Why did he do such a thing? What was she thinking!?! Whatever made you think you could....? (you fill in the rest, since we have all said or had it said to us).
We ask this question when something (usually bad) happens that shocks us. For some reason we think people should act according to a moral standard, while we refuse to accept the fact there is a moral standard. We teach our children there is no " absolute right or wrong", just "do what you want". We say each person must make choices based on what is "best for yourself". We teach selfishness and encourage rule breaking.
There seems to be an unspoken assumption that people should live according to the principles of conduct found in the Holy Bible. We expect people to live as Christians, yet deny and reject the surrender of self to Christ that is necessary to live up to those standards.
The idea of wickedness and sin is rejected as primitive and unworthy of consideration in these "enlightened" times. We may joke about how "the devil made me do it", but of course we say that is only a joke and not at all real.
So when a terrible act is done by a person, or several people, we look for an "explanation". We look at the background, the upbringing, the environment, the associates, anything and everything in an effort to explain. If we can explain it then we can excuse it.
That is the real problem. What we really are looking for is an excuse. Our approach is that people are basically good, and if given a choice, or a chance, will do good. So when they don't we look for an explanation that will excuse them, and by extension ourselves.
But there is no excuse. We are all evil. The only source of goodness is outside ourselves. The Bible says the only one good is God. It is only the grace of God that keeps wickedness in check. It is only the principles found in the words of Jesus, in the Bible, that have power to change us and keep us from destroying ourselves and everything else.
As the principles in the Bible are tossed aside as old fashioned, or ignored, we are left with no protection against the wickedness that we are subject to as sinners. We are left to the control of the Destroyer, the Liar, the Murderer. So we lie and murder and destroy.
There is only one choice. We either continue as we are, or we choose to yield to the grace of God and accept His power to overcome sin. It's an individual choice. Evil cannot be excused, or explained. It can only be overcome by accepting the life God offers. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, and He is the only One who can. We must give up our life and accept His life. Yielding to Him, and only Him, gives freedom from the evil that controls us. Then we have the peace and joy that cannot be taken away.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Whether The Weather?
"I wish I had a job like the weather person, where I could be wrong a lot and still have a job". I have said this often as I watch the actual weather compared with what was predicted. I know there is a lot of science involved in studying the wind patterns and temperature gradients and all the other knowledge required to try and figure out what the future patterns might bring. A semester of Meteorology was one of my favorites in Science class one year.
But it does seem clear to most people that the "averages", the "usual trends" we came to expect are no longer "usual". We seem to encounter more unexpected and rare weather patterns than before. The "unusual" appears to have become "the usual".
Of course there are various explanations and "scientific rationale" for these anomalies. But no matter how you slice it, the bottom line is we just don't seem to be able to count on things being as they have been in the past. On one hand our experience shows less stability, more unrest, while at the same time we are given "reasons" in an effort to tell us this is "normal". As long as we can explain it, we don't have to think about it.
Am I still talking about the weather? Actually I think the weather situation is just one part of a necessary learning experience we all need. A wise and loving Heavenly Father is trying to help us realize we cannot depend on anything on this earth. More and more we are being shown the instability of this world. We are being reminded that nothing we know here can be trusted. Our confidence in what we think we know is being shaken.
I am reminded of God's word: "He has promised that He will not shake the earth only, but also heaven. He reminds us by removing the things that can be shaken, so that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. We are to receive a kingdom that cannot be moved, so let us accept His grace so we may serve God acceptably..." (Hebrews 12:26-28)
The end of everything we have known stares us in the face. Everywhere we look we are met with failure. The physical world, the political world, the spiritual world. The economy, medical fears, no matter where we turn we hear voices of fear on every hand. Is there anything solid enough for a foundation we can build a future on?
Jesus said the only solid foundation we have is His Word. "Whoever hears what I say and does what I tell them is like a wise man who built his house on a rock. When the storms came, the wind and rain and floods beat on the house but it did not fall because it was founded on a rock." (Matthew 7:24-27)
A storm is coming, relentless in its fury. A loving Father is warning and preparing us so we can live through it and come out on the other side victorious and happy.
