Tell Someone About This Blog

This blog is receiving between 2,000 and 5,000 discrete visits per month.  Why not 5,000 to 10,000?  Tell your friends, relatives, and fellow church members about the blog.  Mention the blog in one of your tweets, on your personal blog, or on your Facebook page.

This is primarily a ministry to Christians but it also is read by persons who are not Christian.  There have been visits originating from occultic and pornographic sites.  Some readers have been followers of non-Christian religions such as Judaism and Islam.

This blog will never intentionally insult anyone but it also will never back away from telling the Truth.  The Good News is for everyone and if only one person comes to Christ because of this blog, the angels will rejoice. (Luke 15:1-10)

Jesus Right Before Our Eyes

This image is an optical illusion and has no supernatural or religious meaning in and of itself.  It is, however an illustration of what I have been talking about for the last few days.

Look at it very closely.  Move close to your computer's monitor screen and focus on the wooden blocks.  If you immediately see the word “Jesus,” you are one of the few.  Most people will see a randomly arranged set of rectangular wooden blocks.  Pull back from the screen and focus on the background rather than the blocks and you should suddenly see the word “Jesus.”  From that time on, you will see “Jesus” every time you look at the image.

The world is like that.  Non-believers do not see Jesus even though He is standing right in front of them.  Believers see Jesus in everything.

What I Believe

http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6543677145883318479#editor/target=post;postID=3277589869921366139

Since Wednesday, I have been responding to “What They Think of Us: God Blames Us for His Mistakes.”  I disagree completely with Gene Roddenberry’s criticism.  Here is what I believe to be a scriptural rebuttal.

1.     God did not make a mistake.  He intentionally made us as we are. (Genesis 1:1-31)

2.     He made us in His image. (1:27)

3.     He made us as we are because we must be free to choose.  God does not purpose to have the mindless obedience of robots or machines.

4.     God knew that the vast majority would reject Him.  He has declared that the few are worth the costs: a. the billions lost (Romans 1:20), and b. the life of Christ. (Luke 15:10)

5.     Those who chose God are invested with the Mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:16)

6.     He is perfecting us into creatures, not Divine, but like Himself.  Our ultimate destiny is one of sinless perfection, able to judge angels (1 Corinthians 6:3), and able to exist in the presence of the perfectly Holy God.  We are being perfected (sanctified) into holiness. (Hebrews 7:25)

What They Think of Us: God Blames Us for His Mistakes

“We must question the story logic of having an all-knowing, all-powerful God, who creates faulty humans and then blames them for his own mistakes.’  Gene Roddenberry (1921, Texas, USA - 1991), American television screenwriter and producer, World War II combat pilot, police officer.  Roddenberry was the creator of the classic television program, Star Trek.  He was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame.

This is a common criticism of Christianity from nonbelievers and it should not just be dismissed out of hand.  It assumes that God, if He exists, is flawed and imperfect, or even that He is unfair.  The challenge requires an answer.  How would you answer?

Only in Alabama!

I overheard this sentence at work as two co-workers walked past me:

"You got your Bible?  I'll look it up for you."

As they passed by, I heard another co-worker mutter under her breath:

"Uggh!  Only in Alabama!"

Christians really are different from them and they really do not understand.