but I know that my Redeemer lives & His name is Jesus!
In a College classroom with a professor teaching a philosophy lesson....... 'Let me explain the problem science has with religion.' The atheist professor of philosophy pauses before his class and then asks one of his new students to stand.
'You're a Christian, aren't you, son?'
'Yes sir,' the student says.
'So you believe in God?'
'Absolutely.. '
'Is God good?'
'Sure! God's good.'
'Is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?'
'Yes'
'Are you good or evil?'
'The Bible says I'm evil.'
The professor grins knowingly. 'Aha! The Bible! He considers for
a moment. 'Here's one for you. Let's say there's a sick person over here and you can cure him. You can do it. Would you help him? Would you try?'
'Yes sir, I would.'
'So you're good...!'
'I wouldn't say that.'
'But why not say that? You'd help a sick and maimed person if you could. Most of us would if we could. But God doesn't.' The student does not answer, so the professor continues. 'He doesn't, does he? My brother was a Christian who died of cancer, even though he prayed to Jesus to heal him. How is this Jesus good? Can you answer that one?' The student remains silent. 'No, you can't, can you?' the professor says. He takes a sip of water from a glass on his desk to give the student time to relax. 'Let's start again, young fella. Is God good?'
'Er..yes,' the student says.
'Is Satan good?'
The student doesn't hesitate on this one. 'No.'
'Then where does Satan come from?
The student falters. 'From God'
'That's right. God made Satan, didn't he? Tell me, son. Is there evil in this world?'
'Yes, sir.'
'Evil's everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything, correct?'
'Yes' '
So who created evil?' The professor continued, 'If God created everything, then God created evil, since evil exists, and according to the principle that our works define who we are, then God is evil.'
Again, the student has no answer. 'Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things, do they exist in this world?'
The student squirms on his feet. 'Yes.'
'So who created them?'
The student does not answer again, so the professor repeats his
question. 'Who created them?' There is still no answer. Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace in front of the classroom. The class is mesmerized. 'Tell me,' he continues onto another student. 'Do you believe in Jesus Christ,son?'
The student's voice betrays him and cracks. 'Yes, professor, I do.'
The old man stops pacing. 'Science says you have five senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Have you ever seen Jesus?'
'No sir.. I've never seen Him.'
'Then tell us if you've ever heard your Jesus?'
'No, sir, I have not.'
'Have you ever felt your Jesus, tasted your Jesus or smelt your Jesus? Have you ever had any sensory perception of Jesus Christ,or God for that matter?'
'No, sir, I'm afraid I haven't.'
'Yet you still believe in him?'
'Yes'
'According to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol,
science says your God doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?'
'Nothing,' the student replies. 'I only have my faith.'
'Yes, faith,' the professor repeats. 'And that is the problem science has with God. There is no evidence, only faith.'
The student stands quietly for a moment, before asking a question of His own. '
Professor, is there such thing as heat?'
' Yes.
'And is there such a thing as cold?'
'Yes, son, there's cold too.'
'No sir, there isn't.'
The professor turns to face the student, obviously interested. The room suddenly becomes very quiet. The student begins to explain. 'You can have lots of heat, even more heat, super-heat, mega-heat,unlimited heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat, but we don't have anything called 'cold'. We can hit down to 458 degrees below
zero, which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold; otherwise we would be able to go colder than the lowest -458 degrees. Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero(-458 F) is the total absence of heat. You see, sir, cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat we can measure in thermal units because heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.'
Silence across the room. A pen drops somewhere in the classroom,sounding like a hammer.
'What about darkness, professor. Is there such a thing as darkness?'
'Yes,' the professor replies without hesitation. 'What is night if it isn't darkness?'
'You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is not something; it is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light, but if you have no light constantly you have nothing and it's called darkness, isn't it? That's the
meaning we use to define the word. In reality, darkness isn't. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn't you?'
The professor begins to smile at the student in front of him. This will be a good semester. 'So what point are you making, young man?'
'Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed to start with, and so your conclusion must also be flawed.'
The professor's face cannot hide his surprise this time. 'Flawed? Can you explain how?'
'You are working on the premise of duality,' the student explains.. 'You argue that there is life and then there's death; a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought.' 'It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life, just the absence of it.' 'Now tell me, professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?'
'If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, young man, yes, of course I do.'
'Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?'
The professor begins to shake his head, still smiling, as he realizes where the argument is going. A very good semester,indeed.
'Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you now not a scientist, but a preacher?'
The class is in uproar. The student remains silent until the commotion has subsided.
'To continue the point you were making earlier to the other
student, let me give you an example of what I mean.' The student
looks around the room. 'Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the professor's brain?' The class breaks out into laughter.
'Is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor's brain, felt the professor's brain, touched or smelt the professor's brain? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, with all due respect, sir.' 'So if science says you have no brain, how can we trust your lectures, sir?'
Now the room is silent.. The professor just stares at the student, his face unreadable. Finally, after what seems an eternity, the old man answers. 'I Guess you'll have to take them on faith.'
'Now, you accept that there is faith, and, in fact, faith exists
with life,' the student continues. 'Now, sir, is there such a thing as evil?'
Now uncertain, the professor responds, 'Of course, there is. We see it everyday. It is in the daily example of man's inhumanity to man.. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil.'
To this the student replied, 'Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like
darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God's love present in his heart. It's like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light.'
The professor sat down.
PS: The student was Albert Einstein
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
In the pit of despair...
"O Lord, God of my salvation, I cry out to you by day.
I come to you at night.
Now hear my prayer; listen to my cry.
For my life is full of troubles, & death draws near.
I am as good as dead, like a strong man with no strength left.
They have left me among the dead, & I lie like a corpse in a grave.
I am forgotten, cut off from your care.
You have thrown me into the lowest pit, into the darkest depths.
Your anger weighs me down; with wave after wave you have engulfed me.
You have driven my friends away by making me repulsive to them.
I am in a trap with no way to escape.
My eyes are blinded by my tears.
Each day I beg for your help, O Lord; I lift my hands to you for mercy.
Are your wonderful deeds of any use to the dead?
Do the dead rise up & praise you?
Can those in the grave declare your unfailing love?
Can they proclaim your faithfulness in the place of destruction?
Can the darkness speak of your wonderful deeds?
Can anyone in the land of forgetfulness talk about your righteousness?
O Lord, I cry out to you.
I will keep on pleading day by day.
O Lord, why do you reject me?
Why do you turn your face from me?
I have been sick & close to death since my youth.
I stand helpless & desperate before your terrors.
Your fierce anger has overwhelmed me.
Your terrors have paralyzed me.
They swirl around me like floodwaters all day long.
They have engulfed me completely.
You have taken away my companions & loved ones.
Darkness is my closest friend."
Psalm 88 NLT
I have read this psalm many times because I read the book of Psalms a lot but this psalm always surprises me. It's one of the few psalms that offers no hope. It's just gut wrenching pouring out to the Lord with no hope or answers. The following is what my Life Application Study Bible footnotes say about Psalm 88.
88:1 Have you ever felt as though you have hit bottom? The writer is so low that he even despairs of life itself. Although everything is bad & getting worse, he is able to tell it all to God. This is one of the few psalms that gives no answer or expression of hope. Do not think that you must always be cheerful & positive. Grief & depression take time to heal. No matter how low we feel, we can always take our problems to God & express our anguish to him.
88:5 Our feelings may be as obvious & painful as those expressed by the psalm writer, but they are never the complete picture. In fact, our feelings are usually very unstable. When we bring our unedited feelings to God, we allow him to point out where they are incomplete. We are in trouble whenever we give our feelings divine authority or assume that God can't handle what we feel. Praying the psalms teaches us to bring God everything about us & trains us to experience his presence even when our feelings tell us otherwise.
88:13-14 The writer of this psalm was close to death, perhaps debilitated by disease, & forsaken by friends. But he could still pray. Perhaps you are not so afflicted, but you know someone who is. Consider being a prayer companion for that person. This psalm can be a prayer you can lift to God on his or her behalf.
I have really have to take small bites of this & chew on it because 1) sometimes for whatever reasons, I find it easier to wallow in my grief or depression than to cry out to God & let him show me what's really important & 2) it's painful to read this psalm let alone admit that I have had similar thoughts myself.
The last sentence of the footnotes is "strange" to me. I can't see myself lifting this psalm up as a prayer on someone's behalf because to do so is to share in just the pain...and not the hope...the hope we ultimately can only find in Jesus Christ. As we approach Easter, let us look for ways to share the hope of Jesus to a hurting, grieving, & depressed world.
