RECOGNIZING GOD

DO YOU RECOGNIZE THESE TWO IMAGES?  

There is an obvious similarity between these two images. Many people will recognize the image on the left as a famous stained glass "Rose Window" hanging in a church.  Very few will recognize the other image to the right of it.  Ironically, that image is an even more compelling basis for believing in God. 

Can a scientist reconcile faith in God?  What if that scientist was one of the most credible and accomplished scientists in the world?  What if that scientist started out as an atheist with no faith throughout his life?

Could such a scientist find God in any sort of scientific way? Could such a scientist find God with the help of another highly educated and intelligent atheist?

What if the scientist I am referring to based his conclusions on logic and evidence?  What if this scientist came to his belief in God because it was the only plausible explanation for scientific facts?

The scenario I have posed is not hypothetical.  It is a real story.  If you have a hard time coming to faith, but wish you could, this story may be for you. But you would have to be a very intelligent scientific type to get through this story.  If so, perhaps you recognize the image on the right. If you are an atheist, better yet. 

By the way, the scientist I referred to is Francis S. Collins, the former director of the Human Genome Project. The other highly intelligent atheist who reached the same conclusion about God is C.H. Lewis. 

Here is Collins simplest scientific explanation for God:

"God, who is not limited in space or time, created this universe 13.7 billion years ago with its parameters precisely tuned – that fine-tuning argument – to allow the development of complexity over long periods of time. That plan included the mechanism of evolution to create this marvelous diversity of living things on our planet and to include ourselves, human beings. Evolution, in the fullness of time, prepared these big-brained creatures, but that’s probably not all we are from the perspective of a believer.

God, in that case, having a house that’s now well-designed for it, gifted humanity with free will and with a soul. We could argue about what a soul actually means. And at that point, humans received this special status: made in God’s image, not in physical terms, but in spiritual and mental terms. We humans used our free will to disobey God – that’s what the story of the Garden of Eden is all about – leading to our realization of being in violation of that moral law. Thus we were estranged from God. For Christians like myself, Jesus is the solution to that estrangement."

Here Collins telling his story:

https://youtu.be/EGu_VtbpWhE

In a Dark Time

A poem by Theodore Roethke

In a dark time, the eye begins to see,

I meet my shadow in the deepening shade;   

I hear my echo in the echoing wood—

A lord of nature weeping to a tree.

I live between the heron and the wren,   

Beasts of the hill and serpents of the den.

What’s madness but nobility of soul

At odds with circumstance? The day’s on fire!   

I know the purity of pure despair,

My shadow pinned against a sweating wall.   

That place among the rocks—is it a cave,   

Or winding path? The edge is what I have.

A steady storm of correspondences!

A night flowing with birds, a ragged moon,   

And in broad day the midnight come again!   

A man goes far to find out what he is—

Death of the self in a long, tearless night,   

All natural shapes blazing unnatural light.

Dark, dark my light, and darker my desire.   

My soul, like some heat-maddened summer fly,   

Keeps buzzing at the sill. Which I is I?

A fallen man, I climb out of my fear.   

The mind enters itself, and God the mind,   

And one is One, free in the tearing wind.

WE ARE UNWORTHY

Fetus at 20 Weeks

We are unworthy from the second of conception all the way until the moment of our death for God's grace.  But for the grace of God, we would not have the blessings of our birth, the air we breath, the food and water that sustains us.  By the grace of God we live another day. 

The womb was created by the same means by which the womb gives life. The womb was designed by God to be the perfect compassionate environment to sustain and nurture a brand new life for 40 weeks. The Hebrew word for womb also means compassion. 

The womb will determine whether the life it holds is viable. If it is not, the womb will miscarriage to end the life.  

If by a man and women's actions a new life is created, the womb takes possession of that life.  At the moment of conception one is "written in the Book of Life." 

Psalm 139:13 “For you formed my inward parts; you covered me in my mother’s womb.” 

That life is not it's mother or it's father. It has a unique design that no other human being on the planet has.  

If life has sanctity at all, then we all have an obligation to be respectful of a life whether that life is weeks away from birth or weeks away from death.

The Supreme Court is about to decide who gets to choose life or death.  It is about to decide whether our USA Constitution gave the Federal Government the right to end a life in the womb is a Constitutional right given to every woman in America. 

The potential of a human being begins when life begins. No one can deny the potential of an unborn child.    

Open your heart . . . 

Related Post - Give Women Better Choices

Such A Sad Thought

I had such a sad thought just now. It isn't the first time I've had this particular sad thought, but for some reason I decided to blog about it this time. 

The thought was that I didn't have God in my life. I looked for him and he wasn't there. That made me feel sad. 

