By Power Point Paradise. Originally posted here.

2000 years ago this year, around 10 AD, Jesus was about 13-14 years old, and it would take him another 16 years in obscurity before he would begin to make His mark on our history. And what an indelible mark it was! If anyone would ask, “Who was the most famous person that ever lived?”, the most likely answer almost anybody would give would not be Hitler or Napoleon or even Adam, but… Jesus Christ.

What did He ever do to deserve this mark of fame (or notoriety, depending on where you’re coming from), He wasn’t in the public eye more than three years! He was no politician, scientist, or even some great scholar, nor a mere “magician” as His contemporary enemies the Pharisees, accused Him of using “magical powers.” (Notice that they didn’t deny the miracles!)

Jesus was a simple carpenter’s son and apprentice, who went humbly about His business in an obscure region called Galilee. He wasn’t trying to become famous, like many young people today aspire to become a “star!” No. He actually often escaped the limelight.

The first thing that catapulted Him into “fame” was a miracle He did at a wedding party in Cana, after the guests had finished off the wine. Obviously Jesus was not a blue-nosed moralist preacher, like some law-worshiping fundamentalist who–if they would had lived then–would have been out promoting the Pharisees, like they do today!

No, Jesus was a libertarian of sorts who didn’t seem to mind people going “overboard” a bit in a friendly family wedding environment, to have some good clean fun, eating and drinking, considering what He did.

His mother actually pushed him into it, by telling him, “Jesus, they have no more wine!” He retorted, “Woman, what have I to do with you! My time has not yet come!” But it didn’t faze Mary, as she faithfully instructed the servants, “Do whatever He tells you to do!” Jesus was quite on the spot!

Well most of you know the story; He told them to fill six sizable waterpots for cleaning purposes with water, and after it was done, he told them to draw out some and take it to the Master of Ceremonies, who tasted it surprised. Then he almost blamed the bridegroom for keeping the “good wine” until last, not knowing where it had come from.

News of this ‘down to earth’ miracle spread like wildfire throughout Galilee! “Jesus the carpenter’s son from Nazareth, changed 6 waterpots of water into fine wine!”

Now, why this story as a prelude to the question, “Is Jesus Christ still relevant today?” Because it puts Jesus into a very human light which He preferred to be in, a normal man, a friend of sinners and tax collectors on the one hand, who didn’t avoid wine parties, but who on the other hand was also the greatest world changer this world ever brought forth. And that is relevant today!

In this day when God’s spirituality is demonized by godless mainstream media and His enemies, the legacy of the humble wine-maker and World changer still counts. Jesus never attended church. He sometimes went into synagogues to teach, these being daily gathering places for the people. Yet he preferably went into these halls on the Jewish Holy Day to break their law by “working” miracles to heal handicapped people! Apart from teaching almost anywhere he could get a crowd willing to listen. He was an unpaid itinerary preacher, a volunteer.

What made him the most famous? His miracles for one. But especially the hope and mercy He extended to the by religionists browbeaten masses of regular sinners who couldn’t attain to the high standards of the high falutin’ religious leaders. He gave the normal people love, hope and liberty from the rules, the Law! He told them that instead the greatest thing they could do was to just love God and love their neighbor as they loved themselves.

And right there, that was the very thing that catapulted Him into everlasting fame. History had already brought forth great erudite thinkers and moralists like Confucius, Buddha, Socrates and Plato, but none of these had made the essence of successful living so simple and so easy to grasp, though so hard to live!–Without God’s help!

He told them that they didn’t need any religious law or any religious observance other than loving their Creator the God of Love and loving the people around them.  Now this not only made Him world famous, but put Him at odds with law-abiding Judaism/Talmudism and all great monotheistic religions, including law-abiding Christianity itself, and law-observing Islam!

Why! Because it made all the religious rigmarole obsolete. This simple truth of love was the monkey wrench into the religious machinery. Then! And still today! And that‘s the reason why Jesus Christ is still relevant today! The two are opposites. He is relevant and the rigmarole obsolete!

But people are still being controlled by religious political bodies which need members and money to grow ever more powerful so they can influence history more and leave a greater mark by building more buildings in more cities and more followers spreading their doctrines. But who today is still preaching that simple message of Jesus Himself, of loving God and others as yourselves ? And is that message still relevant today? Of course it is!

Today, like here in the East, one of the foremost causes of death is what? Suicide! Even people with jobs are so depressed and lonely that they jump off buildings or the like. If they would have only met Jesus today and heard His message of living for love, they would have found a much better reason to live. Something that would inspire them to share with others and thus get happier.

That was Jesus’ solution to the problems of life then, and still today! Forget yourself and just start loving somebody around you with all your heart, mind and soul, and might! And then God will inspire you with that intangible presence of His loving Spirit, as He pours into us when we pour out His Love to others.

The greatest lovers feel the most loved! Love is contagious! Love is inspiring! Love is the answer to all of our problems. No matter if the economy is crashing around our ears, or whether the warmongers attack Iran this summer, or that we will all be out of a job tomorrow. Love is the only thing that is going to pull us through.

Jesus is extremely relevant. Tomorrow when the supermarkets are empty and looted, we are going to need a lot of love to pull together to organize society in spite of our selfish feelings and antagonistic attitudes to others. If we don’t… we might get killed, or massacred, or robbed. We are going to need to love each other to pull through this historical knot hole of the Last Days which are promised to become pretty severe.

So much so, that Jesus instructed us “to endure unto the End!” To not give up or take our own lives and give up in despair. No! In these difficult days, and I promise they are going to be very difficult, we are going to have to stick together and organize ourselves and work together to find solutions with God’s miraculous help to find water, food, healing, and inspiration and brotherhood. If we don’t? The wolves are onto us!

So is Jesus Christ still relevant today in 2010? More so than ever before in history! Now things are coming to the crunch. Now things are changing so dramatically in these last few years before the end of the commercial money system, when Jesus returns and rescues us out of this ensuing mess. Now we need Him more than ever before.

We are all learning in a hurry, in this late, intensive training course of the hard facts of life that bankers are robbing our nations blind, that we can never trust in money, riches, politicians and other powerful people. They are either the robbers themselves or paid and ordered around by them. There are hardly any more trustworthy leaders that we can fall behind. We are learning that awfully fast.

The banks are cheating us, the oil companies are polluting us, the Big Pharma boys are trying to vaccinate us with dangerous chemicals and God-knows-what to make billions, and many scientists are bought by the Global Warming lobby to tax us to death! Who can you still trust? Hardly anybody…but Jesus!