"The Lord is my Rock, my Fortress, and my Deliverer..." (Psalm 18:2)
But it does seem clear to most people that the "averages", the "usual trends" we came to expect are no longer "usual". We seem to encounter more unexpected and rare weather patterns than before. The "unusual" appears to have become "the usual".
Of course there are various explanations and "scientific rationale" for these anomalies. But no matter how you slice it, the bottom line is we just don't seem to be able to count on things being as they have been in the past. On one hand our experience shows less stability, more unrest, while at the same time we are given "reasons" in an effort to tell us this is "normal". As long as we can explain it, we don't have to think about it.
Am I still talking about the weather? Actually I think the weather situation is just one part of a necessary learning experience we all need. A wise and loving Heavenly Father is trying to help us realize we cannot depend on anything on this earth. More and more we are being shown the instability of this world. We are being reminded that nothing we know here can be trusted. Our confidence in what we think we know is being shaken.
I am reminded of God's word: "He has promised that He will not shake the earth only, but also heaven. He reminds us by removing the things that can be shaken, so that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. We are to receive a kingdom that cannot be moved, so let us accept His grace so we may serve God acceptably..." (Hebrews 12:26-28)
The end of everything we have known stares us in the face. Everywhere we look we are met with failure. The physical world, the political world, the spiritual world. The economy, medical fears, no matter where we turn we hear voices of fear on every hand. Is there anything solid enough for a foundation we can build a future on?
Jesus said the only solid foundation we have is His Word. "Whoever hears what I say and does what I tell them is like a wise man who built his house on a rock. When the storms came, the wind and rain and floods beat on the house but it did not fall because it was founded on a rock." (Matthew 7:24-27)
A storm is coming, relentless in its fury. A loving Father is warning and preparing us so we can live through it and come out on the other side victorious and happy.
"The Lord is my Rock, my Fortress, and my Deliverer..." (Psalm 18:2)
Monday, November 30, 2009
What Is Thankfulness?
I am so thankful....
Thank you so very much....
Have you ever really thought about these words? What do they really mean, what are we trying to say when we express thankfulness? What I started to think about was can you be thankful "in general", that is with no specific focus of thanks?
I think not. The more I have thought about this the more I realized we can only be truly thankful if our thanks is focused on someone who purposefully gave. Let me try to explain.
Can I thank my car for a safe trip to the store? No, it is a machine. As long as it is handled properly it will do as it is designed. My car cannot provide anything on its own. I could express thankfulness to the maker of the car. Thought and care and planning were employed in making a car that does what is designed, but I cannot really be thankful to the car.
Carrying this thought further, I thought about how we say we are thankful for the food we have. I realized we can be thankful only if we really think about what we mean. What is my point of view? Am I thankful to the food, or to the person who prepared it? OK someone says, the food was prepared and made appetizing and all, but the food provides me with energy and I would die without it.
Really? Isn't it my body that processes the food? My system has to break the food into the various items needed for my health and continued life. The food is not in there thinking about what it needs to do in order to build me up. So I can thank the farmers who grow the food, and the person who prepared it, and then myself for making myself grow, right? LOL! "Two out of three ain't bad"
When you get right down to the kernel, the rock bottom basis of all thanksgiving has to be given to God. I don't have to think about how to process my food. My body does it. But how does it know what to do? Who programmed it? I didn't. How does it keep going? If we don't believe in God, then we have to believe it is just blind chance that produced me and you cannot give thanks to a thing. Thankfulness implies you have been given something as the result of a plan by a thinking person. If you are the result of eons of time resulting in the "chance happening" that is you, then there is nothing to give thanks to. Like Topsey you "just growed".
A rational being will realize that all true thanksgiving has to ultimately be directed to a God Who created and continues to uphold His creation. He has thoughts and plans and love for the ones He has created. He is continually at work in many ways to give us life, and that more abundantly. "Give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good." Psalm 106:1
Thank you so very much....
