Thoughts by Theophilus

[theophilus]

Why should we study the Bible? Second Timothy 3:16 gives us four reasons.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.

Teaching

The first reason is the fact that it teaches us about God.

We can learn some things about him from other sources. The Bible itself mentions two ways we can know about him.

The existence and power of God can be seen through what he has created.

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.
Romans 1:19-20 ESV

Everyone is born with an innate sense of right and wrong.

When Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts.
Romans 2:14-15 ESV

Because these sources of knowledge are universal everyone has some knowledge of God and all religions contain some truth. Unfortunately this knowledge by itself isn’t enough to enable people to really know God because it is incomplete and is usually mixed with false beliefs.

In the Bible we can find out everything that God wants to reveal to us about himself. It is the only source of information that is complete and free from any error.

Reproof

The Bible does more that simply give us information about God. It also tells us how he wants us to live. Jesus has given us a summary of what God requires from us.

And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”

Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Mark 12:28-31 ESV

Perhaps you love God but do you love him with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength? God created us and every good thing we have is a gift from him. He deserves first place in every part of our life. Any time we put anything else ahead of him we are violating the most important commandment he has given us.

The best way for us to show our love for God is to obey his command that we love our neighbor as ourself. Most of us have some love for our neighbor and are willing to do good for him but how many of us love him as much as we love ourself?

If we examine our lives honestly and compare them with what the Bible says we will be forced to admit that we haven’t lived up to what God requires of us.

Correction

God knows that none of us can meet his standards by our own efforts but he loves us and so has made a way for our sins to be forgiven. He sent his Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to save us from our sins. Jesus lived a perfect life and completely fulfilled God’s requirements. He then allowed himself to be crucified so that he could bear the punishment we deserve.

But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way;and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:5-6 ESV

Anyone who will acknowledge his sins and his inability to meet God’s standard and put his faith in Jesus will have his sins forgiven.

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Romans 10:9-10 ESV

Training in righteousness

Finally the Bible tells us how we are supposed to live after we have been forgiven. Forgiveness brings with it a new life and a new relationship with God. This change must be reflected in the way we live. If we obey God completely our life be radically different from what it was before.

God will be the center of everything we do.

Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.
1 Corinthians 10:31-33 ESV

We will realize that this earthly life is temporary and we must use it to prepare for the heavenly life that is ahead of us.

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Colossians 3:1-4 ESV

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:19-21 ESV

There is one mistake some people make when they read what the Bible says about living the Christian life. They think that this is what we must do to be saved. The Bible plainly says that we aren’t saved by living a good life but by faith in Christ, but after we are saved we will begin living a life of service to God.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:8-10 ESV

If you have tried to live a Christian life and failed you should examine your life and see whether you have become a Christian by believing in Christ. You need to first be saved by faith in Christ and then God will give you the power you need to live a life that pleases him.

[theophilus]

A physician who has made a complete examination of a person without having been told his age could probably make an accurate estimate of it because of his knowledge of how the aging process works. But what would happen if he were to travel back in time and examine Adam and Eve immediately after they were created and was then asked to estimate their age? If he didn’t know they had been created directly he would assume they had been born as babies and base his estimate on how long it would take for them to reach their present state if they had undergone the normal aging process. The result would be that his estimate would be much higher than their actual age.

Scientists who try to discover the age of the earth usually begin by assuming that the natural processes which are occurring now have been going on since the formation of the world and that there has never been any kind of divine intervention. They have come to the conclusion that the earth is billions of years old because that is how long it would take for these processes to bring about the conditions we see existing today.

But what if the Biblical account of creation is true? Then scientists who try to measure the earth’s age are in the same position as the doctor who tried to estimate the age of Adam and Eve. Their age estimates are off because they have a false idea of how the earth came into existence.

If the doctor who examined Adam and Eve were observant enough he would notice that they didn’t have navels. This would show that they hadn’t begun their existence inside their mothers’ wombs and so weren’t born the way other people are. Since they didn’t come into existence the way other people did then the usual methods of estimating age wouldn’t apply to them.