He is very relevant because, as Paul said, “He is able to save us unto the uttermost!” He is not a silent inactive God. If we get on our prayer bones and demand some action, He is more than willing to oblige and answer those sincere humble prayers for help. And with God anything is possible! As Jesus said, “With God ALL things are possible!”

So is He relevant? Oh yes! The rocks of society that we trusted in yesterday, are fast crumbling under us today, and there is no other way to look but UP! “Salvation is of the Lord!” He is the only one that can save us in these dire hours. Don’t expect any free hand-outs from the Powers-That-Be. They are purposely bringing on this great confusion and all the misery, while they have made themselves hiding places in underground cave- and tunnel-systems to hide in until our calamities are over-past, as they expect us to all murder each other on the Earth’s surface and reduce world population for them. Let’s give them a surprise shall we? True! “A thousand shall fall at your right hand, and ten thousand at your left, but it will not come close to you!” IF you are trusting in God to see you through this coming storm.

If we go our own way? We will fall by the way side, even if we are a child of God, we will still get to Heaven. And maybe that is what some prefer. (me too at times.) But what does God expect from us? He expects us to stand strong and to support each other through these tough times. As the saying goes, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going!” So trust in God and His relevant son Jesus today! May God bless us all with safety and supply through difficult times.

“A PERFECT DAY IS COMING BY AND BY,
A day of peace and freedom from all care.
With all the good for which our spirits sigh,
And not a cloud to dim that sky so fair!

When morning dawns, farewell to Earthly sorrow!
Farewell to all these troubles of today!
There’ll be no pain, no death in God’s tomorrow,
When morning dawns and shadows flee away!

“SO TRUST IN GOD, HOWEVER DARK YOUR WAY!–
And wait with patience for that Morn to break!
Hold to His hand until the break of day!
When in His likeness we shall there awake!

When morning dawns, farewell to Earthly sorrow!
Farewell to all these troubles of today!
There’ll be no pain, no death in God’s tomorrow,
When morning dawns and shadows flee away!

“HOW LITTLE THEN THESE TRIALS OF LIFE WILL SEEM!
How light the heavy burdens we have borne;
The deepest sorrow, like a passing dream,
Will be forgotten in that blessed morn!

When morning dawns, farewell to Earthly sorrow!
Farewell to all these troubles of today!
There’ll be no pain, no death (Weeps) in God’s tomorrow,
When morning dawns and shadows flee away!”

Oh Holy Evolution! Our powerful God!

Thou art our evolver! Thou hast evolved us over billions of years. Slow art thou! Help us to be like thee. Slow but sure. Thy work is unobserved by us mortals, so slow is it. So slow, that the wicked refute that thou livest! But how can the wicked say that thou livest not? For behold, thou hast evolved us all. Even the wicked who do not see the lenght of time that thou needest.

Thou verily art a time consuming God! Thou movest slower than the clock. Thy increments, thy mutations, the movement of the genes, thou hidest in billions of years. Thou art the slowest of them all. Have the wicked no patience?–To detect the traces of thy movements, o Holy Evolution?

We believe, because we see thy missing links, though we detect them not. Thy missing links are like thy footprints in the sands of time, washed out by the waves of aeons. We who believe can see them yet! How else were the species evolved, but from one another? How dense are the wicked who refuse to see thy minutest mutations by faith! Though we observe them not, we know that thou workest and evolvest forever. Oh Holy Evolver. Though we change not in a generation, thou evolvest forever. Thou art like thy evolution, evolving forever! Like the waves of the sea that cannot rest. One aeon a monkey, the next aeon a man.

Oh evolver, what art thou now?  Will we ever see thy changing substance? Thou art as invisible as the false God of creation. Yet they are not, while thou surely livest! Thou evolvest naturally, with no need of a plan. Thou schemest not! Thou heedest no design. Thy flagellum rotary motors, eyeballs, and bombardier beetles are here today, and mutated away tomorrow.

The wicked say, “Where is His plan?” They are dense and understand not that thou art not confined to plans. Oh thou who designest not, how wonderful are thy ways. Like the waves of the ocean thou canst not rest. Thou who mutatest forever, thou designest not. Thou art a blind Evolver! Thou knowest not what thou doest. And it is marvellous in our eyes. Thou art altogether ignorant. Thou art no narcissist, for behold thou perceivest not. Thou who evolvest eyes, yet thou seest not! Thou evolvest ears, but thou needest not any.

Thou art indeed the most ignorant God of all. Humble as a child. Oh Holy Evolver. Evolve us like unto thyself. That we may learn how to evolve ignorantly. But now we only create by plan, oh miserable ones that we are, in that we need design and creation to produce, like that impostor Creator god

The wicked say unto me, “Why! Thou hast created thy own god! Evolver is a mere figment of thy creative imagination!”

May they perish forever, not to ever be mutated again. Let their electric pulse die and perish, and shut down their thankless creative brains, and let their DNA perish into dust, never to rise again, as they so falsely believe.

Thou shalt laugh at their destruction, which is forever. Oh thou who createst not, wilt never see their ribosomes again. Let their species be changed into another, like unto thee, Oh Holy Evolution!

Oh! How wilt thou ever be aware of our devotion and our love for thee! Oh ignorant God. We stand in awe, for thou art unknown, unconscious even to thyself! Thou mayest destroy us tomorrow by thy holy random chance! There is not ever security in Thee. What thou hast evolved over trillions of years, may disappear as a blip on the screen tomorrow. Doomsday is ever at hand, ever near, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

We are like unto thee oh Holy Evolver, ignorant, though we can see, hear and speak, yet we are blind, deaf and dumb. Make us more like thee! Oh Holy God of Evolution!

Of all the “men of the East there was no one greater or richer than Job, for the richest land in all of Uz belonged to him. The tributaries of the Arnon River, beginning in the windswept granite mountains of Arabia to the South, flowed through his vast estate on their way to the Dead Sea.

To the West of Uz (modern-day Southern Jordan) were the mountainous Kingdoms of Edom and Moab; to the North, Ammon; to the South, the land of Midian. But the whole Eastern flank of the country was open to the Syrian Desert where bands of fierce nomads lived. Of all the savage desert raiders, the most fear were the Sabeans.

It was late October, and the smell of rain was still in the air. Job, mounted on a pure white Arabian stallion, surrounded by armed servants, came over the crest of a hill and looked down upon vast fields that stretched as far as the eye could see.