Fortunately I snapped out of it immediately. I was just imagining for a brief moment what my life would be like without the relationship I've built with God. 

Speaking for myself, life takes on a special new meaning when we develop a relationship with God.  I believe others would agree that God provides us with a greater sense of purpose. We take comfort and toss off anxiety and fear. Some may feel a calling.  

Some people are afraid to have a relationship with God.  I understand the concern about giving up things we value and/or enjoy.  In a way, it is a bit like going on a diet. There can be some pleasure we forgo, but we feel so much better and healthier in exchange.  (Which reminds me that I need to do a better job practicing what I preach. LOL) 

In a relationship with God we gain guidance and there is less stress about the future. It is a relationship we can trust and turn to.  

Numbers 23:19 -- "God is not a man who lies, or a son of man who changes his mind! Does He speak and then not do it, or promise and not fulfill it?"

With God we know we are loved. We experience new joys and our spirit soars.

The thought of not having God deflates our spirit like letting the air out of a balloon. Our heart sinks.  It is sad.

No matter how wealthy one is, if we do not have a relationship with God there is apt be a feeling of emptiness. It is the sense that our life is missing something.  Trying to fill the place where God belongs with anything but God is futile.  We are easily decieved into pursuing false gods.

Those false gods of this world discourage belief in El Elyon. It is difficult to believe in something we don't see but faith doesn't come from seeing.  

How can someone start a relationship with God?  Simple!  Because God is always waiting for our call. God is ready to come into our life the split second that we accept Hashem into our heart. When we do, our life is different. We are transformed. 

Proverbs 23:18 There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off. Expect divine fulfillment of God’s promises in your life.

God wrote a book for us filled with tremendous stories and instructions.  God provides us with teachers both physical and spiritual.  God shows us signs. God's small voice is in our heart - Shema!

שְׁמַ֖ע יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵ֖ינוּ יְהֹוָ֥ה | אֶחָֽד

Sh'ma Yisra'eil Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad. Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One

Establishing a relationship with God entails making a Covenant with God.  God is one - but it takes two in order to have relationship. The greater our love, the greater the gifts we give to show our love. The more we give, the more we recieve.  How terribly sad it is to think what it is like to not be in a relationship with God. Perish the thought. 

Amen

GIVE WOMEN BETTER CHOICES!

 

With Supreme Court rulings concerning abortion imminent there are many who are concerned that women will lose the right to a choice. 

Life is a choice. Death is a choice. The opposite of "life" is NOT "choice." It is "death." 

Deuteronomy 30:19 says "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live."

In my humble opinion ... The choice is simple. It has nothing to do with being a man or a woman.  It is about being a humain human being with common sense and compassion.

This article is about better life choices!

If one doesn't want their "seed" to spread, wear a condom or don't have sex. If one makes a bad choice, there are many other options including the "day after pill" and early-term abortion. 

Pregnancy test kits are readily available and women will have the means to terminate a brand new pregnancy. The Supreme Court decision will not remove that right.

Many pregnancies do not go to full term. Many miscarriages happen in the first trimester because God designed our bodies to make it's own decision concerning the viability of the fetus. However, there comes a point in a pregnancy when the unborn has established it's own claim to life.

There is too great of a difference to ignore between this:

AND THIS!

Tearing an unborn baby, especially at 5-9 months out of the womb is barbaric. You could not watch that procedure without drawing the conclusion that you are witnessing a homicide, not a "choice."

I support a woman's right to choose not to have a baby. Of course that is her right!!  Every woman HAS that right and they will have that right even AFTER the Supreme Court allows states to put greater restrictions on abortion, should that be the outcome!  

As a matter of fact, greater restrictions will not result in women giving up the "choice" not to have a baby!  It is virtually certain that the medical and pharmaceutical industry will develop new and other better choices for preventing, detecting and ending an unwanted pregnancy atbthe very start if she must. 

Furthermore, greater protections of unborn viable babies will result it more choices and better choices for women, as well as men.  Those choices will result in the following:

- more thoughtful decisions about practicing unsafe sex, by both women and men

- fewer sexually transmitted diseases 

- fewer unwanted pregnancies

- less women struggling with the emotional pain and turmoil over the decision to abort or carry their unborn baby

- fewer woman suffering the trauma and haunting feelings produced by an abortion 

- more families receiving a baby through adoption

In the final analysis, I believe greater restrictions on abortion will prove to be better for women, both mothers and the millions of female babies who will not be robbed of life by the choice to kill them while they were in the womb. 

The womb is a sacred place.  A womb is quite literally the embodiment of compassion. It's only purpose is to nurture and protect life. To commit a homicide in the womb, such as abortion, is a desecration. 

Related post - We Are Unworthy