole lot until I found the Bible
preaching church I now attend. I find that I am more drawn to speakers who
quote the bible and go into detailed explanations, than those who use vague
theology as a means of justifying their teachings, such as the Jehovah’s
Witnesses tend to do.
So as I
began reading these articles, I became concerned, I had never heard of the
Prosperity Gospel or the Word of Faith movement before and knew nothing about
either. I believe Joyce Meyer is a proponent of Word of Faith and Joel Osteen
is pushing the Prosperity Gospel.
In the article about Osteen I learned that Joel had not been called by the Spirit or even God, to preach the Good News Gospel, but had been appointed by his mother when his father died some years after establishing the Lakewood Church near Houston Texas. So he was thrown into the position of heading a Charismatic mega church after being the media producer behind The John Osteen TV program whose television outreach had gone to a global market. With no Bible College or Seminary training he became a motivational speaker and author, after taking over for his father. He is very vague in his doctrine and doesn’t seem to use the bible as his source of inspiration or for facts, basically saying people can believe whatever they want, but can get wealth, good health and fame from God by working hard and donating to his church. So what once was a church based on relatively sound Bible doctrine became a source of wealth instead of a church founded on Biblical truth reaching out to a lost and hurting world!
In the article about Osteen I learned that Joel had not been called by the Spirit or even God, to preach the Good News Gospel, but had been appointed by his mother when his father died some years after establishing the Lakewood Church near Houston Texas. So he was thrown into the position of heading a Charismatic mega church after being the media producer behind The John Osteen TV program whose television outreach had gone to a global market. With no Bible College or Seminary training he became a motivational speaker and author, after taking over for his father. He is very vague in his doctrine and doesn’t seem to use the bible as his source of inspiration or for facts, basically saying people can believe whatever they want, but can get wealth, good health and fame from God by working hard and donating to his church. So what once was a church based on relatively sound Bible doctrine became a source of wealth instead of a church founded on Biblical truth reaching out to a lost and hurting world!
What I found
out about Joyce Meyers was equally troubling, not only does she live an
extravagant lifestyle, spending millions on 5 homes for herself and her children
along with a personal jet and expensive cars, all with the money earned from
speaking engagements, books sales, and the donations to her ministry; but she
preaches a false doctrine called Word of Faith. Although she seems to have had
some formal training in ministry at Life Christian University in Florida (which
is an unaccredited institution) and has been given an Honorary Doctorate of
Divinity by Oral Roberts University which is an accredited institution, her
teachings do not follow biblical theology.
Her
teachings border on science fiction, one such teaching, is that when Christ
died on the cross, He went to Hell and became the devil. Yes, we all can agree He
went through Hell on the cross, one can’t even imagine the pain and suffering
He took on for us, but nowhere in the Bible does it say He went from being God
to being the devil, then back to being God again! In 1 Peter 3:18-22, it does
tell us that Christ suffered physical death, but was raised to life in the
Spirit and went to preach to the spirits in prison who had disobeyed God long
ago when He caused the terrible flood, before ascending to Heaven to sit in the
place of honor next to God. Those people who died before Christ came to earth
are often referred to as being asleep, but will rise along with everyone else
on the day of Christ’s return to be judged.
Then there is her bold statement that she is
in no way, shape or form, a sinner! When the Bible clearly says in Romans
3:22-24 “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all
who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God and are justified freely by his grace through redemption that came
by Christ Jesus.”
She also
preaches that we are “little gods” and if we put our minds to it, we can speak
things into existence, such as good health or wealth, the Bible does tell us
that we were created in the image of God, but nowhere does it say we have the
power to “speak” things into reality just as God did when he created the world!
She further insists that one must be careful of what they confess, because the
wrong confession is a confession of defeat and failure, which will bring on
defeat and failure. Confessing sickness or lack of finances will actually bring
them on, you could lose your blessings from God if you make the wrong
confession. The truth is, the only thing God requires from us is Faith in
Christ and repentance of our sins along with trying to do what is right in the
eyes of God.
There are
many charismatic speakers, teachers and those that call themselves preachers out
there in the world today, unfortunately too many are not out there presenting
the truth of the Gospel, but seeking wealth and fame! It’s a really scary
thought that Oprah Winfrey has gone from being a talk show host, with some
strange takes on things, to a “Christian” with even stranger preaching! But
what is she preaching? It’s not the Gospel, so just what is it? Apparently it’s
a religion based on the song by John Lennon titled “Imagine” with the following
lyrics:
Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...
There is a huge movement towards a one world religion where all spiritual
paths are equally valid (except if you believe in Jesus Christ of course), and
Oprah is right in the forefront of that movement. She is basically saying there
is no God, no Christ and we are all masters of our own fate! Actually I think
she is into Star Wars big time, because she claims to believe in “the FORCE”!
These are
just a few of the many False Prophets and teachers out in the world today. We
need to be careful and not let ourselves be led astray by “wolves in sheep’s
clothing”! Open your eyes and take a good look around the world today! Where is
the truth? So far I personally have found the Truth of God’s word in the Bible!
