Of Great Concern

I saw an article today that told of the Ontario Minister of education telling the Catholic school board that they cannot teach pro-life, even though they are a religious based school and it is part of their faith.  Whether you like the catholics or not you have to see that this is a matter of great concern.  The idea that any religious group should be told by the government that they cannot teach their faith should concern us.  It would be different if this was a matter of a group that was teaching "hate" or "violence" but this is not related to teaching against the laws of our country.  

This is another evidence that these supposed laws like ones about "abortion" are actually now being used to restrict freedom and not to grant it.  So instead of such laws that are contrary to the Christian faith, allowing those who have a different belief to not be restricted in this area, instead now faith groups are going to be restricted unless they teach what the government says is ok.  This sounds really scary.  

Not only is this a poor precedent but this particular issue is of great importance.  The teaching of the sanctity of life and the precious gift of children is deeply rooted in the Bible.  Yet our society has decided that human life is not very important, it can be thrown away like trash.  Yet we have groups that seek to preserve and conserve the eggs of birds and their nests, we have scientists that look for signs of life in strange places and even on other planets, they would see the smallest microbe and proclaim life, yet a child that has not yet been born does not rate as life.  This is a sad state and a matter of great concern.

Our politicians went out on a limb to attempt to re-open this discussion and I applaud them.  Yet many groups claimed they did not respect women due to wanting to make sure life is properly defined.  But what about the unborn female?  Currently there is no protection for the unborn female in Canada.  A family with a background that puts greater value on male children can elect to have a female child aborted.  This is a horrible situation, that we would allow gender selection in our country is so very scary.

We need to be a people who really think these things through, the decisions of that past did not see the big picture and now we are in a situation that should give us Great Concern!

Preacherman

Control?

I recently engaged in a short discussion about a statement that was made about how "No one is in control and that is cooler anyway" (Adam Savage).  Today's post is in response to this idea that a foundational concept for one to be an Atheist is that there is "no one in control".  There are significant issues with this type of thinking which I will attempt to expose here.

The first big issue we find with this line of thinking is one of basic logic.  Do we understand what it means to "be in control"?  Some words that might help us understand "being in control" would be: authority, power, ability, role and responsibility.  For someone to have "control" they first need to have the role, responsibility and authority to exercise such control.  I cannot just decide that I am in control of a business that I walk into.  I cannot just decide to hire and fire the employees or change the prices of product and services.  I do not own the business and therefore would lack the role, responsibility and authority to wield such power.

In the same way we must realize that if no one is in control then no one has authority or power to make decisions and change things.  If we embrace such thinking then we have no purpose for life and no ability to make the world a better place.  As soon as you make a choice, you are taking the authority, responsibility and the power to make that choice.  At that point someone has to be in control.  Either you believe you are in control and are making your own choices or you believe God is in control and are following His directives.  But whichever it is, someone must be in control in order to make something happen.

I am at work today either because I decided I wanted to go to work or because my boss told me to go to work.  Either way you want to look at it, if I am at work today it is because a decision was made and had some authority behind it.  If I am not at work today then it is because with the same level of authority a decision was made for me to stay home.  If no one was in control then it would not matter, work or home, me or my boss, who cares, it is meaningless.

But with God, and He is in control, things have meaning and hope.  We are not here just putting in pointless time.  Rather we are here to live our lives with purpose and meaning, you were created for a great purpose and you can find it by getting to know the One who made you.  The answer to the meaning of life can only be found in knowing the One who gives life and purpose to all things.  Is this God of creation in control?  Yes He is.  But not in a way that you may think.  He does not make us as "robots" but rather He is powerful enough to make us with the ability to make choices and even come up with crazy ideas that forget Him.  The fact that there are Atheists that believe no god exists, is no surprise to the true God.  He is patient and wants you to recognize your selfish condition, we call it sin.  Sin is everything we do that is not in obedience to God.  Sometimes it is easy to see because our sinful behavior hurts others or destroys our life.

