"FAITH and Unfinished Business"

Comments about God, faith, joy, sorrow and growth

Monday, December 21, 2009

Quietly Serving or Boldly Campaigning

Among my friends are those gifted with the ability to deliberately and boldly vocalize injustices happening in our world today.

I am glad for these champions, particularly those whose cause is Christ. I call them gifted, because it does take an ability given by God, which is a gift, to deliver strong messages where needed.

There are many ugly corners in our society, and many evil doings. They should be exposed and quenched. They should be corrected where possible to the best of our ability, and by the best of God’s grace.

Yet, and still, there is God’s beauty where you look for it. Wonder and awe still exist. Tenderness and innocence are still important. Majesty and glory are His alone.

I do not wish to be ignorant of needs in our communities, and cannot shut myself away from them. I cannot encourage anyone to ignore needs and human rights. I cannot deny the need to voice our concerns about dishonest dealings, carelessness, and selfishness.

However, I find myself preferring to focus on the light. The light reveals truth.

In addition, the light also illuminates God’s goodness, abilities and beauty. It sheds hope by revealing the created things of nature, and on the compassionate hearts of human nature. God’s light reveals His amazing love through the gifts in the universe, and His gifts in us.

The light helps me dwell on what is good, what is righteous, what is praise-worthy (Philippians 4:8)

Is it wrong to promote this light, hope and goodness, rather than announcing daily the wrongs in our world? It is wrong to turn away from the constant bad news of the media? Our society calls for sober thinking. Yet, it also calls for giving hope and encouragement.

The attitude of quiet service plus prayer is a way of celebrating every day, and pointing to God. Praise and worship are means of witness to a great God. Beauty is needed even more in a harsh world.

God’s word and purpose can be delivered in both ways, through this service, or through bold delivery.

Let those who are able, and crafted to do so – shout! Let those who are touched and crafted to do so - whisper His name adoringly, and share His creation and beauty.

Keep running the race until the day Christ Jesus will come.

Hebrews 12:1-2 “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset [us], and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of [our] faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

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Sunday, December 13, 2009

CONNECTIONS

How did it happen that creatures and plants rely on one another, and without their host or cousin or parent, would die?

How accidental is it that Epiphytes plants live only on the tree canopy in a remote jungle, and why only in remote jungles? This group of plants which, like a parasite, grow on a host, but unlike a parasite, takes no nutrients from the tree itself . They rely on nutrients from the air, falling rain, and the compost that lies on tree branches. This gives the plant an advantage, by allowing it more direct sunlight.
Other plants and animals are crucial to one another. The simplest example is that of rabbits and mice. They are abundant, and feed a host of predators. The Rafflesia brilliant red showy flower that has no leaves or roots, is dependent on jungle vines and flies to reproduce… and attracts them by it’s noxious rotting smell and coloring of dead rotting animal. The honeyguide bird and the ratel (honey badger). Work together to find the honey they consume. The bird is able to fly over grasslands and find bee hives, but unable to open them. It makes a noisy approach, thus alerting the badger to the location of the hive. The badger then opens the hive, and the bird enjoys the leftovers.
How is that they each developed to suit each other exclusively, all because of one random event?

Is it just coincidence that trees scrub our air, returning oxygen and filtering out carbon dioxide?
Trees are not merely ornaments on the landscaper, containers for valuable food supply, shade from the hear and covers from the storm. How convenient they should also assist us breathing!
They are crucial to our lives.


People rely on people for health. They choose to be with other people, co habit, experience one another’s differences and charms, and re-produce more of themselves. Yet, a part of their DNA and mental, emotional make-up requires they interact with other humans in order to thrive.

Humans are the highest form of life. Not only was that planned in God’s creation, but it became a default belief by even in the scientific world. We are the only beings who can make decisions: to be angry, happy, sad, frightened, repulsed, passionate, jealous – etc. We were given priority over all other forms of life, and rule as well. How did the ability to process any emotion, thought or plan come to be?

How is that – since we exploded into existence – our seasonal changes, weather systems, tide and gravitational pull all depend on the fixture of other planets (already) in our parent solar family? How do we depend on two of those planets for our very life, if not by design?

Connections. They were planned, decided and determined. They did not happen by chance or by an accidental explosion or cells - all merrily merging or dividing and then forming a sudden ability to plan the fates of real human lives.

I prefer to think that my design was planned by an intelligent being.

April Boyer (c) Dec. 2009

Monday, December 7, 2009

Accidental Detail

If a bigger entity was responsible for all creation, would it/he be responsible for the life-spans and actions of those created? In favor of the concept of intelligent design, think about how life continues here on earth. Not only was life conceived and created, but it is sustained on earth. Could the act of evolution, which is basically the idea that life adjusts to it’s surroundings and continues through instinct – not thought, provide cause and effect ? Could the big bang that supposedly began life, continue in any way to shape it, lead it, influence it, develop it?

