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Friday, January 10, 2014

We believe! Why?

We believe! Why?

Believe that life is worth living
   and your belief will help create the fact. ~ William James

Why is life worth living then?

The bible says...

1 Peter 3:15

¹⁵But make sure in your hearts that Christ is Lord. Always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks you about the hope you have. Be ready to give the reason for it. But do it gently and with respect.

How do you answer about your hope to someone who may not believe?

Faith is important but in our modern world so is being logical.

This is one of the ways we can explain what we believe and why…

We believe that we exist and that we are alive and know it. I guess than means that unlike other forms of life on earth that we can understand and make decisions to identify truth.

We would probably agree it is reasonable to expect that most of us try to live a quality life daily. Also most can decide on what is true and what is untrue right? Then independent of whether we agree or not, life is made up of a series of decisions we need to make, isn’t it?

This means that while living I will come across things that to me are true, and some other things are untrue. I also realize my understanding of truth can be wrong without me knowing it. Belief progresses and is not a single experience.

Our belief statements live as we live and develop them further.

At the moment, I believe that to understand truth, we must evaluate everything through our perceptions and we focus our perceptions with logic.

Logic is learned by experience, and is better understood by more mature people. (Though this a bit of a generalization and sometimes not true. :) )

Since we live on earth, we must consider everything we experience in terms experiences in our daily environments. This should include using all history, art, science, and other disciplines to understand the boundaries between truth and non-truth.

To do this means we must currently face the questions of evolution, human development and life, since these are key aspects in the truth determining process in current thought.

In these areas, I have some fundamental statements regarding my own current beliefs, but perhaps you may agree with some of them if they are investigated.

I believe that to date, nobody has given a sufficient explanation of how life originates.

Discussing life: To date no scientist can show how life originated. Not one! Nobody can even currently provide a plausible argument about how life could originate either on earth or in the universe anywhere. This means that currently there is no mechanism for development of life without allowing for there being an external force constructing the building blocks of life.

Discussing evolution: While I see the probability of the earth having formed out of the cosmos as being high, and evolution of life within species as being high, I see that Darwinian evolution dictates a migration from one species to another as mandatory to it’s process.

Now if this migration between species occurred, there would lots of fossils of these between species creatures, at least as many as any specific specie of the fossil found so far. This is logical but when we investigate it appears that this does not appear to be so. This leads me to believe an external directing force needed to be involved with any interspecies evolution, if it occurred.

I must also state I am using the word “force” loosely. I am also not saying inter-species evolution did not occur, but I am saying that if it did there was some external force involved.

Now I do believe that this universe is uniquely made, and that science itself has posited that the probability of our existing by chance is extremely small. Options for disaster to occur by slight variances in balancing forces of various types outweigh success if this is the only Universe.

Then the level of complexity in the variation in densities of energy in the original “big bang” being setup perfectly for life to have occurred as it has, is so improbably, that the fact it did occur should probably be ascribed as a “miracle”.

Yet, we would all probably agree that science suggests that evolution is the current program by which we and our universe have reached our level of complexity.

So, despite the holes in this evolution theory which are as yet open and unproved, I accept that this universe, if it evolved, did so like a huge complex brain of immense proportions.

No person could ever have thought this all out and set it up because we were not yet in existence when it occurred. So there was some other “brain” that did this. We have less thinking ability than that “brain” (I am using the term “brain” to refer to decisions driving the multiple laws, forces and processes of universe in which we exist).

So this “brain” , our highly evolved universe, is extremely complex and beyond mankind’s ability to fully understand at this point.

Now is it not logical to state that anyone who says that this “brain” of our universe is the only “brain” of this complexity, is limiting possibilities and being narrow minded.

Following this logic there must be other “brains” other than the “brain” of our known universe.

This means that belief that there are other “brains” other than our known universe is LESS narrow minded that believing this one universe in which we live in is the only “brain”.

Now, if there are multiple “brains” of this nature, then it stands to reason that if we apply evolution then these other brains evolved from or were created from a source.

Therefore, I am suggesting that there is potentially an originating “brain” from which these others evolved, and contend that is what many people call “god”.