I come to you at night.
Now hear my prayer; listen to my cry.
For my life is full of troubles, & death draws near.
I am as good as dead, like a strong man with no strength left.
They have left me among the dead, & I lie like a corpse in a grave.
I am forgotten, cut off from your care.
You have thrown me into the lowest pit, into the darkest depths.
Your anger weighs me down; with wave after wave you have engulfed me.
You have driven my friends away by making me repulsive to them.
I am in a trap with no way to escape.
My eyes are blinded by my tears.
Each day I beg for your help, O Lord; I lift my hands to you for mercy.
Are your wonderful deeds of any use to the dead?
Do the dead rise up & praise you?
Can those in the grave declare your unfailing love?
Can they proclaim your faithfulness in the place of destruction?
Can the darkness speak of your wonderful deeds?
Can anyone in the land of forgetfulness talk about your righteousness?
O Lord, I cry out to you.
I will keep on pleading day by day.
O Lord, why do you reject me?
Why do you turn your face from me?
I have been sick & close to death since my youth.
I stand helpless & desperate before your terrors.
Your fierce anger has overwhelmed me.
Your terrors have paralyzed me.
They swirl around me like floodwaters all day long.
They have engulfed me completely.
You have taken away my companions & loved ones.
Darkness is my closest friend."
Psalm 88 NLT
I have read this psalm many times because I read the book of Psalms a lot but this psalm always surprises me. It's one of the few psalms that offers no hope. It's just gut wrenching pouring out to the Lord with no hope or answers. The following is what my Life Application Study Bible footnotes say about Psalm 88.
88:1 Have you ever felt as though you have hit bottom? The writer is so low that he even despairs of life itself. Although everything is bad & getting worse, he is able to tell it all to God. This is one of the few psalms that gives no answer or expression of hope. Do not think that you must always be cheerful & positive. Grief & depression take time to heal. No matter how low we feel, we can always take our problems to God & express our anguish to him.
88:5 Our feelings may be as obvious & painful as those expressed by the psalm writer, but they are never the complete picture. In fact, our feelings are usually very unstable. When we bring our unedited feelings to God, we allow him to point out where they are incomplete. We are in trouble whenever we give our feelings divine authority or assume that God can't handle what we feel. Praying the psalms teaches us to bring God everything about us & trains us to experience his presence even when our feelings tell us otherwise.
88:13-14 The writer of this psalm was close to death, perhaps debilitated by disease, & forsaken by friends. But he could still pray. Perhaps you are not so afflicted, but you know someone who is. Consider being a prayer companion for that person. This psalm can be a prayer you can lift to God on his or her behalf.
I have really have to take small bites of this & chew on it because 1) sometimes for whatever reasons, I find it easier to wallow in my grief or depression than to cry out to God & let him show me what's really important & 2) it's painful to read this psalm let alone admit that I have had similar thoughts myself.
The last sentence of the footnotes is "strange" to me. I can't see myself lifting this psalm up as a prayer on someone's behalf because to do so is to share in just the pain...and not the hope...the hope we ultimately can only find in Jesus Christ. As we approach Easter, let us look for ways to share the hope of Jesus to a hurting, grieving, & depressed world.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Bringing back the peace...
that left our home exactly ten months ago today. Ten months ago our three Haitian children came home. It is a day that I will never forget...barring that I still have my memory :o) It was day that we waited a very long time for. It wasn't the "sunshine & fairy dust" day that some families have when their children come home but we weren't expecting that any way. We had no idea how our special needs Shakira would react to coming home. She actually bounced off the plane & was extremely happy. Caleb however, was very sick when he got off the plane so what should have been a very "upbeat" moment for me, was put aside as I went into nurse/mom mode to make him feel better.
Most of you who have been reading my blog since the children came home, have a pretty good picture of what life's been like for us since then. I don't tend to "sugar coat" things & pretty much say it like it is. Overall, the first six months were pretty painful for all of us...kind of like growing pains that don't let up for six months. We started to get into a "groove" in the seven & eighth months but seemed to be "grooving" in a three steps forward, two steps backward pattern. The last couple of months have been the best so far but it just "hit" me yesterday...that something is missing...and that missing puzzle piece...is PEACE.
