Scripture for today: Job 1-22

Today's Scriptural quote comes from belief.net:

There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God, and turned away from evil. There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. He had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-asses, and very many servants; so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east. His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each on his day; and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, "It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts." Thus Job did continually. Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. The LORD said to Satan, "Whence have you come?" Satan answered the LORD, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it." And the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?" Then Satan answered the LORD, "Does Job fear God for nought? Hast thou not put a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But put forth thy hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse thee to thy face." And the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your power; only upon himself do not put forth your hand." So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD. Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house; and there came a messenger to Job, and said, "The oxen were plowing and the asses feeding beside them; and the Sabe'ans fell upon them and took them, and slew the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you." While he was yet speaking, there came another, and said, "The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them; and I alone have escaped to tell you." While he was yet speaking, there came another, and said, "The Chalde'ans formed three companies, and made a raid upon the camels and took them, and slew the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you." While he was yet speaking, there came another, and said, "Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house; and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness, and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead; and I alone have escaped to tell you." Then Job arose, and rent his robe, and shaved his head, and fell upon the ground, and worshiped. And he said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return; the LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.

If only I had the strength of Job. Many things in life we take for granted: family, friends, possessions...we must recognize that all these come from God. All that we have is a gift from the Creator. How do we come to have family? Through chance encounters, future husbands and wives meet and fall in love. Many times, these encounters would never happen but for a minute connection, a slim possibility, a rare occasion. My wife and I have experienced significant loss this year, not in our family, but in families of those around us. At least three funerals we have attended have been for children. No parent should have to bury a child, but it is too easy to blame God for the death.

"For I have a plan for you, a plan for a Hope and a Future.." God bless you today...

What now...

War, famine, pestilence, disease, death...no I'm not talking Old Testament "God vs. Man", I'm talking about the headlines from today's news. Of course we all know which war, the one that has been going on for thousands of years, and will probably never end because of the intolerance on both sides. Famine - whether here in the U.S. where hundreds go hungry each night, or in Africa and other undeveloped areas where entire nations are in danger of genocide from starvation. Pestilence - Many scientists fear an onslaught from insects and other creatures which are becoming less afraid of humans and less prone to treatment and removal. Diseases are numerous and prevalent, including AIDS and the newly acquired avian flu. Stories of death are everywhere, while life affirming stories go unnoticed. When humanity stops using war and fighting to solve its problems, then will we see a change in these headlines. Why do humans need to fight? Why are so many intolerant of others? How many times is God blamed for the faults of humanity? I say look around you, change one heart today, your own.

Ahh..Maybe the Big Bang theory isn't quite right either

So front page news today indicates that there may be a new classification of the word "planet." Why is this important? Because all of the children out there learning about the nine planets of our solar system will now need to talk about twelve instead. (And perhaps as many as fifty-seven if you define planet loosely as a round object in space.) As we continue to discover an learn new things about the world on which we live and the universe beyond us, I become increasingly more skeptical of the Big Bang theory. To imagine that life, as we know it, evolved from one tiny microsopic bit of cosmic dust into the complex society we live in today defies logic. Not only do humans hold the narrowest of views about the existence of life, but how it came to be is held in even narrower terms. For example:

Two schools of thought exist on how life came to be on planet earth, the first is that some higher order being, whether a creator God or some other form of intelligent life designed and built the elaborate structure we enjoy here. The second theory is that life began as a single unit, which then fractured and split into several continuing this pattern until a cognizant creature emerged. This cognizant creature then evolved through various stages to become the food chain of life on earth today.

If we accept that both theories hold elements of truth and fact, then why are we so limited in our view that life exists on planets other than our own? Why does life need to be defined by our experiences here on earth? If you subscribe to the "intelligent design" theory then life could exist in any variety of forms on other planets, and we may not be capable of understanding these life forms with our current technology and knowledge base. If you accept the "Big Bang/Evolution" theory then life must exist on other planets, because such a randomized event could not possibly give birth to life on just one out of the possibly hundreds of planets in our solar system. Chaos theory and random theory cannot account for this.

So, life exists on other planets, what do you suppose it is like?

And now we begin...

It is my humble opinion, (and thanks to the blog I can share my opinion with the entire world), that the human body is simply too complex to have materialized "out of thin air" as it were. Whether you espouse the intelligent design theory, or have deeper beliefs in a creator God, there is no denying the fact that a random collection of atoms, molecules, cells, tissues, organs, and body systems cannot be fabricated without some sort of design plan. While I agree that taking a literal view of the Bible's seven days to creation story seems farfetched, on what scale can we view the term "day"? Across millennia we can see the steps of "Creation", quite correct according to the Bible story. Do 24 hours have to constitute a day? Does the creation of animals not include dinosaurs? Why are we fixated on an oral history of our predecessors being literal truth? Life came to be on planet earth through many phases. If Adam is represented by Cro-magnon man, then so be it. While apes and other primates share characteristics with humans, they are not, and have not for several thousand years, continuing to evolve. Why do you suppose this is? If humans did evolve from lower life forms, why do these more primitive life forms still exist? Shouldn't one form replace the other, not grow along in parallel to it? Primates by this theory would be creating elaborate social and family structures, along with becoming more human-like. One would imagine a world not unlike the Planet of the Apes where humans and apes, (and successively down the evolutionary chain) create parallel societies. Alas, apes are not getting smarter, fish are not crawling out of the water to walk on land and humans, while getting progressively more technologically savvy, are not getting smarter (or moving to the next step on the evolutionary chain, which would be what?) Heavy stuff for a Monday afternoon, don't you think?

Number One

This is my first post. How exciting....(and at the same time shockingly dull.)