There is evidence that the earth isn’t as old as most people believe. One example is finding soft tissue in the bones of dinosaurs that supposedly lived millions of years ago. This is from an article titled “Soft Tissue in Fossils” in the October 2012 issue of Answers magazine.

Ask the average layperson how he or she knows that the earth is millions or billions of years old, and that person will probably mention the dinosaurs, which nearly everybody “knows” died off 65 million years ago. A recent discovery by Dr. Mary Schweitzer, however, has given reason for all but committed evolutionists to question this assumption.

Bone slices from the fossilized thigh bone (femur) of a Tyrannosaurus rex found in the Hell Creek formation of Montana were studied under the microscope by Schweitzer. To her amazement, the bone showed what appeared to be blood vessels of the type seen in bone and marrow, and these contained what appeared to be red blood cells with nuclei, typical of reptiles and birds (but not mammals). The vessels even appeared to be lined with specialized endothelial cells found in all blood vessels.

Amazingly, the bone marrow contained what appeared to be flexible tissue. Initially, some skeptical scientists suggested that bacterial biofilms (dead bacteria aggregated in a slime) formed what only appear to be blood vessels and bone cells. Recently Schweitzer and coworkers found biochemical evidence for intact fragments of the protein collagen, which is the building block of connective tissue. This is important because collagen is a highly distinctive protein not made by bacteria. (See Schweitzer’s review article in Scientific American [December 2010, pp. 62–69] titled “Blood from Stone.”)

Soft tissue couldn’t have survived for such a long time so this is evidence that previous age estimates of the world must be wrong.

The fact that Adam and Eve lacked navels would indicate that they had been created directly by God but what would happen if the doctor who examined them was an atheist? Would the evidence convince him that God existed or would he try to find some explanation for their existence that didn’t force him to abandon his beliefs? A look at how scientists have reacted to the discovery of soft dinosaur tissue shows that the second response is the most likely one. Here is more of the article quoted above.

Some evolutionists have strongly criticized Schweitzer’s conclusions because they are understandably reluctant to concede the existence of blood vessels, cells with nuclei, tissue elasticity, and intact protein fragments in a dinosaur bone dated at 68 million years old. Other evolutionists, who find Schweitzer’s evidence too compelling to ignore, simply conclude that there is some previously unrecognized form of fossilization that preserves cells and protein fragments over tens of millions of years. Needless to say, no evolutionist has publically considered the possibility that dinosaur fossils are not millions of years old.

http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v7/n4/soft-tissue-in-fossils

If there is evidence that the earth is much younger than most people believe, why do most people believe it is much older? The answer is found in the article “The 10 Best Evidences from Science that Confirm a Young Earth” in the same issue of Answers.

In the rush to examine all these amazing scientific “evidences,” it’s easy to lose sight of the big picture. Such a mountain of scientific evidence, accumulated by researchers, seems to obviously contradict the supposed billions of years, so why don’t more people rush to accept the truth of a young earth based on the Bible?

The problem is, as we consider the topic of origins, all so-called “evidences” must be interpreted. Facts don’t speak for themselves. Interpreting the facts of the present becomes especially difficult when reconstructing the historical events that produced those present-day facts, because no humans have always been present to observe all the evidence and to record how all the evidence was produced.

Forensic scientists must make multiple assumptions about things they cannot observe. How was the original setting different? Were different processes in play? Was the scene later contaminated? Just one wrong assumption or one tiny piece of missing evidence could totally change how they reconstruct the past events that led to the present-day evidence.

That’s why, when discussing the age of the earth, Christians must be ready to explain the importance of starting points and assumptions. Reaching the correct conclusions requires the right starting point.

http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v7/n4/ten-best-evidences

All of us have a desire to live our lives as we want without having to account to any higher authority for our actions. If we believe that the earth was created only a few thousand years ago we will be forced to believe that there is a God who intervenes in the affairs of the universe and who therefore cares about how we live. This is the reason most people, including scientists, subconsciously ignore evidence of God’s work and try to find alternate explanations for why we exist.