An old bearded servant pointed out to where hundreds of servants were plowing behind teams of oxen. “The rains came just in time to soften up the hard, Baked earth, O master,” he said, “and all 500 of your oxen are plowing right now!—And in the pastures nearby, your 500 donkeys are grazing.”
“Good very good!” Job responded. “And what of the sheep, Sheikar?” he asked.

“We finished moving all 7,000 of them to your winter pastures last night, my lord!” Sheikar answered smiling broadly.
“And how are the camels doing?”
“Very well, master. You have the finest camels in the World! In fact, a large group of traders from faraway Babylon is encamped nearby, and wants to buy 100 of them.”
“If I sold 100 camels, how many would that leave me with?” Job asked.
“Ah, you will not lack, my lord! For you would still have 2,900! Of a truth, the Lord has surely blessed you richly!”

Job sat back in his saddle importantly, “Yes, indeed He has! Because I have faithfully served Him for so many years, and done that which pleases Him, He has protected my possessions and mightily prospered me!

“Now come, let’s be off to the city. I have business there!” Job said.
Within an hour, the high walls of the city were in view, and Job’s party came riding up to the South Gate. Merchant stalls lined the inside walls, and hundreds of people milled through the teeming bazaar.

Dismounting from his horse, Job walked over to shade of the great stone gate where all the elders of the city had gathered and were engaged in a heated debate.

As Job sat down in his seat of honour, all the elders, nobles and ancient men of the city rose respectfully from their seats. Prince Zabduel, who had been speaking, caught himself in the middle of a sentence and put his hand over his mouth, for not even a prince might speak in Job’s presence without his permission. (Job 29:7-10)

“What is the problem?” Job inquired.
Prince Zabduel pointed to a merchant and an old lady who stood there before the assembly of elders, and said, “This man has come to us for judgment. This widow is in debt to him, and he demands that she give him her two sons as slaves, in payment.”

Seeing Job, the old lady raced forward and fell at his feet, crying out , “My Lord, if he takes my two sons, I will be left destitute and without food! Please help me!” The eyes of the entire assembly were upon Job, waiting in absolute silence, to see how he would judge the matter. (Job 29:21-25)

Job looked around at the elders, then, rising from his seat, said, “Give this woman her sons. I will pay her debt.” He removed a solid gold bracelet from his wrist and threw it in the dust and the merchant’s feet. “That should be more than enough” he said sternly. Quickly gathering it up, the merchant disappeared into the crowd, and all the elders began whispering in astonished praise at Job’s righteous judgment and generosity.

As Job was leaving the Gate, one of his sons came up to him, decked in his riches robes, and said, “Father, tonight all my brothers and sisters are feasting in my house. I beg you to please come!”

Job answered, “Son, go ahead with your feast. But it would hardly be dignified for a man like I to join in youthful partying.”

That evening, as Job sat dining with his wife in his mansion, a dozen servants in attendance, a house guard entered the great chamber, bowing low. “My Lord,” he said, “There is a group of 15 beggars at the gate requesting aid. Shall I send them away?”

Job retorted indignantly, “Never! Let it not be heard in all of Uz that the poor were ever sent away from Job’s gates without help. I would rather that my right arm were torn off at the shoulder!” Rising from the table, Job personally went down to the gate with his servants to see. (Job 31:16-19,22) An old man stepped forward and said, “Help, O good master! Many months ago Sabean raiders stole all of our flocks and possessions. Since then we have lived in poverty. Juniper roots have been our meat, and we have dwelled in the cliffs and the rocks and caves. We suffer in the rain and the cold. We toiled, day after day, naked and destitute, in the fields and olive-orchards of your neighbors, but still we go hungry. Please help us!” (Job 24:2-12; 30:3-7)
Job looked in pity at the bedraggled, dirty old man. Here was a man he would not even have hired to watch his flocks along with his sheepdogs. (Jo 30:1) Yet still…

“So! My neighbors have not fed you?”—Then I shall!” Job declared.
Immediately he directed his servants to give warm clothing and blankets to the cold, huddling group of beggars. He then had his servants bring out portions of his own meal for these poor to eat. (Job 31:16-22, 31-32)
Job was very pleased with himself and slept well that night, but when he rose up early the next morning, he was troubled. He thought about his sons and daughters feasting and drinking wine, and he began to worry, “What if they became drunk last night and cursed God in their hearts or sinned?”
Immediately he took ten lambs and sacrificed them to the Lord. “Please forgive my children if they have sinned!” he prayed. In the days that followed, as Job’s sons and daughters continued their feasting, first in one son’s house and then in another, Job kept up his prayers and sacrifices for them early each morning. (Job 1:4-5)

High above and far, far beyond the dusty plains and mountains of Uz, an indescribably beautiful realm beyond the site of Man, a very unusual scene was taking place.

The sons of God, Angels great in power and magnificent glory, were presenting themselves before the throne of God. Suddenly a herald Angel announced, O Lord God, Satan request and audience with You.” Knowing full well why the Devil had come, the Lord gave him permission to enter, and soon a dark figure swaggered across the shimmering Sea of Glass towards His throne.

“Have you been thinking about My servant Job?” the Lord challenged. “There is no one on Earth like him; he is good and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”

“Does Job fear God for no reason?” the Devil sneered. “Have you not put a hedge of Angels around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed him, and his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land of Uz! But strike everything he has, and he will curse You to Your face!”
The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, you shall see—everything he has is in your hands. But on Job himself do not lay a finger!”

Then Satan left the presence of the Lord, and went down to the barren Arabian desert. Soon he had turned the desert breeze into a dust devil, and then into a howling sandstorm whipping its way across the barren rocks and sand towards the land of Uz.

To the East of Uz, there was a drunken party in the camp of the Babylonian traders. “Why should we buy 100 of Job’s camels?”, the caravan leader shouted, “Look!—We’re armed! We can steal them all instead!”

To the southeast, there was a stir in the desert camp of the Sabean nomads. “Mount your hour!” Ras-Houid roared to his men, a fiery gleam in his eyes. “We have long hoped to strike against the rich lands of Job, and now is the time!” The warriors raced to saddle their horses, and soon there was a thunderous din as hundreds of savage raiders raced at breakneck speed across the desert salt-flats towards the land of Uz. Late in the afternoon of the next day, they reined in upon a hill overlooking the fields where Job’s oxen were finishing their plowing.

“A terrible desert wind shall strike soon,” Ras-Houid observed, watching the sky grow black and turbulent. –But we shall be long gone before it is here.” He slid his glistening sword out of its sheath, waved it high above his head and shouted, “Attack!!”

