Have you heard of those strange things called atoms, electron, neutrons, quarks, and bosons?

Most of us aren’t science geeks and really don’t get much of an understanding but those that do understand these things are getting excited. They have found the “God particle” or Higgs boson.

Why the excitement?

The Higgs Boson gives everything mass. It influences every other particle and so it is everywhere and in everything.

It helps enable matter to matter! If you read my blog “Higgs boson (so called ‘God’ particle) may exist!!!!” written before this aspect of creation was proved to exist, you can get more details on it.

Great men are humbled when faced with God’s creative elegance!

Yet, some men resent the fact that this aspect has been labelled with the term “God”.

CBC news reports that William Trischuk, a professor of physics at the University of Toronto says the following[1] "We hate calling it the God particle but the reason it picked that up is because it goes out and touches every other particle and gives them their property, which is their mass,"

What’s wrong with giving God the glory for his creation Professor Trischuk?

Trischuk is not alone in this resentment.

Strangely, many Christians feel the same way!

Why do some Christians resent it?

Many feel it is taking the name of God in vain.

Personally for me there is only one God, who is the Father of Jesus. However many people feel differently.

I like the term “God particle” because it implies there are things greater than ourselves in this universe. It says that we are finite but God is infinite. God is far greater than ourselves.

Today I want to give honor to God for an amazing creation! The creation that Jesus, the Word,  brought into existence. The creation that teeters on existence and is held together by forces we are still trying to understand, but which God controls with ease.

We have a wonderful and yet amazing God. Let’s give him the honor!

The word “Pope” derives from Greek πάππας meaning "Father".

“But you shouldn’t be called ‘Rabbi.’ You have only one Master, and you are all brothers. 9 Do not call anyone on earth ‘father.’ You have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10 You shouldn’t be called ‘teacher.’ You have one Teacher, and he is the Christ. Matthew 23:8-10

Is there a bit of a conflict of interest here?

The leader of the Catholic Christian world wants to be called “Father” in a religious context, and the bible clearly says we should not call him this.

Isn’t this a bit strange?

Jesus was specifically directing this direction towards the crowds and the disciples and speaking about the religious leaders of the day, “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat”

The interesting fact is he also said “So you must obey them. Do everything they tell you. But don’t do what they do. They don’t practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on other people’s shoulders. But they themselves aren’t willing to lift a finger to move them.”

This behaviour he was describing annoyed Jesus enough for him to speak at length on people who say one thing and do another.

It is in this context that he points out we are all equal and have only himself as master. We should not consider any of us as more worthy than another.

This is where I think perhaps the Pope has to do something for our world.

I am sure each Pope understands they are actually servants of the world, but it takes courage to act upon this position with strength and love.

My prayer is that this man will allow himself to be directed by God independent of the fingers of historical administrative tradition and make the changes that have to be made to take a major part of the body of Christ forward into the 21^st century where they belong.

The world is changing and God is permitting this to occur, may the new Pope acknowledge this.

While our bible is God inspired and the words never fail, the interpretation of previous centuries are not all absolute, and we need to have Holy Spirit inspired men and women to do God’s work.

I acknowledge God as “Father” and respect the “pope” but not as Father, I reserve the spiritual use of that word for my omnipotent Father.  

This text "Do not call [anyone] on earth your father”  in Greek says καλέσητε γῆς gēs πατέρα patera”

Notice “πάππας” is not “πατέρα patera” so I guess in the strict sense Jesus was not telling us we cannot use the word Pope.

However, I do pray this man will be a light to our world, submitting to God’s leading and pointing with great clarity to God’s will on earth.

 His love should be that of God the Father, his willingness to suffer that of Jesus, and his life controlled by Holy Spirit.

In fact our lives should also be this way.

Will you join me in praying for a miracle here?

No decision yet: Black smoke over Sistine Chapel after third round of voting for new pope ~ CTV News[1]

Black smoke=no agreement yet,

White smoke=decided and done.

Have you ever been in one of those places where trying to understand what the best course of action is, comes with difficulty?