Have you ever really thought about these words? What do they really mean, what are we trying to say when we express thankfulness? What I started to think about was can you be thankful "in general", that is with no specific focus of thanks?
I think not. The more I have thought about this the more I realized we can only be truly thankful if our thanks is focused on someone who purposefully gave. Let me try to explain.
Can I thank my car for a safe trip to the store? No, it is a machine. As long as it is handled properly it will do as it is designed. My car cannot provide anything on its own. I could express thankfulness to the maker of the car. Thought and care and planning were employed in making a car that does what is designed, but I cannot really be thankful to the car.
Carrying this thought further, I thought about how we say we are thankful for the food we have. I realized we can be thankful only if we really think about what we mean. What is my point of view? Am I thankful to the food, or to the person who prepared it? OK someone says, the food was prepared and made appetizing and all, but the food provides me with energy and I would die without it.
Really? Isn't it my body that processes the food? My system has to break the food into the various items needed for my health and continued life. The food is not in there thinking about what it needs to do in order to build me up. So I can thank the farmers who grow the food, and the person who prepared it, and then myself for making myself grow, right? LOL! "Two out of three ain't bad"
When you get right down to the kernel, the rock bottom basis of all thanksgiving has to be given to God. I don't have to think about how to process my food. My body does it. But how does it know what to do? Who programmed it? I didn't. How does it keep going? If we don't believe in God, then we have to believe it is just blind chance that produced me and you cannot give thanks to a thing. Thankfulness implies you have been given something as the result of a plan by a thinking person. If you are the result of eons of time resulting in the "chance happening" that is you, then there is nothing to give thanks to. Like Topsey you "just growed".
A rational being will realize that all true thanksgiving has to ultimately be directed to a God Who created and continues to uphold His creation. He has thoughts and plans and love for the ones He has created. He is continually at work in many ways to give us life, and that more abundantly. "Give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good." Psalm 106:1
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Denying Reality - 2
Denying Reality - 2
We are at war.
We are at war!
We are at.......oh, sorry. Did I wake you? Did I say something you didn't want to hear? Am I upsetting you?
GOOD! It's about time we stop thinking about our petty little selves and begin to look outside our small circle at the larger world and what is really going on. Take your head out of .....the sand... and look up. Look at reality.
I was thinking about this while hearing about the recent shooting at Fort Hood, TX. While it is early in the investigation, what we are hearing so far is that there were lots of warnings from the man who eventually perpetuated this horrible act. Apparently there was a lot of talking that should have warned of what was coming.
How often we end up saying "if only we had paid attention to what was being said, or how the perpetrator was acting". But we are so used to closing ourselves off from reality, we are so used to lying, that we refuse to believe what is really happening. We want to live in our own little "happy place" where all is peaceful and cheerful and everyone gets along. We apparently think if we ignore the "bad stuff" then it won't happen. What a pitiful delusion.
We are told: "we are at war" with ____ (fill in the blank). But "just go on about your daily business, and pleasure. Act as if everything is fine and don't let the bad things upset you". Just go on as if everything is fine?
Do we think we are living in a cartoon?? Do we think there are no consequences for our actions? Is what is going on just "make believe"?
Of course I am not talking about the news today, or Ft. Hood. That is just the latest illustration of the reality of the war we are all in. A war we were born into. A war we are engaged in whether we want to be or not.
The reality is we are all part of the very real war between good and evil. We cannot opt out of this war. All we can do is choose which side we will be on. There is no one who can be neutral. There is no place we can hide from the battles constantly going on. We are actively engaged on one side or the other. Our choices, or lack thereof, are all part of the ongoing action.
We have been given the power of choice. We have been given the freedom to choose. Everyone chooses. We can actively choose. We can passively choose. If we do not make a choice, then we are automatically on the side we were born into. We are all given the opportunity to examine the evidence and make our choice. No one gets a pass.
We will see some of the evidence as we go along. We will make choices.
Daniel
We are at war.
We are at war!
We are at.......oh, sorry. Did I wake you? Did I say something you didn't want to hear? Am I upsetting you?