Job was sitting in his house that evening with his wife, enjoying his meal. In the background, as he dined, his maid-servants were softly playing a lyre and flute.

Suddenly a messenger burst into the dining hall. His clothes were ripped, his arm was bleeding, and he gasped, “My lord Job, the oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, when suddenly the Sabeans attacked and carried them off! They killed all your servants with the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped alive!”

In shocked disbelief, Job rose hastily to his feet, and had the messenger describe to him what has happened. While the messenger was still speaking suddenly another servant burst into the room, his clothes singed, and cried out, “Master!—The fire fell from the sky and burned up the sheep and all your servants watching them. It was a disaster! Only I survived!”

While he was still talking another messenger staggered into the room and said, “The Babylonians formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and carried all 3,100 of them off! The killed all of your servants! Only I am left alive!

Job slumped backwards into his chair, stunned! –But the worst was yet to come. A final messenger raced into his the room, threw himself weeping at Job’s feet and said, “Your sons and your daughters were feasting at the oldest brother’s house, when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and smashed against the house! The house collapsed on top of them, killing them all! –Only I escaped from it alive!

When Job heard this, he moaned, stood up and tore his richly-decorated robe from the top to the bottom! Throughout the sleepless night he paced back and forth in his mansion, torn apart with grief! All he had left was an empty house! His wealth, his servants, and even his children were…gone!
But the Devil was not done with him yet. Only days later, he obtained permission from the Lord to further test Job, and afflicted him with painful, festering boils from the soles of his feet to the top of his head!

Job felt more wretched than any man alive, and finding a heap of ashes behind his house, he slumped down in it. Picking up a piece of a broken earthen pot, he began to to carefully scrape away the pus oozing out of the sores on his body. Even his own wife finally reviled him in disgust and told him to “Curse God and die!” But at least he refused to deny his faith in God, and replied, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him!” –In other words, “Even if He doesn’t trust me!”

As the days passed, Job continued sitting on the ash-heap wearily scraping at his painful sores and scabs. His skin grew black and peeled, his body burned with fever, and one by one, his few remaining servants deserted him. His wife and all his relatives despised him, and even small boys and the dirtiest beggars avoided him except to stop and mock him and spit upon him. (Job 7:3; 19:13-20, 30:1,7-10,30)

Job had some very wealthy friends in Edom and other neighboring countries, who, after hearing of his calamity, met together and journeyed to his estate in Uz. How different it all looked! His usually well-kept properties were deserted and had begun to fall into ruin. When they saw Job from a distance, sitting on the ashes, covered with sores and so thin he was only skin and bones, the could hardly recognize him! (Job 2:11-13, 19:20) Dismounting from their camels, they sat down beside him, weeping.

For seven days and nights they didn’t say a word, for they saw that his grief was great. Finally Job’s sorrow was uncontrollable, and he burst forth with bitter complaint that he had been brought to such great ruin! “The thing that I greatly feared has come upon me!”, he cried out. (Job 3:1-14, 6:8-9, 10:1, 3:25)

His friend Eliphaz the Temanite from Edom, chided him for complaining that God was mistreating him. “Can a man be more righteous than God? Or can he be more just than his Maker?” he asked. (Job5:17-18)

But Job was beyond listening to counsel, and bitterly complained that God was punishing him for no reason, that he had done nothing wrong! (Job 6:8-9)

Bildad the Shuhite, an Arab, protested, “How long will you say such things? Does God pervert justice?” (Job 8:1-3)

Again Job insisted that he was completely innocent, but Zophar the Naamathite from northern Edom, contested, “How can you say to God, ‘I am pure in Your sight?!’ No man is completely innocent!” (Job 11-4)

Sarcastically Job replied, “Oh, doubtless you are ‘the people’, and when you die, wisdom shall perish from the Earth! But who doesn’t know such things as you are telling me? I know all this already. I tell you, all of you are worthless physicians. If you would just keep silence, for you, that would be wisdom. Now shut and let me speak.” –And again he began to protest his innocence. (Job 12:1-3, 13:4-5, 13, 18:23)

Eliphaz responded, ‘But how can you say you’re totally innocent? What is man that he could be pure or righteous?” (Job15:14)

Job retorted that God had treated him miserably and pitilessly, but, despite God’s mistreatment of him, he was still righteous and his prayer was pure. (Job 16:11-17) “Know that God has wronged me!”, he complained. (Job 19:6-11)

Zophar replied that Job must have sinned, because God judges evildoers, not good men (Job20:all), but Job answered that God often lets the wicked get away with their sins, so what was the point of serving God and trying to be good if He treated the righteous this way! (Job 21:7-14, 34:9).

Again Bildad pled with Job saying, “How can a man be righteous compared to God?”

But Job snapped back, “As surely as God lives, Who has denied me justice, I will never admit that you are right! I will maintain my righteousness as long as I live! (Job 25:4, 27:2-6)

Then Job began to argue, “Look! I have delivered the poor and the fatherless and the destitute that cried for help! I have caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was like a rob and a royal crown. I was eyes to the blind, feet to the lame and a father to the poor. (Job 29:12-17)

“I have sworn that I would never look at a woman lustfully”, he cried. “And I’ve always treated my servants fairly. I wasn’t greedy and covetous with my great wealth! No! Oh, if God would only weigh me in honest scales, He would know that I am blameless.” (Job 31:1,6,9-10,13-18,24-25)

Finally, the Bible says, “These three men stopped answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.” (Job 32:1)

It was apparent that Job’s main problem was self-righteousness, but Job’s three friends had not fully understood that. Instead, they felt sure that God had judged him because he wasn’t righteous, and that he must have committed some grave crime or injustice. (Job22:4-11) –Which actually was not the case, for Job had been very “righteous: and done many “good deeds”. And Job knew it! Which was why they hadn’t been able to convince him.