The belief that earth is billions of years old has become such an integral part of our culture that even some Christians who believe the Bible is true accept the prevailing beliefs and interpret the creation account in Genesis to make it conform to those beliefs.

Here are two other sites where you can find evidence that the generally accepted beliefs regarding the earth's origins are wrong.

http://www.piltdownsuperman.com/

http://scienceagainstevolution.info/

[theophilus]

First Kings 18 describes the confrontation between Elijah and the prophets of Baal to show who the true God is. Elijah was badly outnumbered in this contest.

Then Elijah said to the people, “I, even I only, am left a prophet of the LORD, but Baal’s prophets are 450 men.”
1 Kings 18:22 ESV

In the end Elijah won the contest, proving that the LORD was the true God, but the fact that he was alone is rather surprising when we consider something that had happened earlier.

When Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave and fed them with bread and water.
1 Kings 18:4 ESV

Where were those prophets? Why weren’t they there to help Elijah? Were there circumstances that made it impossible for them to be there or were they afraid of what might happen to them? The Bible simply doesn’t give us enough information to answer these questions. But if those prophets had been there to support Elijah their presence might have made a big difference in his behavior after the contest.

Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.”

Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.
1 Kings 19:1-3 ESV

He tells God the reason he was afraid of Jezebel.

He said, “I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”
1 Kings 19:4 ESV

He believed that we was the only one left who worshipped God. If the hundred prophets had been with him he would have known he wasn’t alone and their presence might have given him the courage he needed to stand up to Jezebel.

[theophilus]

There is a well known saying, “In the country of the blind the one-eyed man is king.” But is it true? What if there were a country where all the people were blind but had learned to cope with their condition and considered it normal? How would they respond if someone who could see came into their community and told them what it was like to see? Would they believe what he said or consider him a madman?

H. G. Wells wrote a story called “The Country of the Blind” which describes this situation. Here is Wikipedia’s summary of the plot.

While attempting to summit the unconquered crest of Parascotopetl, a fictitious mountain in Ecuador, a mountaineer named Nunez slips and falls down the far side of the mountain. At the end of his descent, down a snow-slope in the mountain’s shadow, he finds a valley, cut off from the rest of the world on all sides by steep precipices. Unbeknown to Nunez, he has discovered the fabled Country of the Blind. The valley had been a haven for settlers fleeing the tyranny of Spanish rulers until an earthquake reshaped the surrounding mountains and cut it off forever from future explorers. The isolated community prospered over the years despite a disease that struck them early on, rendering all new-borns blind. As the blindness slowly spread over the generations, their remaining senses sharpened, and by the time the last sighted villager had died, the community had fully adapted to life without sight.

Nunez descends into the valley and finds an unusual village with windowless houses and a network of paths, all bordered by curbs. Upon discovering that everyone is blind, Nunez begins reciting to himself the refrain, “In the Country of the Blind the One-Eyed Man is King”. He realizes that he can teach and rule them, but the villagers have no concept of sight and do not understand his attempts to explain this fifth sense to them. Frustrated, Nunez becomes angry but they calm him and he reluctantly submits to their way of life because returning to the outside world is impossible.

Nunez is assigned to work for a villager named Yacob, and becomes attracted to Yacob’s youngest daughter, Medina-saroté. Nunez and Medina-saroté soon fall in love with one another, and having won her confidence, Nunez slowly starts trying to explain sight to her. Medina-saroté, however, simply dismisses it as his imagination. When Nunez asks for her hand in marriage he is turned down by the village elders on account of his “unstable” obsession with “sight”. The village doctor suggests that Nunez’s eyes be removed, claiming that they are diseased and are affecting his brain. Nunez reluctantly consents to the operation because of his love for Medina-saroté. But at sunrise on the day of the operation, while all the villagers are asleep, Nunez, the failed King of the Blind, sets off for the mountains (without provisions or equipment), hoping to find a passage to the outside world and escape the valley.