Jesus, being God, came to earth in the form of a human and lived without sin, then He died, giving up His life freely for us, to pay the penalty for our sin.  Now we need to repent of our sinfulness and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  This is how we are to get to know the Creator.  Through Jesus, the Son of God.  This is where purpose and hope are found, this is Christianity.  Christians are not afraid of or opposed to science, rather we believe that science must be understood with proper logic and not with pre-disposed thinking that has been bound by those who fear the idea of God.  If you want to know a little bit about how so many have been mis-led even in institutions of higher learning, just watch Ben Stein's movie Expelled.  It is a very revealing look at how closed our institutions are to open discussions about Truth and letting science be properly defined and defended and not limited by fear.

God has no fear of science, Christians should have no fear of science but modern science seems to be afraid of Christians and the idea of God.  Twisted isn't it.

Preacherman

So if God is real, then why is the World such a mess?

So often people will struggle with God's existence or with His character because of the horrors we see in the world around us.  We cry foul because of the way people are behaving, with the way some are in such dire need or because of the despair that is caused by calamity and disease.  This is one of the primary reasons the people head towards atheism, because they cannot believe in a god who would allow such horrible things to go on.  They may end up in the atheistic camp where they deny God exists, or they may become an agnostic, where they believe God is out there somewhere but that He is far removed and does not really care.

But what is True?  What is the deeper reality and the honest answer to questions like these?  Well I believe that we need to explore the options a bit first.

Option 1 - The world is a mess therefore  God does not exist because if He did then He would fix it.
Problems - This option is actually a crying out of the inner being for God to do something.  This in its very essence is a recognition of God being there.  If God truly does not exists then what happens here in this world and our lives really does not matter.  We are all just atoms formed in people and we will die and turn to dust and it will continue on, the strong will survive and the weak will perish.

Option 2 - The world is a mess there fore God just does not care, because if He did he would fix it.
Problems - This option is another cry for God to do something yet filled with a belief that He just does not care to.  This is rooted not in Truth or logic but in the hurt people are feeling and seeing.  This belief system is actually based in a form of humanism.  It is a belief that the world and our existence is all about us, and God should make our lives better.  It is almost an attitude of "god owes us" or that he should do our bidding.  If this is true then we are all in a lot of trouble.  If God is there but He is not involved or cares about us, then He is not happy with us.  We are on the wrong side of God and that is a bad place to be.  If God is there to do our bidding and make our lives better, we are also in trouble because the mess in this world is because people have been making the decisions and seeking to make their lives better. If God did our bidding then it would be much much worse, people would still be self seeking and have the power of God to help their selfishness.  Pretty scary stuff.  So glad it is not True.

Option 3 - The world is a mess and God is here, He cares, He has a plan and a way for us to make things better.  The world is a messed up place because people have made a mess of it, we are selfish and sinful and because of that we have caused a lot of suffering and pain in this world.  The reality of this option is that "we" are the problem with the world and God has a solution for us, it is found in His Word, the Bible, and is all about Jesus.
Problems - the problems with this option are the reality that as people we do not like the idea that God is supreme and we are not.  we do not like the idea that the mess is our fault and we need God to work in our lives and through that work we can become a part of the solution.  It is a solution that requires us to acknowledge that we have sinned and that our sin has caused problems.  We then need to ask God to forgive us for messing up His world (yeah it is not ours it is His), and we need to agree that Jesus, through His finished work of dying on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin and rising to life again in victory, is to be the Lord of our life.  Very briefly this is what we call salvation, it is by the Grace of God through Faith in what He has done for us.  I would encourage you to read more about it in the Bible.

we need to understand that this broken and messed up world will not be fixed because God intervenes.  God already did intervene and has made a way for us to be reconciled to Him through Jesus.  This is the only real answer to solve all our issues.  It is where we find the foundation for making this world a place that God designed it to be.

We are the problem - God is the solution.