A young man named Elihu had sat listening respectfully as Job’s three old friends had argued with him, and now, as he clearly saw what the problem was, he became angry with them because, though they had not been able to come up with a valid reason for accusing Job, yet they had still critically condemned him. (Job 32:1-5)

Elihu was also angry with Job, “because he vindicated himself rather than God”! (Job 32:2) “In accusing God of unrighteousness,” Elihu scolded Job, “you have foolishly blamed God for your troubles just like any wicked man would have done. Job, this is rebellion against God. (Job 34:7-9, 36-37)
Turning first to the three friends, then to Job, Elihu said, “Job has said, ‘I am righteous, but God has denied me justice!’ Job, do you think this is right, that you have said, ‘My righteousness is more than God’s!’?” (Job 34:5, 35:2)
Suddenly, just as Elihu finished speaking, the sky grew strangely dark and a great whirlwind move across the land toward them. Above the fierce howling of the wind, out of the midst of the storm, the Voice of the Lord spoke to Job: “Your words are without knowledge! Will anyone who contends with god correct Him?” (Job 38:2, 40:2)

Job trembled, frightened half out of his wits and stammered, “Behold, I am vile. How can I answer you? I will put my hand over my mouth and speak no more!” (Job 40:3-5)

The Lord continued, “Would you discredit My justice? Would you condemn Me to justify yourself?” (Job 40:8)

Job replied, “O Lord, surely I spoke of things I did not understand. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes. Forgive me!” (Job42:3,6)
Job totally repented, now realizing that his sin had been self-righteous pride, and Jo’s three friends were quite please that he had finally confessed some sin! –But now it was their turn and the Lord rebuked them for having been so critical and mistaken in their charges against Job, and told Job—now humble and repentant—to pray for Him to have mercy on them! (Job 42:7-10)
Then, soon after Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord healed him and soon made him twice as many flocks and possessions as he’d had before. Seven more sons and three daughters were born to him and he lived many, many more years, long enough to see his great, great grand-children!

FOOD FOR THOUGHT
1.    Most Christians do not understand “why the Lord treated Job so badly”, and think that the main lesson of the Book of Job was his faith and great patience despite his “undeserved troubles  and afflictions”, they say. In mistakenly agreeing with Job’s complaints that God treated him unfairly, they’re missing the point of the whole Book!

2.    Why did God let the Devil afflict Job? –(A) to test his faith and (B) to humble him, as up till that time, he was quite proud of his own goodness and righteousness. Job finally saw that he wasn’t good and that only God was good—and that even his own righteousness was “filthy rags” in God’s sight (Isaiah 64:6), and he needed to depend utterly on god’s mercy.

3.    Some people think that Job was right all along, and his friends were wrong, because in Job 42:7 the Lord says, “You have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has”, –But God was referring here to Job’s repentance. –Because up until that time, Job was doing nothing but complaining against the Lord and accusing Him of perverting justice.

4.    One of the most dangerous things anyone can do is to start blaming God when things go wrong, saying, “Why me, Lord? –Why do you do this to me when I’m, so good?” Such murmuring is pure self-righteousness, and God won’t tolerate it.

5.    Job’s three friends were right in much of their accusations. They knew that something was wrong with him. –And it turned out the he did have a very serious sin: self righteousness. All along Job had protested how good he was, and this in itself was a sin. –The worst of all sins, in fat!

6.    The Book of Job is a lesson in faith and a lesson in patience (James 5:11), but more than anything else, the main lessons it contains is against self-righteousness. Job’s sin was that he was so confident of his own righteousness and proud of his “perfection”! Each of us have fallen prey to this same sin many times, but may we—like Job—learn that only God is righteous. “For by grace are ye saved by faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8,9)

–Author unknown

(Taken from ‘Good Thots-Book 2′, Copyright The Family International)
Used without permission.

By Nyx Martinez

In the Philippines, the Yuletide season means everything—family reunions, commemorating Christ’s birth, celebrating love.

Combine that with good food, endless parties, and halls “decked with boughs of holly” from September all the way to February, and you’ve got a pretty merry Christmas.

But several years ago, Christmas didn’t bring the same good feelings for me. Maybe that was because I was a 20-year-old single girl who was craving a different kind of love that Christmas. I wanted someone to share it with, someone to love. That didn’t happen. Instead, I faced a string of personal problems and a lot of turmoil. I was spending Christmas near the equator, and my heart felt wintry cold.

My parents were full-time Christian volunteers, so Christmas was also synonymous with volunteer activities. This year, my sisters, brothers, friends, and I had already visited two national prisons, a few orphanages, the city’s main hospital, and a neighborhood in the slums.

Our first stop on Christmas Eve was at a home for the aged. I didn’t feel like going, but having already committed, I threw on a T-shirt, running pants, and sneakers. I slung a baseball cap low over my eyes, hoping no one would read the depression there.

During the chapel service, I sat far in the back pew, half listening as the pastor explained that the volunteers from our organization were going to perform a few dance numbers later, during the small party.

A few of the elderly people sitting near me smiled my way. “Will you also dance, young man?” a wavering voice beside me asked. I turned to see an old woman. Was she asking me?

An old man beside her chuckled and slapped his knee. “That’s a girl!” he said, amused.

An hour later, I was dancing, having forced myself into “stage mode.” For the next half hour we entertained with traditional and original Christmas songs and dance routines. Then it was their turn. We played interactive party games with the old folks, and then had a ballroom dancing competition. It was great fun to see them take their places on the dance floor. Time had not robbed their spirits of youth, as they danced to the music of their day—swing, boogie, cha-cha, and more.

“Thank you for coming,” the same old lady said to me, “and Merry Christmas!” She patted my hand.

Looking into her eyes, her loneliness mirrored my own.

Then came Christmas Day. Kelly, one of my best, wackiest friends, phoned in tears. She had tried to reconcile with her boyfriend the night before, but was rejected—turned away on Christmas Eve. It was the saddest story I had heard in a long time. I tried to comfort her, but my own disappointed hopes were too strong, it seemed. What could I say? Together, we prayed over the phone, committing to God our hearts’ desires and expectations.

As I listened to Kelly thanking God despite her tears, I felt ashamed of my selfishness. Maybe true Christmas love was there all along, and I just hadn’t noticed. Had I missed it? I had been looking for happiness in a person—someone to fill my need for love. But instead, I had found so many also looking for something real—they were the lonely, the poor in spirit, the outcast, the forgotten, the dejected. It dawned on me: That’s what God’s love is really for, isn’t it? It loves the unlovely, enters a world of disappointment, and brings hope.

That December taught me that the spirit of Christmas is alive for everyone, and those who don’t see it are people like me who look in all the wrong places. Yet some folks look in the right places, with open hearts, and they do find that treasure.

Joseph and Mary were looking for a decent inn; they found an animal stable.

The Wise Men were looking for a king’s royal palace; they found a carpenter’s simple abode.

The angels were looking for people to spread the glad tidings of the newborn Savior; they found humble shepherds.

God was looking for someone to bring heaven’s love to, and He looked in the right place. He found you.

