Reflections on a Saturday Morning

                 There are people and groups of people that spend a large quantity of hours in the pursuit of disproving and/or attacking Christianity.  I wonder, are there groups that spend a large quantity of hours disproving those Alien groups? 

     For fun, I was looking at a couple of UFO or Alien sites on the internet.  Evidently, more Gootan spaceships are on the way.  Apparently two Gootan spaceships previously landed in Asia; China  and the Indonesian Sea.  I really don't think there is an Indonesian Sea as such.  After looking into it, I found that there are two seas around Indonesia, the Celebes Sea and the Molucca Sea, but no Indonesian Sea.  Evidently, the Gootan ships had downloaded some corrupted data from the Gootan Internet for their two million light year voyage to Earth.  I'm surprised they made it to Mars, much less to Earth, with those maps...but look what Columbus did.  Anyway, some more Gootan ships are on the way and China knows it.  For some reason in the report, there was a mention that Mao Kan of China had found thousands of secret NASA photos containing footprints and even a human carcass on the moon.  Must be one of those Chinese government hackers we hear of.

     I'm not attacking or debunking these people or the group.  I'm just saying that the portions of their info that are easily verifiable are suspect, and that is not a good start.  You don't find that in the Bible.  By the way, I've met a couple of those Alien believers over the years and they seemed to be good people who thought they could rearrange facts their way.  They were actually very interesting to listen to.  To bolster their view of alien existence, they seem to invent evidence whose source seems to evolve and change to fight off attacks...like transformers.  There is a good chance that few people will check the Chinese phone book to verify the existence of Mao Kan and inquire about copies of the photos.    

     When one examines the Bible, it does not come across as a horror genre book, unverifiable and clearly fictitious and seeking to instill fear.  Humans normally take every opportunity to take stories with spiritual themes into the realm of horror and make believe.  In the Bible, God and his angels never come across in stories as sinister spirits or evil Goblins and Werewolves attempting to scare the daylights out of people transfixed in prayer or sleeping in the night.  The angel always says something like, "Fear not..."  In other words, do not be afraid.  they appear in a human form, non-threatening, and wearing a glowing outfit; evidently they are easily recognizable as good by such attire. 

     God knows how not to scare people in the middle of the night or in deep meditation.  Even the burning bush in Exodus 3 is non-threatening.  Moses sees the bush burning but not being consumed.  He walks toward it not in fear but out of curiosity.  God sees Moses doing this, and to save his life, says, "Moses!  Moses!"  God calls him by his familiar name in order to not create fear.  God could have come on with a voice that shook the earth all around scaring the daylights out of Moses.  I feel God spoke as the Father he is with a warning as such to save his child from harm. 

     In Exodus 3:5, God says in a normal voice, "Do not come any closer.  Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground."  I love the sound of those words from our Father.  God explains what he wants Moses to do in a way Moses can easily understand.  Going on, God explains simply and to the point who he is in words that Moses cannot mistake to whom he is speaking, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob."  At this Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.  I do not think the word afraid means fear as in seeing a monster.  I believe Moses quickly realized the voice he heard was truly God and he was not crazy.  Moses was experiencing what any person would feel in the presence of God.  Though God tried mightily to keep from scaring Moses, God's presence is the ultimate in celebrity appearances.  God's presence makes one feel totally humbled; I am not deserving to be in your most holy presence.

    God tried so hard not to scare Moses.  But God is God and it is impossible for him not to make we humans a nervous-type scared.  I might be able to keep myself under control at the sight of an angel, but God.  I would be prostrate on the ground shaking like I had hypothermia.  God that uses the world as his footstool; God that is, was, and forever shall be; God that created all times, all things, all places.  Yet God never desires to make us afraid.  Even in his divine wrath as on the mountain with Moses after hearing of the Israelites forsaking him to worship other Gods, he does not smash everyone with his index finger.  God is angry as a Father would be when they have wantonly disobeyed, but Moses easily dissuades him from any violent anger.  Our Father loves us. 

