Posts Tagged ‘faith’

The foundations of the Building are only as strong as the foundations of the Builders

Monday, March 1st, 2010

My mother past away last month and since then we’ve had a number of occasions to reflect on her passion for creation – the literal intepretation of the Book of Genesis as it relates to the six-day creation of the heavens and the earth.

All her stuff in the basement which she’d gather together to put on exhibits at churches or in classes. At her funeral where we setup these things so that visitors could know about her passion. And a creation seminar weekend at Cannington Baptist Church where gifted speaker Calvin Smith taught us many fascinating truths of science regarding the history of the earth. The weekend was lovingly dedicated to Donna in light of her passion for creation. We wholeheartedly thank them for their thoughtfulness and kindness towards us.

Because of all this exposure, though, I’ve really been hit a number of times just how serious it is for believers to doubt the creation account in Genesis. Doubt and skepticism are healthy but only when they lead to uncovering the truth.

Each creation organization that I’m aware of has the same reason for doing what they do: They believe that to contradict Genesis, being the inspired Word of God, is to erode the very foundation of the totality of the faith. Creation Ministries International, for example, entitle their writing on this issue “Genesis—the seedbed of all Christian doctrine.”

According to stats, most Christian youth who go to secular post-secondary institutions will lose their faith because of the onslaught of ideas contradictory to their faith. If their faith can’t stand against apparent flaws, than what good is the faith? Who can blame them for leaving their faith behind. At best, who can blame them for compartmentalizing or halfheartedly living out their faith.

But there are answers. Answers In Genesis is another organization dedicated to teaching the truths of the creation account. Their article regarding the need for teaching creation is entitled “Creation: Why it matters.

Creation absolutely matters. God has Genesis right. He really did create the heavens and the earth in six days. If he said so and he really didn’t, then what else is really true in the bible? Your entire faith’s foundation begins at Genesis 1:1:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

The Mire of Miracles

Sunday, December 6th, 2009

Third Day’s song Carry My Cross has an interesting lyric:

I’ve come here with a mission
And soon I’ll give my life for this world
I’m praying in the garden
And I’m looking for a miracle

A reference to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane the night he was arrested. He would be put on trial and condemned to crucifixion. Jesus’s words,

Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:39)

Jesus was asking God for a miracle. I never considered that verse in such a profound light until the moment I heard that song. Jesus was asking for a miracle, one that would not be granted.

Not even Jesus, God’s own Son, was saved by a miracle although none but Him has ever been worthy of it.

When tragedy strikes, pray with all your heart for a miracle.

When it arrives, praise God.

When it doesn’t arrive, praise God all the more, for a miracle withheld once saved your soul.

The Paradox In Which all Men Believe

Monday, November 2nd, 2009

There is a paradox to the Christian faith which concerns the origins of our existence. The paradox consists of realizing that everything has a cause, hence our existence was created by God. But everything has a cause; Then God must have had a cause; So, really, that cause is God; And that intermediate “God” wasn’t really God.

We don’t talk like that. We say that God created our existence and that God simply is. He had no beginning and has no cause. He is self-existent.

Science, however, theorizes any number of ideas in which a natural existence can be the cause of itself. Hence, the infinite collapse and explosion of our universe in the big bang, or the multiverse theories.  In either case, existence, in which the universe collapses and explodes or in which the universe of the multiverse is created, can either be considered to have been already or “existence” and “universe” are considered one and so the existence simply is. Regardless, you can abstract, extrapolate, interpolate and extend what is further and further out and back but you must satisfy the law that all that is was caused. And that is the paradox. All things have a cause except the origins of what is.

One can see that this irrationality is actually the rationality claimed by modern thought.

I use here Christianity as the symbol for all religions, for the defining principle of all religion is faith, and Science as the symbol for rationality, at least the rationality modern thought has coined of it. It matters not that Christianity is different than Buddhism , but that modern thought differentiates itself from the religion because it perceives irrationality. It matters not that Science is not the only system of rational thought, but that we generally differentiate what is science and what is religion by considering one rational and one not. They represent the two halves of the great chasm separating man’s mind from himself.

Once you’ve gotten past the issue, of knowing the paradox  of whatever you think you know or believe in, you must rationally come to the conclusion that, because there is no reason for existence to be at all, there must be a cause of our existence. This cause, no matter how far back or how many iterations out you push this, must be final. This final cause has chosen to reveal itself not through natural test (our five senses; modern scientific inquiry), but rather through rational deduction. You must believe in a paradox to be reasonable. You must become irrational to become rational.

It is something significant to ponder that this ultimate thing should choose such an avenue of revelation.

Why I don’t categorize my posts

Sunday, May 17th, 2009

I’m new at this but as far as my own blog goes I don’t think I’ll be categorizing my posts.

Followers of all religions around the world have a common ideal of living the teachings of their faith. Christians are often criticized for compartmentalizing their faith. Sunday is for church, monday is for work. Church is for spirituality. Work is for earning money. And neither the twain shall meet.

So let this be another key about my blog. I will not neatly put posts in boxes that can easily be separated one from another because, like life, faith should permeate all that we are and do.

Let this be a factor of my blog, something to remind me and others who may ask, that categorizing our lives can all too easily close doors of relationships and hurt our ability to reach those in need.

But, remember, I’m new to blogging and not categorizing my posts isn’t something to be canonized into doctrine. Forgive me if I ever renege and remember, also, that holding too firmly to a system or belief, one not worth dying for, may actually hurt you or others.