I hope that this time, we will also look in the right place and find those to bring His love to. I hope that each year we will all find Christmas.

© 2009 Aurora Production AG
www.auroraproduction.com
All Rights Reserved  (Used without permission)

The Problem of Information for the Theory of Evolution

Has Dawkins really solved it?–Dr. Royal Truman

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Evidence for the Existence of God

–Dr. Hugh Ross

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How to Do Your Own Darwinian Evolution Experiments with the Random Mutation Generator

Perry S. Marshall

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The Atheist’s Riddle:

Perry S. Marshall

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Information Theory and the Origin of DNA: Frequently Asked Questions

Perry S. Marshall

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What atheists Kant refute

By Dinesh D’Souza, The Christian Science Monitor

A recent string of bestselling books has put believers on the defensive. Religion, say the authors, is an unreasonable form of blind faith, often leading to fanaticism and violence. Reason and science, they contend, are the only proper foundations for forming opinions and understanding the universe.

This atheist attack is based on a fallacy, as was pointed out by the great philosopher Immanuel Kant. Kant erected a sturdy intellectual bulwark against atheism that hasn’t been breached since. His defense doesn’t draw on sacred texts or any other sources of authority to which people of faith might naturally and rightfully turn when confronted with atheist arguments. Instead, it relies on the only framework that today’s atheist proselytizers say is valid: reason. The fallacy is the glib assumption that there is only one limit to what human beings can know—reality itself. This view says we can find out more and more until eventually there is nothing more to discover. It holds that human reason and science can, in principle, unmask the whole of reality.

In his 1781 “Critique of Pure Reason,” Kant showed that this premise is false. Kant showed that human knowledge is constrained not merely by the unlimited magnitude of reality but also by a limited sensory apparatus of perception.

Consider a tape recorder. It captures only one mode of reality, namely sound. Thus all aspects of reality that cannot be captured in sound are beyond its reach. The same is true of human beings. The only way we grasp reality is through our five senses. But why should we believe that this is sufficient? What makes us think that there is no reality that lies beyond sensory perception?

Moreover, the reality we perceive is not reality in itself. It is merely our experience or “take” on it. When we equate experience and reality, we are making an unjustified leap.

Kant isn’t diminishing the importance of experience. We can use science and reason to discover the operating principles of the world of experience. This world, however, is not the only one there is. Kant contended that while science and reason apply to the world of sensory phenomena, of things as they are experienced by us, science and reason cannot penetrate further.

Ours is a world of appearances only, in which we see things in a limited and distorted way—”through a glass, darkly,” as the apostle Paul writes in I Corinthians. The spiritual reality constitutes the only permanent reality there is. Christianity teaches that while reason can point to the existence of this higher domain, it cannot fully comprehend that domain.

Thus, when atheists dismiss religious claims on the grounds that “what can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence,” they are making what philosophers like to call a category mistake. Reason is useful, but it isn’t unreasonable to believe things on faith that simply cannot be proven by reason.

When atheists summarily dismiss such common ideas as the immortality of the soul or the afterlife on the grounds that they have never found any empirical proofs for either, they are asking for evidence in a domain that is entirely beyond the reach of the senses. In this domain, the absence of such evidence cannot be used as the evidence for their absence.

Kant exposes the ignorant boast of atheists that atheism operates on a higher intellectual plane than religion. He shows that reason must know its limits in order to be truly reasonable. Atheism foolishly presumes that reason is capable of figuring out all that there is, while religion at least knows that there is a reality greater than, and beyond, that which our senses and our minds can ever understand.

Copyright Christian Science Monitor……posted without permission

Posted in absence, atheism, belief, Critique of Pure Reason, faith, five senses, God, God vs Science, Immanuel Kant, intellectual, Intelligent design, Jesus, philosophy, reason, Science, spiritual realm Tagged: afterlife, atheism, Christian Science Monitor, Critique of Pure Reason, five senses, God vs Science, Immanuel Kant, intellectual, perception, philosophers, reality, religion, Science, sensory, spiritual realm ]]> http://happypizza.wordpress.com/2008/10/27/what-atheists-kant-refute/feed/ 0 Mr. Happy Pizza http://happypizza.wordpress.com/2008/09/13/rock-bottom-quotes/ http://happypizza.wordpress.com/2008/09/13/rock-bottom-quotes/#comments Sat, 13 Sep 2008 06:22:59 +0000 happypizza http://happypizza.wordpress.com/?p=19 ]]> .

Rock Bottom:

• God’s love hangs on even when we let go.

• When you hit bottom, that’s when you can start on your way up, with God’s help.

• Failure, like the darkness of night, may slow me down. But the dawn will come, the sun will shine again, and I will be on my way.

• As sure as the sun rises, God’s love will always be there for you.

• What looks like the end of the road is more often just a bend in the road.

• When we know that God loves us, we know that everything is going to be okay.

• If you can look beyond your problems, you will see that those dark spots are merely the shadows of bigger and better things to come.

• Failure cannot defeat the man who will try again.

• The sun rises every day, and every night the stars shine.

• It is in coming to the end of our own strength, accepting that we have weaknesses, and admitting that we need God’s help, that we find our full potential.

• If we never experienced failure, we would never appreciate success.
  

• At the bottom, there are only two possibilities: either you stay there and die, or you fight and slowly lift yourself out of the hole.

• The purpose of our existence is not to make a living, but to make a life.

• Setbacks aren’t losses, they’re opportunities–vacant lots on which to build new dreams.

• No matter how low they take you today’s mistakes can’t keep you from trying again tomorrow.

• Just as the crushing of a rose brings out it’s sweet perfume, so the difficulties of life release the sweetness within us. If we let them, they can bring out qualities such as love for others, tenderness, compassion, humility, and closeness to loved ones.

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God Loves you!:

• There is a place from where troubles flee, where sorrows cease, and peace reigns. That place is in the sunshine of God’s love.

• God’s love will never let you down.

• If you have God, you always have company and love.

• There is no heart too hard for God’s love to touch and change.

• With God’s love all things are possible.

• There is nothing more perfect or pure than God’s unconditional, unfailing love for you.

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You can:

• We each bring something unique to the world; therefore we each have something to offer others.

• When you feel lost and tossed on the sea of life, call on God for help. He can get you through the storm, or even calm the trouble sea for your sake. He’s that powerful and He loves you that much.

• To some, an obstacle is an excuse to quit. To others it is an opportunity to grow stronger through adversity and come one step closer to their goal.