     You cannot put people that believe in space aliens and people that have faith in God in the same category.  One is a category of ongoing-creation-fantasy and one is backed by mostly verifiable facts and reliable eye-witness accounts over thousands of years. 

     Do people that attack this loving God and his faithful not have anything better to do?  They must be angry or jealous to spend so much energy and time attacking him.  Why would you attack a group based on love and giving?  I suppose for the same reason the Roman rulers in ancient times attacked it.  Perhaps they long to know him, but have been hurt by life and blame it on him or have political aspirations.  Perhaps too, in their attempts to disprove God, they are actually confirming his existence.

It's Christmastime...Time to Worry

     Most people, particularly Christians, look forward to the month of December and the wonderful atmosphere of giving that comes with it.  The decorated houses inside and out.  The giddy feelings and memories built upon from childhood.  You want to give to everyone.  You want to receive from everyone. 


     Yet most people toss that heavenly feeling aside the moment they examine their bank account.  Throw that happiness out the door!  Replace it with...worry?  If you don't have the money to buy the most luxurious and exciting gifts for every person on your list, depression and worry builds, and you begin to develop feelings of inadequacy.  Nobody will understand that I cannot afford a huge and expensive present for them.  Embarrassment prevails. My wife knows a woman that worked two full-time jobs to buy presents...uh, okay.


     If you feel that way, STOP!  Let's look back a little over two thousand years.  In Bethlehem we see a carpenter and his wife in a stable.  In a manger used to feed cattle is a newborn baby lying in the hay.  God almighty himself has brought his son into the world in this lowly setting.  The first people  to receive a birth announcement are scruffy and at-the-bottom-of-the-economic-totem-pole shepherds tending sheep in the fields.  The couple to whom God blessed with his son are not visited by their king that just so happens to be the king of God's chosen people nor the priests of God's Temple.  Even worse, the couple will eventually have to flee to another country due a death warrant being issued against God's son by that very king.  Add to this the fact that the priests of God's Temple will be responsible for torturing and killing him by driving huge nails through his hands and feet to affix him to a cross where he is mocked by God's chosen people.


     That son of God never claimed ownership of any material things.  He hadn't any money.  He depended on people's kindness to put him up for the night.  He associated with the poor and outcasts of society.  Yet he was the richest and most powerful person to ever walk upon this earth in human form.  God's son proved that one person can change the world and not need a penny nor any other form of material wealth to accomplish that great change for good. 




      He never hated one person but, instead, loved everyone unconditionally without exception during his entire life upon this earth in which he, the son of God, served us.  This son of God, this king of kings, this God in human form said,


Matthew 6:25-34 (NIV)

      "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.  Is life not more than food, and the body more than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they?  Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? 


     "And why do you worry about clothes?  See how the flowers of the field grow.  They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you - you of little faith?  So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.


     I have nothing to add to that.  Jesus said it all about worry in those lines. 


     Enjoy this time with joy that God gave us his son to take away our sins.  Give joy, praise, gratefulness, and your time to God for this gift of gifts, that is what He really wants.
    


    

Is Humility a Sign of Weakness?

     Humble people are weak, I've heard that thrown around in conversations.  Weak here is in the sense of not exerting one's beliefs or ideas; not being forceful enough to get your point across.


     "Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less," said C.S. Lewis.  Do you see anything about weakness or wimpishness in Lewis' description?  Nope.  I see in that description Jesus Christ, and you know he wasn't/isn't weak or wimpy.  By the way, Jesus asked us to show humility in serving others for the reason that humility makes it about the other person. 


     So if being humble has a negative connotation with you...change your thinking and wear it on the outside.  Incidentally, I do not see humility as a weakness, but I certainly need to practice it more often.  I'm getting better as in I have a long way to go; in other words, I'm a work in progress.  Do not despair at the persistence of your bad traits.  Changing longtime habits takes a longtime sometimes and most times.  Like any change, it takes practice.  But it feels so good when you overcome those bad traits.  Don't give up, my brothers and sisters in Christ. 


