The Validity of Scientific Inquiry

I know that it is popular to believe that religion and science are in opposition to each other, and that no thinking person would also believe the “myths” of the Bible.

My view is that God is a rational being and that he created the universe and all that is in it to function according to rational and knowable principles.  Science is an attempt to discover those principles and is in no way contradictory to a belief in a Creator and Sustainer.

A little research on the history of the laws of physics places beginning concepts as emerging about 600 years BCE.  Interestingly, this is also the era in which the book of Jeremiah was written.  A passage I read recently seems to refer to the laws of physics.

If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed laws of heaven and earth, then I will reject the descendants of Jacob and David my servant....(Jeremiah 33:25-26)

The point of the passage is not the fixed laws, but the fact that the Lord will always be faithful to the people of Israel and the descendants of David.  But, his faithfulness is as firm as the laws governing day and night and heaven and earth.  In other words, He is acknowledging that he has in fact set up fixed laws…principles which govern the world we observe around us.  He is not asking us to believe in some magical or mystical elements that bring about the order we see.  He is not saying that someone pulls the sun across the sky behind his chariot.  He is saying that there are fixed laws which bring about the sunrise and sunset each day.  We know now that day and night are governed by the movement of planetary bodies.  God already knew that, of course, and knew we would one day figure it out.

He also understands the mysteries of subatomic particles and of dark matter and energy.  He doesn’t mind if we try to figure out his “fixed laws.”  Belief in him and scientific inquiry are perfectly compatible.

I believe anyone who genuinely seeks TRUTH will eventually be confronted with God himself.

On Forgetfulness and Donuts

I am pondering forgetfulness which is an increasing issue as we age.  Notice, I said “issue” and not “problem.”  I think too much is made of seniors being forgetful.

Recently I had an eye doctor appointment.  I thought it was going to be for a refraction, but it turned out to be a dry eye check.  They claim that I just had a refraction in April.  I do not remember that.  I thought the dry eye check was in April.  I wondered how I could have forgotten, but then I started to think, “why would I remember?”  I have had dozens of refractions in my life…why would I remember that one?

I have eaten thousands of breakfasts, lunches and dinners in my life….why would I remember what I ate yesterday?

I have made the bed thousands of times in my life.  Have I made it yet this morning?  Guess I’ll have to run down to the bedroom and look.  Yesterday when I found the bed made, I couldn’t remember doing it.  Turns out there was a good reason for that….my husband had slept so late that he felt obliged to make it.

Have I paid the utility bill this month?  Well, if I remembered to write it down in the checkbook, I have a reference.  I have paid that bill hundreds of times, so why would I bother to remember this one?

Why did I come in this room?  I must have come for something….but I have been here so many times before.

Of course, it is annoying to forget, but by the time one is in her 70s, there are so many things floating around in her brain, and some of them are so much more important than others.

I don’t remember the names of some people I have met, but I still remember my family and close friends, and if you give me long enough, I can pull out most of the names I need to know.  It might be 24 hours after I have greeted the person in some generic way, but eventually it comes.

Last night, the final Jeopardy question was about Caesar’s Commentary on the Gallic Wars.  I memorized the first few sentences in high school Latin class about 56 years ago.  I can still quote it…Gallia est ommes divisa in partes tres…  So obviously there is some meaningless trivia lodged up there pushing out some more recent memories.

Speaking of breakfasts….which I remember doing a few paragraphs back….I would remember if I had been to the donut shop and had a “headlight.”  That is my favorite kind of donut.  I have discovered in traveling around that not all Dunkin Donuts carry headlights, and sometimes they go by a different name or aren’t made quite the same way.  My local donut shop covers the top surface of the donut with chocolate frosting and then puts a medium size blob of white cream on top.  I have had them with skimpy little blobs.  Recently I had one with an absolutely enormous covering with a thick layer of the white cream all over the top of the donut.  I actually cannot remember where that was. 

AHA!  I just took time to reread this and apparently my brain was working on it in the background….I had that donut at a rest stop on the NYS Thruway, and there was so much white cream that I shared it with my husband.  I do remember life’s significant moments.