GOOD! It's about time we stop thinking about our petty little selves and begin to look outside our small circle at the larger world and what is really going on. Take your head out of .....the sand... and look up. Look at reality.
I was thinking about this while hearing about the recent shooting at Fort Hood, TX. While it is early in the investigation, what we are hearing so far is that there were lots of warnings from the man who eventually perpetuated this horrible act. Apparently there was a lot of talking that should have warned of what was coming.
How often we end up saying "if only we had paid attention to what was being said, or how the perpetrator was acting". But we are so used to closing ourselves off from reality, we are so used to lying, that we refuse to believe what is really happening. We want to live in our own little "happy place" where all is peaceful and cheerful and everyone gets along. We apparently think if we ignore the "bad stuff" then it won't happen. What a pitiful delusion.
We are told: "we are at war" with ____ (fill in the blank). But "just go on about your daily business, and pleasure. Act as if everything is fine and don't let the bad things upset you". Just go on as if everything is fine?
Do we think we are living in a cartoon?? Do we think there are no consequences for our actions? Is what is going on just "make believe"?
Of course I am not talking about the news today, or Ft. Hood. That is just the latest illustration of the reality of the war we are all in. A war we were born into. A war we are engaged in whether we want to be or not.
The reality is we are all part of the very real war between good and evil. We cannot opt out of this war. All we can do is choose which side we will be on. There is no one who can be neutral. There is no place we can hide from the battles constantly going on. We are actively engaged on one side or the other. Our choices, or lack thereof, are all part of the ongoing action.
We have been given the power of choice. We have been given the freedom to choose. Everyone chooses. We can actively choose. We can passively choose. If we do not make a choice, then we are automatically on the side we were born into. We are all given the opportunity to examine the evidence and make our choice. No one gets a pass.
We will see some of the evidence as we go along. We will make choices.
Daniel
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Denying Reality
From the highest government office holder to the most obscure self-interest group, we constantly hear: "We care so much about you!" "We are trying to help you." There is a never ending effort to make laws for "your own good". But is it for my good, or is it an effort to quiet a guilty conscience?
There seems to be a never-ending push in human nature to force people to 'do the right thing'. First we try education, because we erroneously think that people will change if we just show them "a better way". When that doesn't work, we make a law to force compliance. That only forces compliance from those who are inclined to follow rules anyway. But we continue doing this because we are "trying to save lives".
Really? Are we really trying to save lives? Seat belt laws save lives - check. No smoking laws save lives - check. Now it's no trans fats laws. So we pat ourselves on the back, puff our chest out with pride, and tell ourselves we are so good.
We get up in arms against secondary smoke, while we promote activities that lead to social degeneration, moral decline, spiritual degradation, and eternal death. While we focus on preventing physical death, we actively foster the eternal death of the soul. We deny personal responsibility. We encourage selfishness. We work hard to prevent physical death while encouraging spiritual death of the soul.
Human nature hasn't changed. Two thousand years ago there was a society that put tremendous emphasis on physical cleanliness. There were rules to protect rules. You can read about it in the Bible, the book of Mark, chapter 7. Jesus and His disciples were accused of breaking the rules. They weren't following all the laws the leaders had made.
While physical health is important, it pales greatly when compared with spiritual health. Jesus said we are not to be so focused on the physical that we forget the spiritual. It is from the heart (the mind) that evil and wickedness originate. We feed our mind with violence, impurity, pride, and foolishness (mental empty calories) of all types. Our actions come from what is inside our heart. The growing incivility, selfishness, crudeness and outright evil we see in people is a direct result of the mental food we put into ourselves. "All these evil things come from within, and destroy the man". Mark 7:23
to be continued...............
Daniel
From the highest government office holder to the most obscure self-interest group, we constantly hear: "We care so much about you!" "We are trying to help you." There is a never ending effort to make laws for "your own good". But is it for my good, or is it an effort to quiet a guilty conscience?
There seems to be a never-ending push in human nature to force people to 'do the right thing'. First we try education, because we erroneously think that people will change if we just show them "a better way". When that doesn't work, we make a law to force compliance. That only forces compliance from those who are inclined to follow rules anyway. But we continue doing this because we are "trying to save lives".