We can therefore state that those that believe god does not exist (atheists) are less broadminded than those who state a god probably exists (agnostics).

Then if a god exists, it seems logical that the god would probably want to leave a “signature” or evidence of his creation within his handiwork.

So, I guess the universal task of looking for truth would be an investigation within which this signature would be capable of being found. That finding this “signature” is capability available to anyone.

Now doesn’t the ability to identify a signature or signatures (and obviously I am using this word in the broadest possible way) is dependent on accepting these “signatures” could exist?

This means that only those acknowledging that a god exists (even if they do not know him personally) are likely to see the evidence of these “signatures”.

That’s why we can say that agnostics(believe in a god) are more broadminded than atheists who do not accept this since atheists exclude themselves from the possibility of finding this truth.

It is also true that “agnostics” have the greatest potential of discovering the signature(s).

Understanding this, we must also accept as true the fact that different people could also “discover” multiple perspectives of what they consider to be THE “signature” without actually being correct.

So if there is only one correct “signature” or group of “signatures” hidden in creation, submitting other versions as being the correct one(s) would be interesting but untrue and invalid. This would be true no matter how fiercely anyone holds to beliefs in these false signatures or signature groups being correct, right?

Isn’t it true that the only one who can know the signature(s) is/are correct must be from outside the created universe, and hence must be a god out there somewhere.

Also isn’t arguing a signature is correct is limited and incapable of being evaluated without assistance of this god.

So a god who creates a person would probably want to interact or even have a relationship with that person and would establish a way to have such a relationship.

This means it is probably more broadminded to state that we believe a god does exist and may want to have a relationship with us, than to state such a god does not exist.

In other words agnostic’s who accept but don’t know god, to be more broadminded than atheists who deny the possibility of god’s existence.

Now for the true “signature” to be correctly identified, the “god” would have to interact with the people in creation to enable this truth to be discerned correctly.

This means that it is broadminded to consider that a god exists and this god potentially interacts and wants to interact with those of us within this universe that are alive and know it.

It’s probably that the god if they exist would not go counter to the known truths in unveiling how this universe was established, wanting to add to and expose truth rather than misdirect us.

Now I step to a region of my own personal belief and to which each person I believe needs determine and to develop for themselves. I am moving from logic to faith on this step, but this does not mean I do not have facts to back this migration.

I do NOT believe in an impersonal god, because at a point in my life development, at a time when I was in a no-win position (having totally screwed up my life), and where any action I could personally have taken to rectify it would have been negative, I was given a exposure to this god and the option to accept this god as the God in my life.

I had this option presented to me by an interaction with GOD and without being in a religious group, also without having any current knowledge of or respect for any religious person or persons at that time.

This was at a time when I was not even investigating anything spirituality and was looking for physical ways of saving my own skin from impending doom and pain. In fact I was also looking for a way out without any subscription to the concept of good or evil. I was selfishly focused on self-preservation.

I believe that I was exposed to God at this time in a rather unusual specific way simply because I as a person am very unlikely to accept God under any other conditions.

Hopefully you and others will have perhaps more friendly and supportive paths to this knowledge.

However I believe that God, once I had accepted him, moved me from atheist to believer without passing me through that agnostic option. God then directed me to Jesus Christ as pointed to Him as his signature in this world and as the source of truth.

This is a personal belief, expressed in faith, but consider this... if I encountered the true God, then it is also a true belief. I want to add my life experience to this point confirms this experience.

So I believe in God, Jesus Christ and Holy Spirit, as defined in the Nicene Creed and as exposed to us by the original texts from which the Christian bible was compiled and translated.

It is my duty to continue to explore truth and offer this evidence to everyone.

Yet, I believe that this pursuit needs to be done with respect and tolerance for those who are on this journey at different levels and without thinking in any way that we can be superior or sub-ordinate to any other person.

I believe that on the continuum of most broadminded to least, the believer in God is most broadminded, the agnostic believer lesser so, and the atheist believer the least broadminded of people.

Mostly, I believe that my daily relationship with this God gives me a vibrancy that those without it simply fail to achieve in their existence.

These are my beliefs.