In the original story, he escapes the valley but becomes trapped in the mountains, which ultimately leads to his death. In the revised and expanded 1939 version of the story Nunez sees from a distance that there is about to be a rock slide. He attempts to warn the villagers, but again they scoff at his “imagined” sight. He takes Medina-saroté and flees the valley during the slide.

This story is fiction but it can be read as an allegory describing the world we live in.

We live in a country of the blind but the blindness is spiritual, not physical. All of us have some knowledge of right and wrong but we have all sinned by failing to full live up to what we know is right. Our sins have separated us from God and placed us under the power of Satan. Because of this Satan is able to blind us so that we become incapable of knowing the truth.

If our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
2 Corinthians 4:3-4 ESV

Like the fictional country we have been visited by someone from outside our world who wasn’t blind. Jesus Christ came into the world to reveal to us that there was more to reality than what we can perceive with out senses and most people rejected his message.

But there is one way in which the story doesn’t reflect reality. Nunez could tell the people they were blind and describe what the world was really like but he couldn’t give them the ability to see. Jesus not only reveals to us the fact that we are spiritually blind but he can also heal our blindness.

If you read the gospels you will find that while Jesus was on earth he opened the eyes of those who were physically blind. But he also did something much more important. He made a way for our spiritual blindness to be removed.

Since our blindness is the result of sin the only cure for it is for our sins to be forgiven. God’s justice requires that all sin be punished so the only way we can be forgiven is for someone else to take the punishment we deserve. That is what Jesus did when he was crucified.

I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.
1 Corinthians 15:3-4 ESV

Whoever repents of his sins and puts his faith in Jesus has his sins forgiven.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.
Ephesians 1:7 ESV

One result of that salvation is that the veil placed over his eyes by Satan is removed and he can see spiritual truths that were invisible to him before.

When one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.
2 Corinthians 3:16 ESV

[theophilus]

Some people are sexually attracted to members of their own sex. There are different opinions about why this is true. Some people believe this condition the result of their experiences but others believe it is has a genetic cause. It is possible that different people are homosexuals for different reasons but the Bible gives us reason to believe that at least some people are gay because they were born that way.

Adam and Eve were created perfect and if they hadn’t disobeyed God they would have lived forever. Unfortunately they did disobey and this affected not only them but all of their descendants.

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
Romans 5:12-14 ESV

Not only do we all eventually die but while we are alive we suffer from physical imperfections of various kinds and degrees. Some people are born with major defects such as missing or deformed limbs, blindness, or mental retardation. God designed humans to be sexually attracted to the opposite sex; the fact that some are attracted to the same sex is obviously one of the defects caused by sin. Scientists who think homosexuality is genetic are looking for a gene that causes people to be gay; perhaps their efforts would be more successful if they looked for defects in the genes that make people straight.

If experiencing same sex attraction is a result of a genetic defect it is morally no different from any other birth defect. The person who experiences it has no reason to feel guilty about it and other people shouldn’t blame him or discriminate against him because of it.

Experiencing homosexual desires isn’t a sin. Acting on those desires is. Right and wrong aren’t determined by what we want or how we feel but by God’s commands. The only sexual activity permitted by God is that which is between a man and a woman who are married to each other.

No one, whether straight or gay, is free to satisfy his sexual desires any way he wants. Someone who isn’t married must completely abstain from sex. A married person may only engage is sex with his spouse. It is harder for homosexuals to comply with these standards because they don’t have the option of marriage but anyone who makes the effort can do so.

Some people treat homosexual sin differently from other sins but God doesn’t make such a distinction.

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 ESV

It is like all other sins; it is serious enough to keep people out of the kingdom of God but it can be forgiven. Christ died for all sins, including those involving homosexuality.

If you experience same sex attraction but haven’t acted on it you haven’t sinned. Your feelings aren’t a sin but a temptation which you must resist.