Really? Are we really trying to save lives? Seat belt laws save lives - check. No smoking laws save lives - check. Now it's no trans fats laws. So we pat ourselves on the back, puff our chest out with pride, and tell ourselves we are so good.
We get up in arms against secondary smoke, while we promote activities that lead to social degeneration, moral decline, spiritual degradation, and eternal death. While we focus on preventing physical death, we actively foster the eternal death of the soul. We deny personal responsibility. We encourage selfishness. We work hard to prevent physical death while encouraging spiritual death of the soul.
Human nature hasn't changed. Two thousand years ago there was a society that put tremendous emphasis on physical cleanliness. There were rules to protect rules. You can read about it in the Bible, the book of Mark, chapter 7. Jesus and His disciples were accused of breaking the rules. They weren't following all the laws the leaders had made.
While physical health is important, it pales greatly when compared with spiritual health. Jesus said we are not to be so focused on the physical that we forget the spiritual. It is from the heart (the mind) that evil and wickedness originate. We feed our mind with violence, impurity, pride, and foolishness (mental empty calories) of all types. Our actions come from what is inside our heart. The growing incivility, selfishness, crudeness and outright evil we see in people is a direct result of the mental food we put into ourselves. "All these evil things come from within, and destroy the man". Mark 7:23
to be continued...............
Daniel
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Beginnings
A New Beginning
This is not a very original title, and that is by choice. I am not interested in trying to make a big splash. Or WOW everyone with something grand and overwhelming. Why then start another blog? Aren't there enough all ready? Do I think I have anything original to offer?
Most assuredly yes, I have something important to contribute to thought and life. But in accordance with my stated "non-deeds" in the first paragraph I am not going to inject all those goals here. Rather they will be revealed and stated as they come up in the ordinary flow of this blog. As time goes by and events demand, it will become clear why I have written.
My philosophy will become clear. My thoughts will make sense. You will be made to think. My desire is to provoke thoughts you may have never had before. Open your eyes to new ways of seeing events and possibilities. Practical solutions to problems we face in day to day living. Always the emphasis on the practical.
You may not always agree. You may vehemently deny and cross me off as crazy. Or you may have that moment when you think: "O wow, I never thought of it like that, but it sure makes sense!"
And I will be learning more than you do. That's the real benefit of something like this. In hearing from you, in study and research, in the very exercise of writing there is brought a clarity of thinking and insights that would be impossible in another setting. What I learn I will share, because that is where the real learning takes place.
Growth comes by sharing. As we share together, we will grow in knowledge. What we do with that knowledge will make all the difference in the world. Eternity will be affected by what we share together here.
Daniel
This is not a very original title, and that is by choice. I am not interested in trying to make a big splash. Or WOW everyone with something grand and overwhelming. Why then start another blog? Aren't there enough all ready? Do I think I have anything original to offer?
Most assuredly yes, I have something important to contribute to thought and life. But in accordance with my stated "non-deeds" in the first paragraph I am not going to inject all those goals here. Rather they will be revealed and stated as they come up in the ordinary flow of this blog. As time goes by and events demand, it will become clear why I have written.
My philosophy will become clear. My thoughts will make sense. You will be made to think. My desire is to provoke thoughts you may have never had before. Open your eyes to new ways of seeing events and possibilities. Practical solutions to problems we face in day to day living. Always the emphasis on the practical.
You may not always agree. You may vehemently deny and cross me off as crazy. Or you may have that moment when you think: "O wow, I never thought of it like that, but it sure makes sense!"
And I will be learning more than you do. That's the real benefit of something like this. In hearing from you, in study and research, in the very exercise of writing there is brought a clarity of thinking and insights that would be impossible in another setting. What I learn I will share, because that is where the real learning takes place.
Growth comes by sharing. As we share together, we will grow in knowledge. What we do with that knowledge will make all the difference in the world. Eternity will be affected by what we share together here.
Daniel
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