• Success in life is found in loving, not just winning

• Don’t let mistakes of the past mar your vision for the future. Focus on the good to come.

• Life isn’t a contest; it’s a chance to do the best you can with what you have.

• One kind word or deed can turn someone’s life around.

• Is your day dark and dreary? Brighten someone else’s.

• The man who admits his failures and does what he can to rectify them can honestly say he is wiser today than he was yesterday.

• If you feel your life has no direction or purpose, try spreading a little love around! There is always someone who needs your help and kindness.

• Get so busy making someone else happy that you can’t help but be happy yourself. Get busy helping them, and you won’t have time to think about your own problems.

• Faith is the greatest gift you can give people who are having trouble believing in themselves. Show them that you believe in them and they just might surprise everyone.

• Your choices, not your chances, determine your destiny.

• Never hesitate to trust the unknown future to a known God.

• May I remember to take time to stop and give someone encouragement. May I remember to thank God daily for friendship, for loved ones. And may I never take anyone or anything for granted.

• Brighten your day with the sunshine of thanks and gratitude.

..for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Deut. 31:6b

The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.

Deut. 33:27a

I [God] have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee.

2 Kings 20:5b

The LORD is righteous in all his ways and loving towards all he has made.

The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.

He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them.

Psa.145:17-19

He [God] heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds.

Psa.147:3

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Psa.46:1

Thou [God] shalt…..comfort me on every side.

Psa.71:21

He will call upon me, and I[God] will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.

Psa.91:15

….for you, O LORD, have helped me and comforted me.

PSA.86:17b

The LORD protects the simple-hearted; when I was in great need, he saved me.

Psa.116:6

Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you [God] stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes, with your right hand you save me.

Psa.138:7

If I ascend into heaven, You [God] are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.

If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.

If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,” Even the night shall be light about me;

Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You.

Psa.139:8–12

And none of them that trust in Him [God] shall be desolate.

Psa.34:22b

The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.

Psa.9:9

It shall come to pass in the day the LORD gives you rest from your sorrow, and from your fear.

Isa.14:3a

You shall weep no more. He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry; When He hears it, He will answer you

Isa.30:19

Fear not, for I [God] am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.

Isa.41:10

For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.

Isa.41:13

I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you.

Isa.42:6a

“Fear not, for I[God] have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you.”

Isa.43:1b,2

Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth; burst into song, O mountains! For the LORD comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.

Isa.49:13

For the mountains shall depart And the hills be removed, But My kindness shall not depart from you, Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,” Says the LORD, who has mercy on you.

Isa.54:10

To console those who mourn …To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness

Isa.61:3

In all their affliction He[God] was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them: in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bare them, and carried them all the days of old.

Isa.63:9

As a mother comforts her child, so will I [God] comfort you

Isa.66:13

I [God] will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick.

Ezek.34:16a

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Mat.5:4

[Jesus] Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.

Mat.28:20b

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Mat.5:4

[Jesus] Ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy

John.6:20b

[Jesus] I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

John.14:18

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it (or that ye may be able to bear it).

1Cor.10:13

Because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

Heb.3:5b

If we are faithless, he [Jesus] will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.

2Tim.2:13

Jesus Christ… who loved us and gave us eternal encouragement and good hope,

Encourage your hearts

2Thes.2:16, 17b

How to Receive God’s Comfort

Be of good courage, and He [God] shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.

Psa.31:24

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.

Psa.51:17

In the day of my trouble I will call to you, for you [God] will answer me.

Psa.86:7

My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise (God’s Word) preserves my life.

Psa.119:50

I lift up my eyes to the hills – where does my help come from?

My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip – he who watches over you will not sleep

He that keepeth [thee] shall neither slumber nor sleep

Psa.121:1,2,3

The LORD upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.

The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.

He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them.

The LORD watches over all who love him

Psa.145:14, 18, 19, 20a

Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.

Psa.9:10

Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall (or suffer the righteous to be moved).

Psa.55:22

For You will light my lamp; The LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.

Psa.18:28

From the end of the earth I will cry to You, When my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

Psa.61:2

Cast all your cares on him [Jesus] because he cares for you.

1Pet.5:7

Benefits of Sorrow and Suffering

[Eternal benefits]

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

2Cor.4:16, 17, 18

[Eternal benefits]

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.

These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

1Pet.1:6-7

[Eternal benefits]

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

Rom.8:18

[To comfort others]

[Jesus] Who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

2Cor.1:4

[Keep us close to God]

Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your [God] word.

Psa.119:67

[Keep us close to God]

It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your [God] decrees.

Psa.119:71

[To somehow bring us good:]

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

Rom.8:28

[To teach us patience:]

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,

Knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

Jam.1:2-4

[To strengthen us:]

But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you

1Pet.5:10

[To prepare us for greater service:]

If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him [Jesus].

2 Tim.2:12a

No More Sorrow or Tears in Heaven

[Jesus] Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

John14:1-3

He [Jesus] will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces.

Isa.25:8a

For the Lamb [Jesus] at the centre of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Rev. 7:17

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

Rev.21:4

Empathy and Help With Others

Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.

Rom.12:15

Remember them……which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body [as if you yourselves were suffering].

Heb.13:3

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?

Let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

1John3:16-18

[Eliphaz tells Job:]

Your words have supported those who stumbled; you have strengthened faltering knees.

Job4:4

Other Promises

Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; When I fall, I will arise; When I sit in darkness, The LORD will be a light to me.

Mic.7:8

Because you will forget your misery, and remember it as waters that pass away:

Job.11:16

For we do not have an high priest [Jesus] who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but [Jesus] was in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin.

Heb.4:15

When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.

Psa.27:10

An Example of A Prayer During Times of Suffering

My tears have been my food day and night, While they continually say to me, “Where is your God?”

Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him For the help of His countenance.

O my God, my soul is cast down within me; Therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan, And from the heights of Hermon, From the Hill Mizar.

Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; All Your waves and billows have gone over me.

The LORD will command His loving kindness in the daytime, And in the night His so shall be with me-A prayer to the God of my life.

I will say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”

As with a breaking of my bones, My enemies reproach me, While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.

PSA.42:3,5,6,7,8,9,10,11

-All the verses above are taken from the ‘King James Version‘, ‘New King James Version‘ and ‘New International Version‘ Bible translations! Due to the wide audience and varying degrees of English comprehension and command, I simply choose the most suitable and understandble translation for each verse to appeal to the widest audience. The references are left there so you can look the up passages yourself in the translation of your choosing.