If you experience same sex attraction and have acted on it you have sinned but your sin can be forgiven. You must repent of your sin and put your faith in Jesus Christ.

One of the two great commandments God gave is to love our neighbor as ourselves. That includes those neighbors who are gay. The best way for Christians to obey this command is to tell gay people God’s commands regarding sexual activity and tell those who have violated these commands how they can be forgiven.

To learn about someone who was born gay but chose not to live a gay lifestyle I recommend that you read Washed and Waiting by Wesley Hill. You can find a description of it here:

http://clydeherrin.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/washed-and-waiting/

Here is an excellent site for anyone who wants to know more about this subject.

http://truefreedomtrust.co.uk/

[theophilus]

When the disciples of Jesus asked him to teach them to pray he gave them a model prayer called the Lord’s prayer which included this request:

Give us each day our daily bread.
Luke 11:3 ESV

We ask this because our bodies need food in order to function properly. But we need more than just nourishment for our bodies.

Man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
Deuteronomy 8:3 ESV

We are more than our bodies so we need more than physical food. The Bible provides the spiritual nourishment that our souls need. Failure to eat properly can lead to malnutrition. Failure to read and study the Bible can lead to spiritual malnutrition.

Learning what the Bible says isn’t an end in itself.

Be doers of the word, and not hearers only.
James 1:22 ESV

We don’t study the Bible just to acquire intellectual knowledge but in order to find out how God wants us to live.

Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.”
John 4:34 ESV

In John 17:4 Jesus reveals the ultimate goal of doing God’s will.

I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.

This is the purpose for which we were created: to bring glory to God. We do this by finishing the work he gives us to do and we need nourishment for our bodies and our souls to give us the strength for this work.

But there is still one more purpose for this request. After Jesus finished giving his instructions about prayer he told this parable.

And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs.
Luke 11:5-8 ESV

The man wasn’t asking for bread because he needed it himself but so he could use it to meet someone else’s needs.

As we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
Galatians 6:10 ESV

When a Christian prays the Lord’s prayer and asks for his daily bread he is making four requests.

1. Give me the food I need to sustain my body.
2. Give me knowledge and understanding of the Bible I need to sustain my soul.
3. Show me what work you want me to do today so I can glorify you.
4. Give me what I need so that I will be able to help others.

[theophilus]

How did life originate? Most people believe that it began with a process called abiogenesis, the development of living organisms from nonliving mater. According to this belief a very simple life form came into existence and over millions of year its descendants changed through the process of evolution to produce the large variety of life that exists today.

Not everyone believes in abiogenesis and evolution. Some people believe the Bible’s account of how life originated; it was created by God only a few thousand years ago.

Believers in abiogenesis and creation both agree that new varieties of life are constantly being produced by a process called natural selection. An examination of how this process works might show whether abiogenesis or creation is the most likely starting point for it.

When some individuals are better adapted to their environment than others they are more likely to survive and produce offspring. If members of a species are found in a variety of different environments the characteristics that aid survival may be different in different areas and over time the organisms in each location will come to differ from each other as well as from the parent species.

Perhaps the most obvious example of natural selection is the many breeds of dogs that are all descended from a common ancestor. Some breeds are the result of deliberate breeding by people who wanted dogs that had specific characteristics. This is artificial selection rather than natural selection but it works the same way; dogs having the desired characteristic are allowed to reproduce but others are not.

The selection process is similar to what a sculptor does when he makes a statue out of a block of marble; he cuts away all of the unwanted parts of the marble but doesn’t add any material from outside. Natural selection works by the elimination of unwanted or undesirable genes. No new genes are produced. The common ancestor of dogs must have possessed all the the genetic information that is found in all breeds of dogs. This process goes back further; dogs, wolves, foxes, coyotes, and jackals have a common ancestor that possessed greater genetic diversity.

