I have often found that it is very hard to explain to others what experiencing a relationship with God is like. The best analogy I had been able to come up with was that it is much like being in love. You can describe it all you want, but until you have actually experienced it, you cannot fully comprehend what it is like.
Yesterday I was reading John 14:15-25. This passage sheds some more light onto this issue. Jesus says in verse 21, "Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to Him". And then in verse 23 Jesus continues saying, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching, My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him". In other words, it is once you choose to trust in God as your Savior and Lord, then the Holy Spirit comes into your life. And it is the presence of the Holy Spirit which allows you to feel God's presence in your life. It is therefore no wonder why non-Christians have a hard time understanding, for we cannot fully experience God's presence until we choose to believe in Him and commit to following Him.
Monday, 15 April 2013
Wednesday, 27 March 2013
God wants to bless us!
Matthew 7:7-11 points out very powerfully that parents always want the best for their children, and will do whatever they can to give them the best things possible. Therefore, how much more is God willing to bless us! I find this extremely exciting. Whenever I worry about what may happen in the future, such as will I be successful at work, or will something bad happen, I need to remind myself of these truths. God wants to bless me. Good things won't always happen, but God has promised that even in those times, He uses those situations for good, for all those who love Him. Therefore, when it comes to those things that I am tempted to worry or stress about, I must remember that God is in control, and that He wants to bless me. He wants what is best for me and He wants to see me successful. Therefore, I can have confidence that He will do this. I can hold on to these promises. And even if bad things happen, I can rejoice in the fact that He will use it for good. They are promises like these which make me thankful to have a relationship with God.
Monday, 28 January 2013
He's given me a spirit of confidence
If I look back at Jesus' life, He was always confident. Never was he timid or fearful. He was wise, bold, confident and without fear. He calls me to do the same. And He has given me His Holy Spirit to help me. I have the Holy Spirit living inside me and so I should never have a spirit of anything but confidence. In everything I do I must do it as Jesus would, and that means being bold and confident....not arrogant or cocky, just confident as I seek to live righteously.
Tuesday, 11 December 2012
Caring about what God thinks rather than what people think
If I say that I am a Christian then I must live as one, or else I am a hypocrite. Too often in my life I have been concerned about what other people think rather than what God thinks. I never want other people to determine how I live my life, or how I respond in various situations. God has proven over and over again in my life (through His guidance, direction and love) that following His Word and His ways are always best. I have never been let down by doing things according to what the Bible says. People on the other hand do let you down. It is for these reasons that I do not want to have my actions determined by other people, but rather by God. At the same time I feel it is very important not to be a person who turns people off by "preaching" at them. I simply want to be a person who believes the Word of God, lives it out with boldness and confidence and does not allow what other people think of me to keep me from doing this. Jesus died on the cross so that I may have a personal relationship with Him, and for me to show even the slightest hesitation to obey Him and acknowledge Him before other people is the highest form of ungratefulness.
I was thinking about this fact as well...I would never even consider denying the fact that I love my wife. I would never be even remotely hesitant to confess in front of others my incredible love for her. Therefore, why would I ever do this for God? How could I ever do this for the One who guides and directs my life, and who has offered me salvation through His Son's death on the cross?
I was thinking about this fact as well...I would never even consider denying the fact that I love my wife. I would never be even remotely hesitant to confess in front of others my incredible love for her. Therefore, why would I ever do this for God? How could I ever do this for the One who guides and directs my life, and who has offered me salvation through His Son's death on the cross?
Monday, 3 December 2012
When we let fear rule us we make it more powerful than God
When we let fear rule us, we make it more powerful than God. It is amazing how easy it can be to allow fear to determine the actions that you take. Fear of results, fear of what others will think, and many other circumstantial fears, guide our decisions and life steps. What a sad reality. It is scary to think of all that one could accomplish in life if they were to simply trust God and refuse to allow fear to determine their actions. I must ensure that it is God alone that is guiding my steps. I must make sure that I am surrendered to what He wants me to do, for His ways have always proven to be the best course of action for my life. And besides, if He calls me to something, He will always provide the strength and circumstances needed to accomplish the task. These are God's truths, and I know that I have seen them proven over and over again in my life, so I'm not sure why I struggle with trust and obedience so often.