–Some verses are only small excerpts of the complete verse…often with an “a” or “b” tagged on the reference.

-Words in brackets are for clarification purposes only.

“You’re a Christian, aren’t you, son?”

“Yes sir,” the student says.

“So you believe in God?”

“Absolutely.”

“Is God good?”

“Sure! God’s good.”

“Is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?”

“Yes.”

“Are you good or evil?”

“The Bible says I’m evil.”

The professor grins knowingly. “Aha! The Bible!” He considers for a moment.

“Here’s one for you. Let’s say there’s a sick person over here and you can cure him. You can do it. Would you help him? Would you try?”

“Yes sir, I would.”

“So you’re good…!”

“I wouldn’t say that.”

“But why not say that? You’d help a sick and maimed person if you could. Most of us would if we could. But God doesn’t.”

The student does not answer, so the professor continues. “He doesn’t, does he? My brother was a Christian who died of cancer, even though he prayed to Jesus to heal him. How is this Jesus good? Hmmm? Can you answer that one?”

The student remains silent.

“No, you can’t, can you?” the professor says. He takes a sip of water from a glass on his desk to give the student time to relax.

“Let’s start again, young fella. Is God good?”

“Er…yes,” the student says.

“Is Satan good?”

The student doesn’t hesitate on this one. “No.”

“Then where does Satan come from?”

The student falters. “From God”

“That’s right. God made Satan, didn’t he? Tell me, son. Is there evil in this world?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Evil’s everywhere, isn’t it? And God did make everything, correct?”

“Yes.”

“So who created evil?” The professor continued, “If God created everything, then God created evil, since evil exists, and according to the principle that our works define who we are, then God is evil.”

Again, the student has no answer. “Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things, do they exist in this world?”

The student squirms on his feet. “Yes.”

“So who created them?”

The student does not answer again, so the professor repeats his question. “Who created them?” There is still no answer. Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace in front of the classroom. The class is mesmerized.

“Tell me,” he continues onto another student. “Do you believe in Jesus Christ, son?”

The student’s voice betrays him and cracks. “Yes, professor, I do.”

The old man stops pacing. “Science says you have five senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Have you ever seen Jesus?”

“No sir. I’ve never seen Him.”

“Then tell us if you’ve ever heard your Jesus?”

“No, sir, I have not.”

“Have you ever felt your Jesus, tasted your Jesus or smelt your Jesus? Have you ever had any sensory perception of Jesus Christ, or God for that matter?”

“No, sir, I’m afraid I haven’t.”
“Yet you still believe in him?”

“Yes.”

“According to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your God doesn’t exist. What do you say to that, son?”

“Nothing,” the student replies. “I only have my faith.”

“Yes, faith,” the professor repeats. “And that is the problem science has with God. There is no evidence, only faith.”

The student stands quietly for a moment, before asking a question of His own. “Professor, is there such thing as heat?”

“Yes,” the professor replies. “There’s heat.”

“And is there such a thing as cold?”

“Yes, son, there’s cold too.”

“No sir, there isn’t.”

The professor turns to face the student, obviously interested. The room suddenly becomes very quiet. The student begins to explain.

“You can have lots of heat, even more heat, super-heat, mega-heat, unlimited heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat, but we don’t have anything called ‘cold’. We can hit up to 458 degrees below zero, which is no heat, but we can’t go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold; otherwise we would be able to go colder than the lowest -458 degrees. Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-458 F) is the total absence of heat. You see, sir, cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat we can measure in thermal units because heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.”

Silence across the room. A pen drops somewhere in the classroom, sounding like a hammer.

“What about darkness, professor. Is there such a thing as darkness?”

“Yes,” the professor replies without hesitation. “What is night if it isn’t darkness?”

“You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness is not something; it is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light, but if you have no light constantly you have nothing and it’s called darkness, isn’t it? That’s the meaning we use to define the word.”

“In reality, darkness isn’t. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?”

The professor begins to smile at the student in front of him. This will be a good semester. “So what point are you making, young man?”

“Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed to start with, and so your conclusion must also be flawed.”

The professor’s face cannot hide his surprise this time. “Flawed? Can you explain how?”

“You are working on the premise of duality,” the student explains. “You argue that there is life and then there’s death; a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can’t even explain a thought.”

“It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life, just the absence of it.”

“Now tell me, professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?”

“If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, young man, yes, of course I do.”

“Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?”

The professor begins to shake his head, still smiling, as he realizes where the argument is going. A very good semester, indeed.

“Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you now not a scientist, but a preacher?”

The class is in uproar. The student remains silent until the commotion has subsided.

“To continue the point you were making earlier to the other student, let me give you an example of what I mean.”

The student looks around the room. “Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the professor’s brain?” The class breaks out into laughter.

“Is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor’s brain, felt the professor’s brain, touched or smelt the professor’s brain? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, with all due respect, sir.”
“So if science says you have no brain, how can we trust your lectures, sir?”

Now the room is silent. The professor just stares at the student, his face unreadable.
Finally, after what seems an eternity, the old man answers. “I guess you’ll have to take them on faith.”

“Now, if you accept that there is faith, and, in fact, faith exists with life,” the student continues. “Now, sir, is there such a thing as evil?”

Now uncertain, the professor responds, “Of course, there is. We see it everyday. It is in the daily example of man’s inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil.”

To this the student replied, “Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God’s love present in his heart. It’s like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light.”

“Well, Mother,” he remarked to her, “you must be feeling pretty well today–you’re singing so happily.”

She turned a face full of suffering towards him & answered, “Oh Doctor, my sores hurt so badly I must sing!”

‘Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith’

1PE.4:12, 13, 1Pe. 1:6-9

There was once an old woman in whose home the Christian minister was taking tea. While she was in the kitchen he picked up her much-worn Bible and rather absently began to turn the leaves, when he noticed here and there along the margins these two letters, T.P. When she came back in the room with the tea he said, “Auntie, I was enjoying looking in your Bible, but what do these letters mean, that you have written here so many places? T.P. and here it is again, T.P., and here.” “Oh” she said, her face lighting with joy, “that means TRIED and PROVEN! In the time of some great need I have taken those promises and claimed them as my very own. They are the ones that I have TRIED and proven TRUE!”

How incredible, indeed, and that’s exactly the way the Lord intends for us to use them. He wants us to prove His Word, use it in our time of need. “Prove Me now herewith, says the Lord”, until with strength, faith, and unshakeable confidence we can write on the margin beside many a promise of God, “Tried and Proven”!

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