If I Could

On the dry erase message board in the laboratory where I work someone wrote “If I could.”  The phrase was obviously calling for responses, so I wrote, “I would.”

“If I could” assumes that I can’t.  It assumes a lack of ability.

Christians are indwelled by the Holy Spirit.  When God assigns us tasks, He never asks if we are able to perform them.  He assumes that we are able.  We are able to perform our assigned tasks because of the empowerment we receive from the Holy Spirit.  God has ownership of the unlimited resources of the universe.  If we are performing a task assigned by God, we absolutely have whatever is necessary to complete the task.

“For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?” Isaiah 14:27

The Extent of God's Love

“If I could only love the most righteous person in the world as much as the Creator loves the most wicked person in the world.”  Rabbi Zusha of Hanipol

Meshulam Zusha (1718-1800) was born in Galicia and would, in modern terms, have been of the Polish nationality.  He was known for his extreme piety and his highly emotional prayer life.   He is considered to have been one of the great Hassidic rabbis along with his equally revered brother, Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk.

Many people understand that Jesus died for the sins of the world.  What they often fail to realize is that Jesus died for them individually.  The Bible says that the angels rejoice when one sinner believes.   The price paid for that one sinner was the most valuable thing in the universe. 

The Meaning of Life

"... the Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs.  If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time.  God became Man for no other purpose.  It is even doubtful, you know, whether the whole universe was created for any other purpose.  It says in the Bible that the whole universe was made for Christ and that everything is to be gathered together in Him."  C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, 1952.

The Awe Factor of God - Francis Chan

Pastor Francis Chan uses astronomy to show us the majesty of God.

Film Comment: Time Bandits

Film Comments: Time Bandits, 1981, PG, Color, Great Britain.

Directed by Terry Gilliam.  Cast: Craig Warnock, John Cleese, Sean Connery, Shelly Duvall, Katherine Hellmond, Ian Holm, Michael Palin, Sir Ralph Richardson, Kenny Baker, Peter Vaughn, David Rappaport, David Warner.

Plot Synopsis:   A young boy named Kevin (Warnock) hears a commotion in his closet  and, then, is surpised when an armored knight comes crashing into his bedroom.  The next night, a group of overly excitable dwarves abduct the boy and take him on a wild adventure across time as they run from Evil Incarnate (Warner) and also from the angry Supreme Being (Richardson).  It seems that the dwarves have stolen God's map of the universe and are using it to collect treasure and wealth.  God, otherwise totally uninterested in His universe, is annoyed at the loss of His map.

     A final confrontation between Evil Incarnate and the Supreme  Being leaves everything destroyed.  God gets His map back and Kevin is unceremoniously returned to his home, orphaned, and left to fend for himself. 

     The message of the film is that there is no meaning to life or anything else.  We exist as specks of dust on an insignificant speck of dust within a massive dust cloud.  God may exist, but He is uninterested in our affairs and will be irritated if we bother Him.  

     This nihilistic philosophy has been adopted by many modern people, especially in the form known as materialistic determinism, which holds that we are merely the sum of our chemical and physical processes, completely devoid of free will, and, in the most extreme versions of this philosophy, even of conscious thought.  Since there is no meaning outside of the physical processes involved, there are no moral absolutes.