Saturday, October 3, 2015
Another Perfect Example of God’s Love
In Exodus
32:1-14 another picture of God’s great love for us is shown.
"Moses had been up on the mountain with God for a very long time and the people grew tired of waiting, so they asked Aaron “come make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”
"Moses had been up on the mountain with God for a very long time and the people grew tired of waiting, so they asked Aaron “come make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”
So Aaron
without thinking tells them to collect all their gold earrings and bring them
to him and he uses the gold to make an idol in the shape of a calf. Then the
people declare “these are your gods, Israel, who brought you out of Egypt!”
Then Aaron
builds an alter in front of the calf and tells everyone there will be a big
festival to the Lord the following day. Early the next day they all gather and
sacrifice burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. They then sat
down to eat and drink and turned things into a wild revelry. God sees this and
says to Moses “Go down, because your people,
whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. They have been
quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol
cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it
and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’”
“I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. Now
leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy
them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God saying “why should your
anger burn against the people you brought out of Egypt by your great power and
mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say that you brought us out for evil
intent, only to kill us in the mountains and wipe us off the face of the earth?
Turn your fierce anger aside and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember
your promise to your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by
your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the
sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will
be their inheritance forever.’” Then the Lord relented
and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.
This is just another example from the Old Testament of the love God shows
his people by sparing them time and again from the judgment that they deserve.
His most perfect act of love was sending His son, Jesus, to earth, to live and
die once and for all the sins of the past, present and future. Jesus now sits
on the throne next to God his Father and intercedes for us whenever things get
too hard for us to handle on our own. God only desires to have an intimate
relationship with His people, a one on one relationship with each of us. He wants us to
take advantage of all He has to offer and this can only be done with the help
of Christ. If we truly seek Him through prayer and time spent in the word, He
will answer and be our guide to the perfect future. As much as we anger Him, He
still does not want us to parish but have everlasting Life through the gift of
Jesus Christ, His son!
Friday, August 21, 2015
Did God Really Say You Couldn’t?
Almost everyone is familiar with the
following story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and how they gave
into temptation ruining man’s relationship with God for all the rest of
us:
Genesis 2:15-17 “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” Then God decided it was not good for the man to be alone, he needed a helper, so God took a rib from Adam and created a woman. The man and his wife were both naked and they felt no shame.
Genesis 3:1-7 “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, “You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die." “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked, so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.” When God found out He was very displeased with them.
Then in Genesis 3:12-13 “The man said, “The woman you put here with me, she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “the serpent deceived me and I ate.”
They were told not to do something but they did it anyway, but is there an underlying meaning to this account? Why would God tell them not to eat from that one tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? What was so important about it that they were told “you will surely die.”?
Well there are several ideas that come to mind; one would be that God gave man the freedom of choice. Man could choose to follow the directions or commands of God or he could follow his own desires. God said not to eat the fruit or to even touch one certain tree, because He knew what would happen if they did, but he did not stop them, he let them choose. From the very beginning God did not force His will on man, but let man seek Him out on his own. He doesn’t tell them that they can’t; but His warning is that they shouldn’t. The death that God had hoped to have Adam and Eve avoid was the death of their innocence, like a parent with a child longing to keep them safe from the horrors of the world.
Another thought is that this is the beginning of the “blame game” that has been handed down from generation to generation since the creation of the world. First Adam blames Eve for giving the fruit to him, then Eve blames the evil snake for telling her it was ok to eat it. So there it is, the practice of passing the blame to someone else instead of taking the responsibility for one’s own mistakes.
This is still prevalent in the world today; it’s always someone else’s fault when things go wrong and not ours. We never want to step up and take responsibility for our own problems or short comings. The reason being we don’t want to deal with the consequences; we want someone else to take the punishment.
Still another thought would be that God knows what is best for us and He gives us fair warning not to go against His commands. God is like a loving parent, giving us guidelines to follow throughout life. Things such as the Ten Commandments were meant to help us avoid the pitfalls of life on earth and keep us out of trouble. The whole Old Testament of the Bible is all about God trying to teach His strong willed and stiff-necked people a lesson in love.
Maybe we need to pay more attention to the warnings God has given us and learn how to deal with the consequences of our own actions instead of placing the blame on others. Now is the time to stop being a stiff necked and strong willed people and let God lead us in the right direction through the salvation given freely by His Son, Jesus Christ!
Genesis 2:15-17 “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” Then God decided it was not good for the man to be alone, he needed a helper, so God took a rib from Adam and created a woman. The man and his wife were both naked and they felt no shame.
Genesis 3:1-7 “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, “You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die." “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked, so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.” When God found out He was very displeased with them.
Then in Genesis 3:12-13 “The man said, “The woman you put here with me, she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “the serpent deceived me and I ate.”
They were told not to do something but they did it anyway, but is there an underlying meaning to this account? Why would God tell them not to eat from that one tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? What was so important about it that they were told “you will surely die.”?