I want God to rule my life, not fear. In order for this to happen, I need to continually seek His will and surrender myself to Him, reminding myself that His ways are always best, and that He has never failed to prove this to me over and over again in my life.
I want God to rule my life, not fear. In order for this to happen, I need to continually seek His will and surrender myself to Him, reminding myself that His ways are always best, and that He has never failed to prove this to me over and over again in my life.
God is in Control, Why do I Force Things?
-I don't understand how and that is why I think sometimes I feel like I have to force things, or I fear, but I can always look back and see clearly what He did, how He did it, and often why. He really does work all out for good, and according to His purposes. He teaches me time and again that I just need to focus on obeying Him and He will work it all out as He sees fit. Thank you Lord!
Is there a God Who created the universe? (Part 3)
Continued from part 2....
Fakes and Mistakes
There have even been proven fake fossils which have at one time been believed to be proof of common ancestry. A popular example was an animal they called an "archaeoraptor". It had the tail of a dinosoaur and the fore limbs of a bird. National Geographic even published the information on this fossil, but a Chinese paleontologist later proved that it was a fake, and that it had been glued together. I understand that this is not an accurate representation of the entire science community; however, the fact that this has happens should be noted. Jonathan Wells states that there are scores of fake fossils out there which "casts a dark cloud" over the field. I am not saying that fossils are not reliable, but this situation certainly does not help its credibility. And it gets worse...
There is the famous "Java Man". This refers to a archeological find by French scientist Eugene Dubois in 1891. Through his find he used the bones to create what seemed to be a half-man, half-ape, or in other words, a missing link. Many people today accept Java Man as proof of evolution. This has since been proven as a completely unrealistic piece of evidence. Upon further research of this find, one will discover that Dubois only found a skull-cap, a femur and three teeth. Therefore, it can be concluded that a great deal of imagination was involved in deciding that these bones belonged to a living organism which looked very much like a half-man, half-ape. Strobel puts it well in saying that in other words, this Java Man, which so many people over the years have bought into as absolute proof of evolution, was created through nothing more than "speculation fueled by evolutionary expectations of what he should have looked like if Darwinism were true". One can only logically conclude that in all likelihood, there are many, many other situations similar to these whereby people believe in "scientific facts" of evolution, which are anything but. Rather, they are misconceptions, which stem from downright misleading information.
Additional information which should be noted regarding Dubois' "Java Man" is as follows:
-Dubois' excavation would have disqualified the fossil from consideration by today's standards.
-The femur apparently didn't really belong to the skull cap.
-Examination by famous Cambridge University anatomist Sir Arthur Keith reveals that the skull cap "was distinctly human and reflected a brain capacity well within the range of humans living today".
-A 342-page scientific report from a fact-finding expedition of nineteen evolutionists discredits Dubois' claims and determines that Java Man plays no part in evolutionary history. (Keep in mind that this is the collaborative decision of nineteen scientists who believe in evolution).
In general, it must be noted that when fossils are found and pieced together, it is not a simple puzzle process. There is a lot of interpretation involved. Dubois' Java Man reveals this, but so have other events in acheological history. For instance, National Geographic once hired four artists to construct a female figure from seven fossil bones found in Kenya. Each artist came up with very different interpretations of what the original organism looked like. One appeared like a modern-day African American woman, one had a heavy gorilla-like brow, one had a missing forehead and jaws that looked like a dinosaur with a beak, while another looked like a werewolf.
All of this helps to display the sad fact that many people believe in evolutionary theory based off of information they have been told, or even seen in text books; which upon further examination is simply not reliable. The reason why texts still publish this information as fact - when it has clearly been proven otherwise - baffles me. The scientific community has long deemed such information as false, yet it is still printed as fact. I simply don't get it.
Jonathan Wells sums up the above arguments against Darwinism as follows:
"My conclusion is that the case for Darwinian evolution is bankrupt. The evidence for Darwinism is not only grossly inadequate, it's systematically distorted. I'm convinced that sometime in the not-too-distant future - I don't know, maybe twenty or thirty years from now - people will look back in amazement and say, 'How could anyone have believed this?' Darwinism is merely materialistic philosophy masquerading as science, and people are recognizing it for what it is. I believe science is pointing strongly toward design. To me, as a scientist, the development of an embryo cries out, 'Design!' The Cambrian explosion - the sudden appearance of complex life, with no evidence of anscestors - is more consistent with design than evolution. Homology, in my opinion, is more compatible with design. The origin of life certainly cries out for a designer. None of these things make as much sense from a Darwiniain perspective as they do from a design perspective."