Our home has not really been peaceful since they came home. You can understand that in the beginning when everything is so new & different & each person is learning how to adjust to this new life on their own terms. I woke up this morning thinking, "Okay, today makes ten months, it's time for things to be different...to be peaceful."
Yesterday was not a good day for 5 of the 6 of us & everyone woke up this morning wondering what kind of day it would be. After Randy left for work, I gave a "speech." I just "laid it all out there"...talking to all of us...but to the "Creole Trio" in particular...that they have been home for ten months now & it's time for them to start taking responsiblity for making our house a peaceful place again. Yes, I know that I was talking to a soon to be 3 year old & a special needs child, but you know what, they understand a lot more than we think they do, & it was proven by an immediate change of attitude & even a "sense" of peace flooding our house. Thank you Jesus!
So my encouragement to the "older" adoptive parents that have had their children home for awhile & are still struggling...is hang in there...keep praying...& ask God to show you how to bring peace back into your home. Do not let yourselves get caught up in a "competetion & comparison" of the children that came home after the earthquake & seem to be "sailing along" compared to our children when they came home. You need to look at the "whole picture." This time last year, Jack & Marcia became the Orphanage house managers. That was a huge blessing! For the first time, the children were living in the presence of a Godly, loving, happy couple. They began to see what parents look like on a day to day basis. Unfortunately, my children only experienced two months of that. The ones that came home in Jan. had ten months of that.
They also had six months of home schooling. After seeing the delays of my children & other children that had come home before mine, I was pretty convinced that six months of homeschooling wouldn't even make a "dent" in the significant delays...but boy was I ever wrong! I am amazed...as well as extremely thankful that those children got the incredible schooling they recieved under Abby's instruction! It would have been wonderful for my children & the others to have gotten it as well but they didn't so we work with what we have. God will bless us & our children for our determination & perserverance....we just have to keep on keeping on :o)
Praying that you have a peace filled day!
Most of you who have been reading my blog since the children came home, have a pretty good picture of what life's been like for us since then. I don't tend to "sugar coat" things & pretty much say it like it is. Overall, the first six months were pretty painful for all of us...kind of like growing pains that don't let up for six months. We started to get into a "groove" in the seven & eighth months but seemed to be "grooving" in a three steps forward, two steps backward pattern. The last couple of months have been the best so far but it just "hit" me yesterday...that something is missing...and that missing puzzle piece...is PEACE.
Our home has not really been peaceful since they came home. You can understand that in the beginning when everything is so new & different & each person is learning how to adjust to this new life on their own terms. I woke up this morning thinking, "Okay, today makes ten months, it's time for things to be different...to be peaceful."
Yesterday was not a good day for 5 of the 6 of us & everyone woke up this morning wondering what kind of day it would be. After Randy left for work, I gave a "speech." I just "laid it all out there"...talking to all of us...but to the "Creole Trio" in particular...that they have been home for ten months now & it's time for them to start taking responsiblity for making our house a peaceful place again. Yes, I know that I was talking to a soon to be 3 year old & a special needs child, but you know what, they understand a lot more than we think they do, & it was proven by an immediate change of attitude & even a "sense" of peace flooding our house. Thank you Jesus!
So my encouragement to the "older" adoptive parents that have had their children home for awhile & are still struggling...is hang in there...keep praying...& ask God to show you how to bring peace back into your home. Do not let yourselves get caught up in a "competetion & comparison" of the children that came home after the earthquake & seem to be "sailing along" compared to our children when they came home. You need to look at the "whole picture." This time last year, Jack & Marcia became the Orphanage house managers. That was a huge blessing! For the first time, the children were living in the presence of a Godly, loving, happy couple. They began to see what parents look like on a day to day basis. Unfortunately, my children only experienced two months of that. The ones that came home in Jan. had ten months of that.
They also had six months of home schooling. After seeing the delays of my children & other children that had come home before mine, I was pretty convinced that six months of homeschooling wouldn't even make a "dent" in the significant delays...but boy was I ever wrong! I am amazed...as well as extremely thankful that those children got the incredible schooling they recieved under Abby's instruction! It would have been wonderful for my children & the others to have gotten it as well but they didn't so we work with what we have. God will bless us & our children for our determination & perserverance....we just have to keep on keeping on :o)
Praying that you have a peace filled day!
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)