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Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Depth of decisionDepth of decision
A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right. ~Thomas Paine
Have
you ever had anyone ask you to find the root cause of something?
What are they asking us to do?
This statement calls on us to think of the
activity of weeding a garden. For those of us growing up in a city this could be something we might not have done, so let
me explain...
Weeds
grow alongside good plants and generally grow a bit faster taking over the real estate of the plant we want and hiding the
sun, the source of it’s nutrition with it’s own leaves. To stop this happening we need to eradicate it. Many people
grab the plant and pull on it removing the portion of the plant above the ground.
This is a superficial solution. The roots that feed the plant
are still under the ground feeding the remnants and within a few days the plant is growing above the surface again.
To really eradicate
the problem one has to dig down and get the roots and remove them as well.
Therefore to find the root cause of something is
to investigate deeper than first impression or looking further than the obvious answer.
We continue after finding a first apparent answer and investigate deeper.
For example in the Christian
church, many people have heard others say that evolution and the science view of an old earth go against Christianity and
to prove these aspects is to disprove the bible.
This is a superficial argument. It is one held by a large number of older people in the church who have
not got the academic depth to understand things like Genesis one deeply.
Yet, I know of a number of cosmologists who are adamant and deep Christians. This
suggests that perhaps there is a deeper truth to be had.
Once we get to the root of the matter we find out not only that the bible does not contradict science,
but it is the ONLY religious book with a creation story that supports the known facts of the earth’s creation.
I state that as a fact, and
suggest if you feel differently, then you should research this. There is a lot of information on this blog site that can help.
God created, but how
does not necessarily conflict with science. In fact people who state it does often have accepted a false premise. The premise
that science lies deliberately.
It doesn’t!
Then if God is truth (Jesus did say he was the way the truth and the life), then we should never be concerned about
searching for truth. We cannot disprove God by searching for truth. (Having met God, I know we cannot disprove him more than
I could disprove your existence or the existence of any other person that I have met either).
Searching for root causes means digging deeply into a matter.
Christianity is not a
religion where we are to ignore using our mind. We don’t implant traditional ritual words into people’s minds
and brainwash them. We think!
Jesus is known for those wonderful words...
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all
your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind” Luke 10:27
Notice the word “mind”
Jesus wants us to think, to search past the superficial symptomatic issues in life to the deep
truths.
Many
of our churches have failed us. They tried to simply teach superficial truths instead of getting to the deeper truths. This
has made many of us a generation of believers who fail to dig down into truth and flounder on the surface
of the truth. When asked difficult questions, modern questions, relevant questions, we offer trite and insufficient answers
which are easily discarded. We do this when there are deep truths to be exposed.
How about we remove the blinkers forcing conventional thoughts
and get a broader view of life?
How about we check out our bible to see how it aligns with life’s deep truths.
Let’s
use our mind’s to glorify our God.
Hey, have a great day!
Wed, October 22, 2014 | link
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Lasting ImpressionsLasting Impressions
We're generally overconfident in our opinions and our impressions and judgments. ~Daniel Kahneman
Impressions form easily but then
looking superficially we only investigate the surface of life.
We say beauty is skin deep. This should indicate we understand
it is not that important. Yet we respond to adverts with beautiful people without thinking further than the pleasing effect the images produce.
In this way we buy more minimally useful beauty products than are ever necessary.
Marie Claire's Lea Goldman in her article "Why Women Pay
More" indicated " that on average women pay $151 billion in extra fees and markups that men don't have to
pay." This was related to beauty products.
We don’t react on what we know, we tend to react on impressions.
Daniel Kahneman
has spent his life as a psychologist and points out not only do we form judgements and build opinions that are based on impressions,
but that we become overconfident in them.
This is why God wants us to delve deep into life and not just skim the surface. We need to have more visibility to life than just impressions
to live well.
God
wants us to be blameless in our walk of life.
How can we do that?
Only by accepting God’s help in the form of acceptance of what He did as Jesus about 2000 years
ago. Only Jesus can
make us blameless. Then we need to walk empowered by Holy Spirit to enable this in it’s entirety in our lives. Then
we will live the right way, the way God wants us to live.
We must not evaluate what we say to others lightly and should only speak the way that God wants us to.
We are to love others deeply. Not just those who are beautiful, or those that can help us or feed our ego’s. We are
to love the unloved!
Our
respect for God must be very high. So high that we keep to our promises and help those who cannot help themselves. We must
not be swayed from truth.
These actions and principles under God's control, change our perceptions from skin deep view of life, to a view
of life that has an intensity and depth that exposes reality and truth. Then the impressions we form are valuable and lasting.
Let’s
know that with truth, the views of life are eternal. We
then understand life more fully and ask...
Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent?
Who may live on your
holy mountain?
2 The one whose walk is blameless,
who does what is righteous,
who
speaks the truth from their heart;
3 whose tongue utters no slander,
who
does no wrong to a neighbor,
and casts no slur on others;
4 who despises
a vile person
but honors those who fear the Lord;
who keeps an oath even when it hurts,
and does not change their mind;
5 who lends money to the poor without interest;
who does not accept a bribe against the innocent. Psalm 15 NIV
Tue, October 21, 2014 | link
Monday, October 20, 2014
How willing are we to face facts…or are we willing to avoid truth?How willing
are we to face facts…or are we willing to avoid truth?
I believe that it is better to tell the truth than
a lie.
I believe it is better to be free than to be a slave.
And I believe it is better to know than to be ignorant.
~ H L Mencken
Courage is strange. We often think we have it when all we have is tradition, ritual and fear.
Courage to face
truth is significantly absent at times. At these same times we regurgitate statements of our forbearers with ferocity and
mindless consistency.
What
am I referring to?
The
challenge of facing our beliefs with a critical eye. Not holding to truths untested and being willing to test these truths
to see how they stand up.
“The bible is an inaccurate depiction of Jesus life” is a statement.
Why is it not true?
Do I know the facts of this argument or am
I regurgitating what I have heard and told to repeat?
To what extent have I checked this out to see if it is a fact
or a falsity?
Yet, similarly, if we are not yet Christians, how accurate are our writings.
For example as a Moslem, would I be willing to see how accurately the Quran or
the Hadith writings are. To see if they accurately reflect the actual events of the time.
Jesus writing was reported by eye-witnesses
at the time others were around to refute the words.
There
were numerous non-biblical and oppositional sources that reported his death on the cross. The gospels were all written within
90 years of his life and multiplied many times in many parts of that known world. We have ancient manuscripts today to compare
to these.
How much
of this have we personally researched as Christians to see if it is true?
How much are my Moslem friends willing to check validity and truth
of the Quran and Hadith or are they simply willing to obey without considerations because of respect of elders?
How much is a person of any religion willing
to be courageous to check out the truth of those who are in authority over them?
We don’t sample truth either! We look at it with open eyes and an open heart.
We as Christians in the West have it so easy
in this regard. Our culture invites criticism of our elders and reason is allowed to triumph over traditional and historical
false claims. Yet we too fail to keep open minds.
I so often hear Christians quoting that you cannot be a Christian and believe in an old Earth.
Really?
Even some top radio evangelists say this.
I have investigated this and feel that it as possible
to believe in old earth, and (dare I say this), even evolution, with
God creating and in control as it is to reject it.
The facts to do not favour any
side in the argument. Yet, I have even pastor
who get very annoyed when I say this. Particularly if I dare to give proof (from our bible) that we need to consider this.
So much of what we do
is based on our context within which we have grown. The power of the greats of the past in science and
religion was in their ability to seek truth at great expense and hold to it even when it was painful to do so.
How much are we willing to walk that road?
Coming back to my Moslem
friends. Do you know that the writings about your major prophet were written hundreds of years after his death. That the people
have plenty of time to distort this information and that key Hadith information is openly selective about what it reports
of your main prophets life.
Heresy! …you say.
Are you courageous enough to check it out?
Christians…are you courageous enough to check out why
the bible says man was created on the sixth day (Genesis 1:24-31), yet in Genesis 2 it says…
Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and
no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, 6 but
streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. 7 Then the Lord God formed a man[c] from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. Genesis 2
Since plants were produced on the Third day, are we willing
to answer how God formed man before plants were established?
Are we willing to be open minded or do we simply ignore reality and
truth?
Jesus
said…
Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the
truth, and the truth will set you free.”
33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves
of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”
34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now
a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free,
you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way
to kill me, because you have no room for my word. 38 I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s
presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father.[b]”
39 “Abraham is our father,” they answered.
“If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would[c] do what Abraham did. 40 As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the
truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. 41 You are doing the works of your own father.”
“We are
not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.”
42 Jesus said to them, “If
God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. John 8 NIV
We need to be
willing to hold to Jesus teachings. Yet he also said “ Jesus answered,
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really
know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” John 14 NIV
To look
for God is to look for truth. Jesus said he was the son of Father God. There is one God, yet God is multiple persons, and Jesus is one of
those. These facts are written down by eye witnesses. John walked around with Jesus.
No eye witness accounts of
Mohammed exist today!
Are we willing to check these facts out?
Let’s be courageous in our faith today.
Not scared and retract into tradition simply because it is comfortable.
If you have to choose between tradition and God, what do you chose?
Mon, October 20, 2014 | link
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