It’s tough making some decisions. I blogged about it recently in Tough choices made the right way!

We say we can always get to the decision, but there are times when we don’t want to, right?

Those cardinals in the conclave so far have not come up with a decision, as they are not very clear as to what God wants them to do.

If some of the brightest most God focussed minds in the world can have this problem, it’s no wonder that we do. I sometimes have difficulty at 6am in the morning in hearing Holy Spirits leading for what the blog of the day is to be about. Yet my desire is to know and each day, Holy Spirit guides me. Each and every day God comes through. Amazing!

However, sometimes our own personalities and stubbornness can get in the way of God’s will.

Sometimes it’s the enormity of the decision, or the potential outcomes that slows down our decision. Sometimes there is no good choice, only a choice between bad options. These all impact our desire to make decisions and without desire to come to a solution, we often waver and flip flop between options.

Try reading  Tough choices made the right way! if you need a process to make decisions, but first make sure you are ready to make the decision. This is fundamentally where we start.

One of the toughest decisions for many is Jesus. For many this ambiguous feeling is encountered in deciding whether to follow Jesus or not.

Some people teeter for years on wanting to decide, and then putting it off. I have members of my own family that did that for years and some that still do. It’s not lack of information. Some of us provide that for them daily, and still they falter. It’s not that God isn’t there waiting.

It is simply they are not wanting to take themselves forward to the point they can decide.

I think some people envy Paul the apostle. He was never in this situation. Initially he was totally against Christians, then God knocked him down, and he realized he was wrong, and then he was totally for Jesus.

Not everyone is that way! Some have to be helped to make up doubting minds.

Thomas, is an example in this regard. In his case, everyone told Thomas that Jesus was alive. He just didn’t want to believe it! Here is what happened...

²⁴ Thomas was one of the Twelve. He was called Didymus. He was not with the other disciples when Jesus came. ²⁵ So they told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “First I must see the nail marks in his hands. I must put my finger where the nails were. I must put my hand into his side. Only then will I believe what you say.”

²⁶ A week later, Jesus’ disciples were in the house again. Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were locked, Jesus came in and stood among them.

He said, “May peace be with you!” ²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here. See my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

²⁸ Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

²⁹ Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen me but still have believed.” John 20 NIRV

Jesus understands doubt and in his own time he will address it. He will bring us to the point where we realize it is time to make that decision. Let’s remember those cardinals push out black smoke for days, and even years sometimes, before the time arrives. Yet, to date the white smoke always comes.

Sometimes God takes us down different paths to himself. Sometimes that is due to what we need to do after we make our decision. Wallowing in uncertainty, we sometimes pick up skills and experiences that cannot be made once the decision is made. In uncertainty we gain skills to serve others, sometimes at expense of our own joy, that we experience after the decision.

If you know of someone who is troubled in this way, let us pray they get called into Gods plan for their life at exactly the right time and that they decide correctly at that time.

We all face that watershed moment. Not all of us decide correctly. I believe it is sometimes the prayer of others that help us along the right way.

Will you join me in praying for those we know are being faced with the decision, and finding it tough?

Thanks!

 

“A raindrop coming in contact with fire looses it's existence while that falling on a shell becomes a 'pearl'.

Therefore, people desirous of knowledge should avoid the company of ignorant people who believe in the motto- ignorance is bliss .” ~ Sam Veda

 This guy had his wife taken from him by someone quite powerful. She was a rather beautiful sexy woman and she said the guy was her brother. He also said she was his sister.

The powerful person wanted her perhaps as a wife and definitely to have sex with her, and was ignorant of the fact she was already married.

Surely that makes him blissfully ignorant and innocent of crime?

Our courts would find it that way in today's world, wouldn’t they?

Here is the actual story...

Abraham moved away from there into the Negev Desert. He lived between Kadesh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Gerar.

² There Abraham said about his wife Sarah, “She’s my sister.” Then Abimelech sent for Sarah and took her. He was the king of Gerar.

³ God came to Abimelech in a dream one night. He said to him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken. She is already married.”