Origin

Origin - where does it all come from.  Where do we come from?  Where did the earth, the stars, the planets and everything come from?  These are some of the biggest questions people have been struggling with for centuries.  Many people today would gravitate towards some form of billion or trillions of years of evolution that started with an initial bang or reaction of some sort that got things started.  Others would gravitate toward theories of aliens or previous civilizations that "seeded" our galaxy so that over billions of years life would begin.  Still there are others that believe there is a God out there somewhere who started it all.

A lot of questions and a variety of answers.  I would suspect that many people have a lot of confusion and a lack of certainty on this issue of the origin.  So what is real?  What is the Truth?  Can anyone really know?  Some people seem to think they have it figured out, and well explained with science.  But most people believe something about this but not with complete certainty.  So lets take a bit and break it down and look at the Truth. We could spend a lot of time on thins but I will try to keep it short.

Question - Where did it all start, where did it all come from?
Possible answer #1 - The Big Bang started it all Trillions of years ago
Sources? - a lot of modern popular scientific theory
Problems - the problems with this theory stem firstly from a lack of logic and scientific principle.  To believe this is to believe that something came from nothing.  Scientific principle states that matter exists and though it changes the amount of matter stays the same.  Even if the big bang started with all of the matter in existence (which would be more than enormous) we have to ask the question of where did it all come from and what caused the "bang" to happen?  Scientific method says that everything has a cause and an effect.  So of this is the effect then what was the cause?  Also where did the matter come from?  Because of these and other weak points we must with a rational and logical mind dismiss the "big bang" as a theory and NOT Truth.

Possible answer #2 - There was a previously advanced civilization or aliens who "seeded" our galaxy, billions of years ago.
Sources?  -  Some less popular scientific theories, sci-fi, and Scientology.
Problems - similar to the above problems we must use proper process and logic to work at understanding things.  Even if this theory was correct, then where did these aliens come from? This theory only helps people try to fix the weaknesses in the "big bang" while trying to avoid the idea that God might actually exist.  So even though it sounds to some people like an answer, it fails to address the reality of the origin.

Possible answer #3 - There is a God who created or intelligently designed everything.  A being beyond our reality and comprehension that has supreme power and ability who is responsible for this galaxy and all that is in it.
Sources? - Christianity, Judaism, Islam, some other world religions and many scientific minds who are kept silent or they loose their jobs and funding. (See Ben Steins Expelled Movie)
Problems - Provides an answer to the question that fits the process and logic.  However it does take faith.  A belief that God exists is needed for you to believe this.  Why? Because even thought we can use process logic and solid questions to give us proof of God. We cannot quantify, or measure to prove God.

So each of us must choose.  You actually need faith for each one.  The First one would be faith that one day science will finally be able to provide enough answers to fulfill real logic and scientific process and not just theory and conjecture.  Or you need the faith to believe in aliens and previous civilizations that there is no proof for.  And the faith to believe that one day through those aliens we might gain further insight into the real "origin"? That is a lot of faith.  Or you need enough faith to believe that there is a God and that God created it all.

It seems to me that it takes agreeing with basic logical and scientific principles and a little faith to believe that God exists and started it all.

If you are not convinced then please continue your search.  I believe there are a good number of sources to help you on the journey.  You will find some of them to your right.  Please feel free to post your thoughts or questions here and I will do my best to help you with them.  Seek the Truth, you need to know it.

Where to begin?

I have been pondering how to best present the most important Truths and foundational principles that exist.  So I have agreed to work on this blog with a few others to attempt to provide a place where deeper understanding can be gained and discussed in order to help promote real Truth.  It is true that we will be approaching this with a Christian world view, but we will not be constraining all discussion to the Bible.  I do believe that all sound logic and wisdom that we will be using will point us back to the solid foundation that the Bible provides and thus we will end up there as well.


So we will see how this project moves forward but we will begin and more and more I feel it is so important to help people understand that there is a deeper reality and purpose to this life, we are more than mere atoms and molecules going around in circles in cycles of time.  There is more, so much more.


Onward ho!