There is no way this process could have started with a simple one celled organism. (I mean simple in comparison with the life that exists today; even the simplest form of life is extremely complex.) Natural selection wouldn’t work because there would be too little to select from; it would be like a sculptor trying to make a large statue out of a grain of sand.

But what about the Bible’s account of creation?

And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.”

And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:24-25 ESV

God created different kinds of life. If each of these kinds had a large gene pool with the potential for producing many different varieties of descendants their creation would lead to the process of natural selection we see today.

We aren’t told how many kinds there were but the number was small enough for Noah to take a pair of each kind onto the ark. Some people don’t believe the flood occurred because the ark wouldn’t have been big enough for all of the varieties of life that exist today. When you take the results of natural selection into account you can see that the number of animals Noah needed was very small.

The term natural selection was first used by Charles Darwin in Origin of Species, which was published in 1859. Our knowledge of genetics began with experiments performed by Gregor Mendel. The results of these experiments weren’t published until after his death in 1884 so Darwin knew nothing about them when he did the research for his book.

Darwin saw natural selection taking place but because he didn’t understand how heredity works he misinterpreted what he saw. He thought that the process produced completely new characteristics and therefore was evidence that his theories about the origin of life were true. Today almost everyone shares this belief and few people realize that the things we have learned about genetics since then have produced evidence that the belief isn’t true.

You can find more scientific evidence for the accuracy of the Bible at these sites:

http://www.answersingenesis.org/

http://www.piltdownsuperman.com/

http://scienceagainstevolution.info/

http://www.worldwideflood.com/default.htm

http://www.icr.org/

[theophilus]

Matthew 15:21-28 describes an encounter between Jesus and a Canaanite woman.

And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.”

But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.”

He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.”

And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

Why did this woman have such faith even though she wasn’t an Israelite? The Bible doesn’t tell us. However I have thought of a possible explanation. It involves something that happened in the Old Testament.

In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri began to reign over Israel, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD, more than all who were before him.
1 Kings 16:29-30 ESV

God responded to Ahab’s evil deeds by sending Elijah the prophet to him.

Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.”
1 Kings 17:1 ESV

Elijah had to go into hiding to keep from being killed by Ahab and God directed him to a place of safety.

Then the word of the LORD came to him, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.”
1 Kings 17:8-9 ESV

The widow lived near Sidon, in the same region where Jesus encountered the Canaanite woman.

When Elijah arrived the widow was on the verge of starvation, having nothing but a small amount of flour and oil.

And she said, “As the LORD your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.”

And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son. For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the LORD sends rain upon the earth.’”
1 Kings 17:12-14 ESV

Later the widow’s son died and Elijah restored him to life.

And the LORD listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper chamber into the house and delivered him to his mother. And Elijah said, “See, your son lives.”
1 Kings 17:22-23 ESV

The response to these miracles was that the woman was convinced that Elijah was truly a prophet of God.

And the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth.”
1 Kings 17:24 ESV

God later called Elijah to leave the widow’s home and appear before Ahab.

After many days the word of the LORD came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth.”
1 Kings 18:1 ESV

This call came many days after the woman realized that Elijah was a prophet. What happened during that time? The Bible doesn’t tell us anything but I think it is possible that the following events took place:

The widow wanted to know as much as she could about the God who had saved her son’s life. Elijah told her all he knew, including the promise of a messiah. If her son was old enough to understand Elijah taught him too; if he was too young his mother taught him when he was old enough.

When the boy grew up and had a family he passed what he had learned on to his children and they passed it on to theirs. The woman who asked Jesus for help was one of his descendants and she had faith because of the knowledge that had been handed down to her by her family. She realized that Jesus was the messiah God had promised and therefore had the power to help her daughter; she believed he would be willing to help her because Elijah had been willing to help her ancestor.

This series of events is just speculation and might be completely wrong but if it is true it would explain why the woman had such strong faith.

[theophilus]

Mr. Smith owned several acres of land just outside of a city on the coast. He dreamed of living a life of luxury and seeing the world but had no hope of fulfilling those dreams because he was stuck in a job that paid him barely enough to live on.