⁴ But Abimelech hadn’t gone near her. So he said, “Lord, will you destroy a nation that hasn’t done anything wrong? ⁵ Didn’t Abraham say to me, ‘She’s my sister’? And didn’t she also say, ‘He’s my brother’? I had no idea I was doing anything wrong. I’m not guilty.”

⁶ Then God spoke to him in the dream. He said, “Yes, I know you had no idea you were doing anything wrong. So I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her.

⁷ “Now return the man’s wife to him. He is a prophet. He will pray for you, and you will live. But what if you do not return her? Then you can be sure that you and all of your people will die.” Genesis 20:1-7 NIRV

Abraham said his wife was his sister!

Now could actually be the truth since it is also believed that there could have been something called a Hurrian society in those days. A Hurrian could adopt his wife as his sister and thereby give her special status so she would be treated as a blood relative of the husband’s family.

Yet, let’s be honest, we know Abraham was planning on deceiving Abimilech! Not a nice way to go either for Sarah his wife or for this other guy, Abimilech!

Yet, notice that Abimilech is almost in trouble with God, but finds out just in time. He has to make a decision and it is whether to continue, now knowing the truth, or not.

God makes sure that we cannot claim ignorance when we are about to sin! Also notice, even sinning in ignorance is still sinning!

God is just, and warns us! We are not perfect people. We make mistakes all the time. I make mistakes all the time!

There is great comfort in knowing God will not let my mistakes damage others who are perhaps innocent.

Also, God looks after those who he touches specially, and everyone who accepts Jesus is touched specially. We have Holy Spirit in our lives.

Think about that!

Ignorance is not bliss! Isn’t it great to have the wonderful, amazing all powerful God looking out for us,(that is if we have accepted Jesus is God’s son)?

If you have a recital to do, you have to memorize the songs. I never use music when I do recitals. It produces an instant barrier, both for yourself and the audience. ~ Bryn Terfel

Most modern people, myself included, don’t memorize a whole lot do we?

Instead we dive into our pocket, pull out our phone and retrieve the required information from Google.

Useful, but somewhat lacking in immediate response isn’t it? Then, horror of horror’s! Let me just be out of phone coverage or worse still, out of data coverage range. It’s as if my life force is somewhat cut off and I can only live at a reduced stunted pace.

I know that I am supremely blessed to have all these modern conveniences. I grew up as a boy in a small town without phones or even TV, and somehow I forget that we had a wonderful time without both. Personal computers were not even invented then, but I digress...let's return to memorization....

Memorization still has good uses!

 Firstly it disciplines our mind to remember things. It helps us retain more information. It challenges our brain and keeps it healthy and fit and gives us  the ability to recall more information faster.

Now days they say older people have better lives if their brains are more active.

Remembering songs is a very good way of improving one’s life isn’t it? These words and tunes flip up to comfort us in the most strange ways as life throws it’s surprises into our laps.

Next, memorization enables us to do things quicker.

 Instead of having to “look up” something, we can jump to the next step of using it straight away. Also we can, by memorization, hold enough concepts in our head to manipulate them into a solution. Practicing memorization helps us do this. This means we are more creative and imaginative.

If memorization still has value today, is there any great examples of Christian memorization?

Well at Pentecost, the apostle Peter quotes Joel...here is what the prophet Joel meant. He said

Peter was quoting Joel and looking at these together we realize that although not identical. They are significantly similar.

Peter has obviously previously memorized this text and then on that day of Pentecost, could recall this to help the people understand what was starting to happen to them.

Here, as Holy Spirit starts work on Earth, Peter is able to point back to a prophecy from hundreds of years in the past that said the events would happen!

In this memorized explanation God explains that we need to call on Jesus name to be saved when the hard times come.

Perhaps we need to remember this description so that when these times come, we know what is happening?

Perhaps, like Peter, it would be good for us to memorize the words, then when God comes, we won’t be struggling to do a lookup on Google, but rather we will respond with open arms to our loving God and call on his name.

Maybe by making our decisions now and memorizing God’s words we will benefit.

What do you think?