Well there are several ideas that come to mind; one would be that God gave man the freedom of choice. Man could choose to follow the directions or commands of God or he could follow his own desires. God said not to eat the fruit or to even touch one certain tree, because He knew what would happen if they did, but he did not stop them, he let them choose. From the very beginning God did not force His will on man, but let man seek Him out on his own. He doesn’t tell them that they can’t; but His warning is that they shouldn’t. The death that God had hoped to have Adam and Eve avoid was the death of their innocence, like a parent with a child longing to keep them safe from the horrors of the world.
Another thought is that this is the beginning of the “blame game” that has been handed down from generation to generation since the creation of the world. First Adam blames Eve for giving the fruit to him, then Eve blames the evil snake for telling her it was ok to eat it. So there it is, the practice of passing the blame to someone else instead of taking the responsibility for one’s own mistakes.
This is still prevalent in the world today; it’s always someone else’s fault when things go wrong and not ours. We never want to step up and take responsibility for our own problems or short comings. The reason being we don’t want to deal with the consequences; we want someone else to take the punishment.
Still another thought would be that God knows what is best for us and He gives us fair warning not to go against His commands. God is like a loving parent, giving us guidelines to follow throughout life. Things such as the Ten Commandments were meant to help us avoid the pitfalls of life on earth and keep us out of trouble. The whole Old Testament of the Bible is all about God trying to teach His strong willed and stiff-necked people a lesson in love.
Maybe we need to pay more attention to the warnings God has given us and learn how to deal with the consequences of our own actions instead of placing the blame on others. Now is the time to stop being a stiff necked and strong willed people and let God lead us in the right direction through the salvation given freely by His Son, Jesus Christ!
Thursday, June 25, 2015
Messing with Creation
With all the controversy
that has been sparked by the sex transformation of the well known athlete,
Bruce Jenner, here are some of my own thoughts. One of the first questions
would be, is it a sin? Well, let’s look at it from the beginning; he was
created as a man by God, God doesn’t make mistakes, humans do. So His creations
are perfect the way they are in God’s eyes, no improvement needed. So do we as
humans have the right to mess with his design? Aren’t we showing disrespect to
Him by trying to change what He has created?
He has given us the
knowledge and skills to use in correcting birth defects and other health
problems, along with repairing the damage we do to ourselves, but we carry it a
bit too far. We think we can improve things by reconstructing them to fit our
own perverse desires. To me this seems like we are trying to steal His glory.
I don’t believe it when
people say stuff like “I always knew I was a girl in a boy’s body or a boy in a
girl’s body.” It just isn’t true; the only thing that is wrong with our bodies
is our own depraved desires. If you think about it logically, people who undergo
a sex change or gender change are only altering their outside appearance; they
can never really be transformed totally from the inside out. So people like
Jenner, will never be a real woman or a real man. Where are the female organs,
ovaries and uterus? Where are the male organs, prostate and testicles? Even if
there’s a way to add a vagina or penis, they will not function as if they were
natural, so all of the money, time and pain can never truly fulfill their
dream!
From the “fall of mankind”
we have set about to go against creation. We think we know what is best for us,
when actually that doesn’t play into the scenario at all! We are just trying to
fill a void in our lives, a void that should be filled by God! As His main
creation we have never liked being told what to do or how to live, that’s just
our nature. So we pick which ever thing that seems to feel good at the moment.
I believe it’s a part of
our internal makeup to have a little bit of both femininity and masculinity ingrained in us. For women having a little masculinity helps us to be strong
enough to weather the storms in life and for men having a little femininity in
them makes them a little more sensitive to others. The problems arise when we
decide to let either femininity or masculinity take us over. We are not happy
with ourselves as we are and think we will be more appealing to others by
changing.
There are actually people
who do have a legitimate reason to feel that they are in the wrong bodies, they
are called “Intersex” or “Hermaphrodites” because they are born with the
genitalia of both sexes. Usually the parents decide which sex the child should
be shortly after birth and have the child surgically altered, so the parents
could actually pick the wrong sex for the child. These days they are often left
to decide for themselves and may never make a decision at all.
There was a time in my youth
when I actually applauded women who didn’t flaunt their sexuality, by dressing
in a way that didn’t use sex as a means of covering up for their lack of
talent! The problem was most of them actually turned out to be “gay”, which was
very disappointing to say the least! There also were men whom you knew seemed a
little too feminine and they too ended up being “gay”!
The really disappointing
thing is when people like Jenner, use it as a means of exploitation! If he was
really sincere in wanting to be just a woman, he would not have made such a big
deal about it, he would have done it quietly like so many others. He isn’t the
first, there is a relatively famous model that started out as a boy in some
foreign country too, but no one knew until she spoke out awhile ago. There have
been so many famous people or children of famous people who have decided to
change sexes, but I do find it odd that Jenner has a reality show lined up
already!
I do believe that it is a
sin against God to alter our sex for our own perverse desires; it’s a sin that
many have to live with the rest of their lives, but it’s no greater than the sin
of just changing our sexual preference or abortion, adultery, incest,
pornography, drugs or any other.
Perhaps Bruce Jenner will
someday be called by Jesus and repent with the rest of us sinners! I’m sure God
is waiting!
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