His hobby was studying the history of the city where he lived and one day he discovered that the land he owned had once belonged to a famous pirate. The pirate had had a successful career and acquired large amounts of gold and jewels but when he died no one had been able to find any of these treasures. After a careful study of the historical records Mr. Smith came to the conclusion that the treasure must be buried on his property. If he could find it he would be rich enough to live the life he had long dreamed of.

He went to the hardware store and bought a shovel. He decided he would spend some time each day digging to try to find the treasure. Sometimes he did this but there were many days when something came up that kept him from it. Sometimes he came home from work too tired to dig. Sometimes there would be a television program he wanted to watch or something else he wanted to do. Often his shovel sat unused in his garage for days at a time.

I think everyone agrees that the way Mr. Smith was very foolish in the way he went about looking for treasure. Any sensible person in his position would do all he could to find the treasure and make the search for it his highest priority.

But are you absolutely sure you have never made the same mistake Mr. Smith did? The treasure he was seeking would have made him rich for life but would all have been left behind when he died. The Bible contains wisdom which not only teaches us how to live in this life but how to prepare for the life to come. It is much more valuable than Mr. Smith’s treasure.

My son, if you receive my words
and treasure up my commandments with you,
making your ear attentive to wisdom
and inclining your heart to understanding;
yes, if you call out for insight
and raise your voice for understanding,
if you seek it like silver
and search for it as for hidden treasures,
then you will understand the fear of the LORD
and find the knowledge of God.
Proverbs 2:1-5 ESV

How many Christians just read their Bible once a day? How many skip reading their Bible when there is something else they want to do? How many Bible are lying on a shelf unread?

[theophilus]

You shall be careful therefore to do as the LORD your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
Deuteronomy 5:32 ESV

God doesn’t simply say we must obey but warns about turning to the right or to the left. That is because there are two opposite ways in which we can disobey each command.

As one example look at what he says about homosexual behavior.

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 ESV

Two things are true about it: It is a sin which will keep people out of the kingdom of God but it is no worse that any other sin and like any other sin it can be forgiven. We should love those who practice homosexuality just as we must love those who commit any other sin but we have an obligation to warn them that what they are doing is wrong and to show them how there sin can be forgiven if they repent of it and put their faith in Christ. We must love the sinner but hate the sin.

One error is to hate the sin but to also hate the sinner. Westboro Baptist Church is a perfect example of this. They even named their website godhatesfags.com.

The other error is to love the sinner but also love the sin and fail to warn the sinner that what he is doing is wrong. A good example of this can be found just across the street from Westboro.

A few months back, Aaron Jackson, a 31-year-old Florida resident and the co-founder of the nonprofit group Planting Peace, hopped online, picked himself out a two-bedroom home in Topeka and purchased it for around $80,000, sight unseen.

There were two aspects of the deal that made it significant: 1. This particular house was located directly across the street from the Westboro Baptist Church, the anti-gay outfit that regularly pickets everything from Lady Gaga concerts to the funerals of fallen U.S. soldiers. 2. Upon his arrival, Jackson paid to have his new house painted in the rainbow stripes of the gay pride flag.

In its first few days on display, the list of media outlets that picked up the story reads like a who’s who. The Equality House, so named by the group’s members, showed up in the Washington Post and Time Magazine and on “Good Morning America.”

inkkc.com

I am certain that the members of Equality House love gays and want to help them. They simply don’t realize that by encouraging them to follow a gay lifestyle they are keeping them out of the kingdom of God.

To someone who doesn’t know what the Bible teaches Westboro and Equality House appear to represent different sides in the struggle between good and evil. In fact both are tools being used by Satan in his war against the truth. They are simply attacking from different directions.

http://clydeherrin.wordpress.com/2011/11/14/angel-of-light/

http://clydeherrin.wordpress.com/2013/03/11/born-that-way/

http://clydeherrin.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/washed-and-waiting/

http://truefreedomtrust.co.uk/