The version of the Nicene Creed to which I subscribe is on my website for anyone to review. I do honestly pray for us all to reach a vibrancy of life found by acknowledging God and I suggest it is more reasonable to believe in God than to not do so.

For me this is true, I hope it is or will become true for you too!

Fri, January 10, 2014 | link Comments

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Do we really care anymore?

Do we really care anymore?

Convict turns himself in…sometimes Jail is a good place!

Yesterday in the news there was an interesting story of an escaped convict who turned himself in after a day being free.

Why?

Well here in Canada and the USA we have had a freezing cold time.

Something people called a polar vortex brought in temperature that in his area was about -20F. A few hours of experiencing the true pain of life resulted in hypothermia and his walking into a motel and telling them to call the police.

The Jail was at least warm, with warm food and a bed!

This story got me thinking of how the average person treats this world.

To many, life is the great escape to be enjoyed and people consider themselves “free” to do anything that pleases them, then time catches up with everyone. “life” turns out to have some really nasty side effects as a result of evil, and selfishness once thought of as the great pleasure becomes the great trap.

It seems as if everyone is doing evil in differing degrees!

People say “There is no God”. They seem to think as long as they don’t get caught at it, that they can do anything. In pampering to selfish desires many people do vile things.

Even the best of us at one time or another are not proud of something we have done.

Evil appears to win in so many instances and yet, some people even proclaim there is no evil as if by denying it, they can escape it.

They can’t escape evil, none of us can!

God looks at us and sees us for who we are.

He searches to see who understands him, knows the truth and loves Him. Yet so many do not love God and all of us have done evil at some time or other. None of us is pure of our own accord.

We know it don’t we?

We know so little of truth, yet so many of our scientists proclaim they know it all.

Talking to a friend yesterday, I find out that it only takes an elderly person to go to a doctor because they got dizzy and after an array of tests the answer was often, “I don’t know” just “take it easy”.

In a different circumstance if the doctor had an ego problem it may be that he would try to blame it on an activity by the elderly or something else, anything to avoid saying he doesn’t know.

We don’t know so much!

We don’t know how bioengineering will impact our human race or the environment yet. We can feel that if bioengineering is not dealt with carefully there is a horror waiting to happen. Is CO2 destroying the planet? We think so but there are still questions as to whether this is true.

What keeps unethical people from destroying our planet with greed?

God!

Only God restores us to the warmth of His presence and teaches us truth and the ultimate good values and morals. Only through Jesus can this world really understand truth.

Let’s pray today that we as mankind will learn real fast.

Here is a bible excerpt that discussed what I have commented on more fully than I can…

The fool says in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, and their ways are vile;
there is no one who does good.

²God looks down from heaven
on all mankind
to see if there are any who understand,
any who seek God.

³Everyone has turned away, all have become corrupt;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.

⁴Do all these evildoers know nothing?

They devour my people as though eating bread;
they never call on God.

⁵But there they are, overwhelmed with dread,
where there was nothing to dread.
God scattered the bones of those who attacked you;
you put them to shame, for God despised them.

⁶Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
When God restores his people,
let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!

Psalm 53

Christians lets pray for God's intervention in teh world and that truth will increase. Non-Christians, perhaps consider carefully what is happening to this world and where ultimate safety is to be found, relaizing that we live forever, even after death.

Have a great day!

Wed, January 8, 2014 | link Comments

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

How does the little guy combat the wealthy evildoer?

How does the little guy combat the wealthy evildoer?

“Silently, sadly, the earth covered life coinage is read both ways; so much vs. so little and…so little vs. …so much!” ~ Wes Adamson

Big corporations, little people!

Most of us work for big corporations, since they are the biggest employers.

Most of us fail to see that corporations are composed of people who drive them and we often start to talk as if corporations have a life of their own. We buy stocks in them and demand they perform to meet our expectations rather than that they provide a modest realistic return but treat their employees well.

Then, as the company executives opportunities recede and times get harder (and we all know about that), they start to make decisions that are “cost saving”. This means reductions in areas that often have to do with support of the very people who have supported the “company”.

The little person gets hurt!

Why?

Is it perhaps because the public holding the stock do not demand that companies exercise compassion and love as well as turn a profit?