Worth Dying For

As a young person, I read and heard stories of martyrs.  I pondered the whole notion of dying for a cause.  I heard people say they would be willing to die for the cause of Christ.  It seemed so noble.  But at some point in my teens years, I decided that any cause worth dying for, must also be worth living for. 

Life is actually a process of dying slowly.  If a person is not willing to make daily sacrifices for the cause they claim to hold dear, I don’t want to hear any nonsense about their willingness to die for that cause.  For example, I have heard parents say that they would do anything for their children….even die for them.  If those same parents smoke around their child who has asthma, I say “bologna!”   You aren’t willing to die for your child, if you aren’t willing to make daily sacrifices of your own wishes and desires and habits for the sake of the child’s well-being.

Long ago I memorized Romans 12: 1-2   I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies, a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.  And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.  That is the King James Version.

I also like Phillips’ translation:  With eyes wide open to the mercies of God, I beg you, my brothers, as an act of intelligent worship, to give him your bodies, as a living sacrifice, consecrated to him and acceptable by him.  Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold, but let God remold your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets his demands and moves toward the goal of true maturity.

God does not ask most of us to be martyrs in the traditional meaning of the word.  He does, however, expect us to die daily…be a “living sacrifice.”  This means obedience to his good plan for us, even when we don’t like it or don’t understand it.

I read an article yesterday in Christianity Today which was written by a lesbian, who still has such inclinations, but also understands that in obedience to God, she must resist the temptation to act on those inclinations.  She is living out the daily sacrifice of her desires in order to conform her mind and body to what is acceptable to God.

I know people who have left marriages and married someone new stating that “God wants us to be happy.”  Nope!  God wants you to be holy.  He wants you to sacrifice your desires and have your mind transformed.  Don’t follow the pattern of this world!  If you have to die a little every day in order to be obedient, so be it.

We all have inclinations and urges that are wrong…..anger, pride, fear, feelings of worthlessness, temptation to gossip.  We may read books, listen to music, watch television, or have friendships we know are not suitable for a mind that is being transformed for God’s purposes.  If we are a “living sacrifice,” we need to learn to die daily.

Obedience to God may mean a dramatic death, but it will more likely mean the slow process of surrender to his purposes in daily life.

Puerto Rican Heartache

My heart aches for Puerto Rico and the suffering of the people following Hurricane Maria.  So many in Puerto Rico live in poverty normally, that I can’t imagine what it must be like now.

I have visited Puerto Rico twice.  Both times, it was in connection with an arm of our church denomination.  My husband serves on a board that makes loans to Puerto Rican churches to purchase buildings and renovate them or buy land and build new churches.   While there each time, we visited multiple churches and had opportunity to interact with attendees of some of the churches.  On one occasion, we attended a church potluck dinner, which was a chance to eat “normal” local dishes as opposed to what one might find in a restaurant.

We stayed in lovely hotels on the beach, but across the street there were people living in cardboard boxes.  Poverty was too obvious to be ignored.  One day we rented a car and drove from San Juan to the southern part of the island.  The situation was even worse there.  I came home sad for what I had seen.  Certainly, I was encouraged by the spirit of the people in the churches, but once you are outside of the tourist area, the rest of the island is depressing.  I felt helpless, because the need was so enormous back then.

What now?  The island is destroyed.  People are without food and water and basic sanitation services.  Relief efforts are hampered by highways being impassable and ports not yet safe for ships to enter.  On the mainland, anyone could rent a truck, fill it with supplies and drive it to a needy area.  Power companies from unaffected areas can come in and help.  But we are talking about an island!

I am suggesting that anyone, who has the ability to do so, could make a contribution to an agency they know will provide relief without skimming too much off the top for administrative costs.  I have read recently of some celebrities making major donations, but I wish more of them would step up.  Does someone really need a private jet or an enormous diamond when there is so much human need? 

 

Information coming out of Puerto Rico is still scant.  I do not know how people I have met have weathered this.  I am praying for the people of Puerto Rico, and especially for those in the churches I have visited.  May God give them strength and provide for their needs.

Is the World Going to End on September 23rd?

Is the world going to end on September 23^rd?  Well, yes….obviously, for some people it will.  For others, it will end sooner, and for some later.  One of the fascinating things about life is that it ends for everyone, and very few people know when that end will come. 