In other words, what we know to be true clearly points toward design, not Darwinian theory.
Fakes and Mistakes
There have even been proven fake fossils which have at one time been believed to be proof of common ancestry. A popular example was an animal they called an "archaeoraptor". It had the tail of a dinosoaur and the fore limbs of a bird. National Geographic even published the information on this fossil, but a Chinese paleontologist later proved that it was a fake, and that it had been glued together. I understand that this is not an accurate representation of the entire science community; however, the fact that this has happens should be noted. Jonathan Wells states that there are scores of fake fossils out there which "casts a dark cloud" over the field. I am not saying that fossils are not reliable, but this situation certainly does not help its credibility. And it gets worse...
There is the famous "Java Man". This refers to a archeological find by French scientist Eugene Dubois in 1891. Through his find he used the bones to create what seemed to be a half-man, half-ape, or in other words, a missing link. Many people today accept Java Man as proof of evolution. This has since been proven as a completely unrealistic piece of evidence. Upon further research of this find, one will discover that Dubois only found a skull-cap, a femur and three teeth. Therefore, it can be concluded that a great deal of imagination was involved in deciding that these bones belonged to a living organism which looked very much like a half-man, half-ape. Strobel puts it well in saying that in other words, this Java Man, which so many people over the years have bought into as absolute proof of evolution, was created through nothing more than "speculation fueled by evolutionary expectations of what he should have looked like if Darwinism were true". One can only logically conclude that in all likelihood, there are many, many other situations similar to these whereby people believe in "scientific facts" of evolution, which are anything but. Rather, they are misconceptions, which stem from downright misleading information.
Additional information which should be noted regarding Dubois' "Java Man" is as follows:
-Dubois' excavation would have disqualified the fossil from consideration by today's standards.
-The femur apparently didn't really belong to the skull cap.
-Examination by famous Cambridge University anatomist Sir Arthur Keith reveals that the skull cap "was distinctly human and reflected a brain capacity well within the range of humans living today".
-A 342-page scientific report from a fact-finding expedition of nineteen evolutionists discredits Dubois' claims and determines that Java Man plays no part in evolutionary history. (Keep in mind that this is the collaborative decision of nineteen scientists who believe in evolution).
In general, it must be noted that when fossils are found and pieced together, it is not a simple puzzle process. There is a lot of interpretation involved. Dubois' Java Man reveals this, but so have other events in acheological history. For instance, National Geographic once hired four artists to construct a female figure from seven fossil bones found in Kenya. Each artist came up with very different interpretations of what the original organism looked like. One appeared like a modern-day African American woman, one had a heavy gorilla-like brow, one had a missing forehead and jaws that looked like a dinosaur with a beak, while another looked like a werewolf.
All of this helps to display the sad fact that many people believe in evolutionary theory based off of information they have been told, or even seen in text books; which upon further examination is simply not reliable. The reason why texts still publish this information as fact - when it has clearly been proven otherwise - baffles me. The scientific community has long deemed such information as false, yet it is still printed as fact. I simply don't get it.
Jonathan Wells sums up the above arguments against Darwinism as follows:
"My conclusion is that the case for Darwinian evolution is bankrupt. The evidence for Darwinism is not only grossly inadequate, it's systematically distorted. I'm convinced that sometime in the not-too-distant future - I don't know, maybe twenty or thirty years from now - people will look back in amazement and say, 'How could anyone have believed this?' Darwinism is merely materialistic philosophy masquerading as science, and people are recognizing it for what it is. I believe science is pointing strongly toward design. To me, as a scientist, the development of an embryo cries out, 'Design!' The Cambrian explosion - the sudden appearance of complex life, with no evidence of anscestors - is more consistent with design than evolution. Homology, in my opinion, is more compatible with design. The origin of life certainly cries out for a designer. None of these things make as much sense from a Darwiniain perspective as they do from a design perspective."
In other words, what we know to be true clearly points toward design, not Darwinian theory.
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