     The occasion that brought the subject of humility to the forefront was seeing someone on the news giving money to a poor person for Christmas.  The person made sure the news was there to cover the gifting.  I'm sure the person in need was embarrassed at their situation to begin with, not to mention after the report aired.  Quiet and anonymous giving would have been very appropriate in that and most situations of giving.  I'm certain Jesus would have used that as a teaching moment: you have received your reward in this life for the televised giving.
    

Are We Asked to Have Blind Faith?

     Faith according to Merriam Webster Dictionary: belief and trust in and loyalty to God.

     I want you to think deeply about your faith.  Is it faith or blind faith?  I believe blind faith is believing without requiring or having proof and, at times, believing in the face of mountainous volumes of proof against.  Are we asked to have blind faith in God and his son, Jesus Christ?

     Paul states in Romans 10:17 (NIV), "consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ."  This is not precisely blind faith.  Being asked to believe something from a reliable source is not being asked to have blind faith.  That source has planted a seed within you, and that seed needs nurturing to grow.  It is up to you to deepen your faith by seeking to further educate yourself from that initial introduction. 

     When God decides to lead you to his son, Jesus Christ, he does so through his Holy Spirit within you.  At that time the seed is planted by someone he uses as his instrument through their faith.  After that, the nurturing begins, and, hopefully, your soul is a fertile soil for it to grow and develop into something healthy and nutritious to sustain and nurture faith in other people. 

     Your initial faith may be shallow, but, as it grows, it should put down deep roots.  Those deep roots are developed through a personal relationship with God that is a must-have.  I do not think God expects us to believe blindly, though he reserves a special place for those who believe as innocent children.  I am one of those people who ask a lot of questions and am never refused an answer by our Father.  To know God is to truly have knowledge and to be truly knowledgeable is know God.  We are not capable of knowing God and his will fully or we would be God, but he never hides the truth from us.  For knowledge to be valid, it must be truth.  God never forbids us to ask or refuses us an answer.  It all comes back to that personal relationship that one develops with time spent alone with our Father.  Find the time, it is truly worth it.  We are talking about a personal relationship with God who created all things, time, and places. 

     I did not set out to make this complicated or to confuse you.   Simply, believe by the word of a person who has experienced God first hand through a personal relationship that, over time, you will develop too...provided you set aside time for God each day.  Our Father longs to have a personal relationship with you, his creation that he loves so dearly.  You may even be so vain as to think you came to him to accept or reject him as you see fit.  Drop the arrogance, God loves you so much that he took time away from managing and creating all of existence to send a special emissary to you with an invitation to meet his son who will lead you to him.

John 6:44 (NIV)

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.

     Furthermore, who taught us these things that created our faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ?  Jesus taught almost non-stop during his time upon this earth in human form.  Though we don't always realize it, God is constantly teaching...like Father, like Son.  And Jesus said,

John 6:45 (NIV)

It is written in the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God.'  Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me.  No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father.

     In conclusion, God accepts but never requires blind faith in Him.  He is a divine genius and loves those that ask questions.  Never does he refuse to answer.  I tell you this as a person that can be a powerful pain in the posterior with questions.

Laugh, But Not at God

     Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, "Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old?  Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?"  (Genesis 17:17)

     So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, "After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?"  (Genesis 18:12)

     I have learned not to laugh at what God tells me He will do.  I may smile an impish smile that says, "Father, is there anything you cannot do?  You always amaze me."

     Never doubt what He can do.  But you have to ask.  I have never found an example in the Bible of God or Jesus giving something that we did not truly want...faith brings those answers to prayers. I am astounded daily at what He brings to me.  If you feel in your heart that you want to do something to glorify and advance faith in him, He will unlock all the doors before you...from experience.  Be prepared, for it will amaze you.
 

A Personal Relationship with God

     Until you develop your faith through a personal relationship with God, that he strongly desires, you cannot experience and know fully that he is here and near always.  That relationship will change your life beyond anything you have ever imagined.  I say this through personal experience.  When you develop that relationship, hold on, you are in for the most exciting adventure of your life.  He is going to tell you things and take you places that will thrill and change you.  You will walk this earth a very different and interesting person.  Do it!