Neither does anyone really know what tomorrow will bring.  Will Kim Jung Un have sent us the “gift” he has been promising?  Will the Yellowstone super volcano blow and wipe out everything west of the Mississippi?  Will another hurricane smash into the east coast or Florida?  Will I fall down the stairs and break my neck?  Do I unknowingly have an aneurysm that will rupture while I am eating dinner?

I wish all the supposed prophets would stop making specific predictions and contriving something from the signs they believe are in the heavens.  My understanding of a prophet is that he/she is someone who speaks truth into a situation.  This does NOT necessarily involve attempts at predicting what will happen five days from now.  Those assertions are not truth….they are guesses.  Only God knows what the future holds.

He has made some promises which are truth and will happen.  He will return.  Those who know and love Him will be taken to heaven to live with Him…either at the time of their death or when He returns.  But, He has very purposefully not told us when.  When John wrote Revelation, there were things he heard which he was specifically told not to record.  I suspect this may be because it would have made coming events too obvious to us.  God did NOT want us to know, so please stop guessing!

What God does want is for all to repent, acknowledge His son and enter into a loving relationship with Him.  If we knew the future, it would be tempting to live in sin until the very last moment and “repent” then.  God does understand human nature.  He knows our weaknesses.  He wants us to come to Him because we love Him and genuinely desire to serve Him.  He knows the intents of our minds and hearts.

Matthew 24:42-44 Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.  But understand this, if the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.  So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

I guess since he is expected on September 23^rd, it will not be then. 

Hmmm….I wonder if the “prophets” making the predictions have copies of the Bible that are missing these verses.

Is This God's Mercy?

Those of us who believe that Christ will one day return and rule the world in righteousness have been expecting it was imminent for a long time.  I’m sure those who don’t believe it think we have loose screws, and that we are silly to keep believing as years go by.  

We believe that it will indeed happen, but only in God’s time.  He wants everyone to have a chance to accept the salvation that comes through the sacrifice of Jesus dying for our sins.  Only He knows when everyone who is open to receiving His free gift will have had a chance to accept it.

Lots of people are out there declaring they have had dreams and visions that now really is the time, and that natural disasters we are currently seeing are God’s judgment prior to his coming.  I have no idea.  The Bible says that no man knows the day or hour. (Matthew 24:36)

I would like to propose that the natural disasters are, in fact, God’s mercy.  I am praying that those who are atheists or agnostics and see these events as the power of “Mother Nature” will begin to see them as the power of an Almighty God.  A little bit of fear in the face of a strong hurricane or an earthquake is not a bad thing.  “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” (Psalm 111:10)  Perhaps, this is not so much judgment, as God giving a last chance to those who have been resisting.

Will these events bring misery to those who already know and love God?  Yes, in some cases, they certainly will, but what if our misery brings salvation to someone who doesn’t know and love Him.  There is a saying that “there are no atheists in foxholes.”  Perhaps, there are no atheists in 185 mph winds or 12 foot storm surges.  

We need to believe our suffering is worth someone else’s salvation.  The rain falls on the just and the unjust. (Matthew 5:45)  So, if the already redeemed are inconvenienced or experience suffering or even death, let us see it as part of God’s mercy to those who still have not recognized their need.  Let us pray that they are driven to the “Mercy Seat.”

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

The stable door swings open

And with speed he charges out.

His rider wears a crown.

He gives a thunderous shout.

His bow is strung,

His mission to fulfill,

And the white horse springs forward

To conquer and to kill.

A red steed comes behind him,

Chaos to create.

He holds a mighty sword

To bring about man’s fate.

He stirs up dissension,

Men kill each other.

They fall and they die,

But yet there is another.

The black horse of famine

Flies over the earth

His rider holds scales

To determine worth.

What will it cost

To buy your daily bread?

The world groans in hunger.

Millions are unfed.

The sound of the pale horse

Is heard in the street.

His hooves are clattering

With an incessant beat.

Famine, plague and death,

The wild beasts rise up,

A fourth of mankind drinks 

Wrath from judgment’s cup.

We go about our lives,

Not thinking this will come,

But the day is approaching,

And no one can run.

Satan may win the battle

But God will win the war

Every knee will bow to Him

And time will be no more.

From Revelation 6:1-7