Where is the stock exchange that shows not only the $’s but other company indicators, like the staff turnover and reduction, the average wage of executives and workers, or some other measures of this nature. How do we reward companies that take care of their people?

When companies get to struggling to a certain level, their boards normally throw out the compassionate executives and bring in those we label a “sharks” to “save” the company.

Often these people have even less interest in the “soft” aspects of running the company.

They often have less morals and so the chances of getting Christian’s involved in these types of positions is even less.

Evil spreads!

That’s why so many companies have evil outperforming good in their management.

We as a public reward evil over good as we selfishly want a dime for every dollar we invest in stocks.

Yet, we know one thing, God still protects the little person! Psalm 52 is all about this…the first part says…

Why do you boast of evil, you mighty hero?
    Why do you boast all day long,
    you who are a disgrace in the eyes of God?

²You who practice deceit,
    your tongue plots destruction;
    it is like a sharpened razor.

³You love evil rather than good,
    falsehood rather than speaking the truth.^[c]
⁴You love every harmful word,
    you deceitful tongue!

Is this not what we see happening so often. Those who do evil are not even ashamed of what they do. They cut costs and send people home to cold poverty and then take home million dollar bonuses. What is wrong with that?

They are a disgrace in God’s eyes. Surely cost cutting means no bonuses and everyone at all level’s contributing equally out of their disposable income. This way executives and higher incomes should be contributing more dollars and those with less, less, but in proportion to what they receive as gain.

Have you notices how deceitful some people can be, particularly as they plan to take over wealth. They can hide things and speak in ways to convince people that situations are different than they really are. They justify these ways and make out its necessary and good. It’s not, it wicked or evil!

The psalm continues…

⁵Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin:
    He will snatch you up and pluck you from your tent;
    he will uproot you from the land of the living.

⁶The righteous will see and fear;
    they will laugh at you, saying,

⁷“Here now is the man
    who did not make God his stronghold
but trusted in his great wealth
    and grew strong by destroying others!”

Notice that the loss is everlasting not temporary. It is eternal, not limited to this life. Those who laugh haughtily and treat others badly in this life will get into a rut of doing it. Their downfall is determined by their own evil routines.

Yet, those who suffer a little in this life, who rely on God, those who chose to do right even when it hurts, who love and care, even when times are tough. Those are the ones God loves! Those can say

⁸But I am like an olive tree
    flourishing in the house of God;
I trust in God’s unfailing love
    for ever and ever.

⁹For what you have done I will always praise you
    in the presence of your faithful people.
And I will hope in your name,
    for your name is good.

I trust we fall into the latter group and that we try hard not be like those in the former group.

Let’s look for ways of caring and respecting others not matter what their station in life or their ability to create, control or manage wealth.

Let’s invest in stocks wisely because we are moving companies by the way we invest. It is often us that determine the management style of companies through stocks we buy in times of stress. Even if we do not buy stocks, do we pray for the company we are part of? Prayer counts!

Doing these things means we are being more Godlike! That way our eternity will be joyful and perhaps we can make life a bit better for everyone.

Tue, January 7, 2014 | link Comments

Monday, January 6, 2014

How can I be “holy”?

How can I be “holy”?

The bible says

¹³Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. ¹⁴As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. ¹⁵But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; ¹⁶for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” 1 Peter 1

Okay, so what is the true biblical meaning of “holy”?

It means set apart, placed aside for a purpose.

We are to be set apart for God. Placed aside for a purpose that is according to God’s desire.

This unique relationship with God is a shared relationship. God and us share in a special relationship.

Yet, a relationship requires two parties doesn’t it. Only people with problems have relationships with themselves. The rest of us understand a relationship is with another.

To be holy means more than just a relationship, it is a mutually enjoyed relationship.

Because we enjoy the relationship with God it turns us towards Him and unites us with Him.

That’s the wonderful part of being Holy. It’s that relationship that shows us what is worthwhile in life and so we go towards those worthwhile aspects rejecting those that aren’t. We do this in a voluntary loving manner.

That’s Holiness folk!

You and I can be Holy!

Let’s try and be worth of being set apart for God.

Have a great day!

Mon, January 6, 2014 | link Comments

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