Our lives are not simple acts that rippled down from the division and multiplication of cells that blasted us into existence.

Every life follows a specific path that is connected to others’ lives and to the specific paths of each of the others. One affects each of the others, affects many. When one life or plan goes missing, the completion of a picture is abbreviated or changed.

In the human race, there are so many variables in our behavior it is hard to create a standard by which to measure. Of course, there are similarities, but none like those found in the animal kingdom. We are each unique, profound, and stand alone in our individual characteristics. We each are able to do many thing, sometimes at the same time. Think about how some of us drive, text, drink coffee and talk to children in the back seat all at once. It is ill-advised of course, but doable. We are capable of even more than we carry out.

Our decisions and actions have little to do with our physical survival in a changing environment, though it could be argued so for our emotional stability.

In reality, we choose with careful thinking most everything we do; aside from those things that are bodily functions. Even some of those, we can choose to restrain.

I know that evolutions and scientist will have convincing arguments for their own theories. I will not insult anyone or embarrass myself by pretending to understand their calculations or terminology.

Paul Abramson, in his "A Defense of Creationism" article, states the following about our DNA:

"Inside your body, within each living cell are 3 billion base pairs of encoded DNA. That's 3 billion per cell. Please hold your hand out for a moment and look at it. Inside are muscles, bones, blood, skin, pores, those fingernails which you need to trim again soon, and a myriad of other specialized components. Every cell has 3 billion base pairs of human DNA carefully enclosed. Not haphazardly arranged, that's 3 billion uniquely arranged sequentially encoded sets of information, per cell. Did such a useful, self-healing tool as your hand really evolve all on its own due to external stimuli or is this yet another evidence of the quiet presence of the Scientific Mathematician who put our advanced adaptable creation into motion. When I want to write a new computer program it sure would be nice if I could just throw a bunch of blank floppy disks into a clothes dryer for awhile and then open the door one morning with a new program of say ... 3 billion lines of code arranged into the proper sequence for me."


(http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/363125/genesis_proof_of_creation_pg2.html?cat=9 “Why the Big Bang is No Longer an Option)


My belief is based on the theory of creation and on my faith in the truth of the bible. Faith is stronger than facts. Belief in a holy, mightier, righteous ruler and provider is safer than belief in measured, but perhaps inaccurate science alone.

Holding firm to a standard, any standard prevents unstable ground. I cannot imagine relying on something that admittedly changes in the wind, floats along on opinion or politics, or is unsure of its own conclusion.

That’s my opinion. I hope that Christians who visit here are gentle and kind, as Jesus would want. I expect I will get answers that are deemed scientifically infallible. That’s ok. I’m standing on solid ground.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

How much Faith?

I like Marilyn's comment. How much faith does it take to believe that a big bang could have created all that we see in nature? How much faith does it take to believe someone bigger did it all?

Going deeper:
Suppose we put aside the who and the what made it happen. Suppose we consider how a non-entity can manage the different aspects of all living beings, all of our different personalities, different attitudes, and the results of each?

How does a non-entity balance what is happening in Iraq, in Russia, in Bolivia, in Australia and in the states, and for the citizens of each - all at the same time?

How does science manage various weather systems all over the world, and still keep the world from toppling over from the weight of it all?

How has a non-entity script the days and the hours, and the weeks and the minutes and apply each to an individual task?

I know that scientists who have no biblical wisdom, will have answers that come from chemical equations and charts for balance. Yet, I repeat - how does science happen?

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

How Big?

“HOW BIG?”
The difference between believing only in tangible science, versus blind faith and in something that can only be known in the heart, the mind and a “soul” – that which is also untouchable- is that the later also requires one to believe something can be bigger, more intelligent, more able and more capable than oneself can be. To believe that is impossible is arrogant.

There is something that steers our every step yet allows us to make the choices to lift up our foot and put it down, someone able to determine the outcome of those choices well ahead of us, someone who can sort through our choices and those of tens of millions of others. There is a someone who is more kingly and righteous than we can wrap our brains around, holier than any concept we have of holy, and bigger in every way we cannot imagine.

There is an entity which is able to orchestrate every event, every life and every natural occurrence on the planets – at the same time. He is more able to multi-task than any lab-grown group of cells on earth. There is a someone more compassionate than we can every struggle to be.

Yet some are willing to believe that evolution caused from a random explosion was/is able to determine the make-up and actions of zillions of different creatures and living plants with so many variations we cannot count them. That, over the idea that someONE bigger than we intelligently and deliberately conceived, planned in detail and carried out those zillions of minute details.

Intelligent design. How did that random explosion occur? How did those gasses develop? How did those cells divide and multiply? How was human intelligence developed over that inability of other creatures; the ability to believe or store our beliefs closest to the core of our being? Who determined we had such a place, (the soul) and why do we need it? Why does no other creature posses it? Some would say science. What, how, who determined science?

I know some will answer with scientific calculation and measured explanation. I prefer only one measure: Bigger than me.
~A

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

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