ONE PAGE BIBLE

Ok, here's how I interpret the old testament and into the new:

God created man. For awhile we were bearable to Him. But then it got ugly. People acted like heathens and God knew He needed to do something or mankind would destroy each other as well as the planet.

So, He flooded the earth and saved alive the Noah family because they had their crap together. Noah was a good man and the Lord God loved him. He gave Noah instructions to save himself and his family from the impending doom. At the same time, the Lord instructed Noah to take 2 of each critter on board so as to procreate each species and repopulate the planet.

The flood came and all evil was wiped away. The Lord began with a clean slate and mankind was off and running again.

As time grew and mankind began to repopulate the planet, God saw that there was CLEARLY going to be a need for some kind of accountability factor implemented in order to keep His creation on a relatively straight and narrow path. So began the book of Deuteronomy. In this book is found all of the things God felt would help mankind to understand the best way to live with one another and be at peace as well as respecting boundaries and showing love.

As more and more time passed, God saw that the things He told His people to do didn't seem to be too clear. They still had a problem with a thing called "sin." So, He decided that in order to call attention to their sins and hold them accountable for their actions, He would need to implement some form of payment for each person to pay in order to absolve themselves of the wrongdoings they were committing throughout the year.

For an example, a man might steal something. For that theft, the man may be required to bring something to the designated location for "somethings" to be brought to in order to pay one's "sin debt." God felt that if each man had to atone for his own sins, he could have a form of forgiveness and mercy.

As time grew and grew, however, God began to see that the many rules and debts He had implemented became difficult for each man to follow. It became almost impossible for a man to follow each rule to the letter as well as bring the perfect sacrificial debt payment (goat, dove, oxen, etc.) to the right place at the right time. Mankind began to slip in their obligations to pay their sin debts. God, being a loving creator knew He would have to fix this as well. He would have to implement something new that would fix our weakness, once and for all, and give us the mercy we so obviously needed every minute of our lives.

What could God do to relieve mankind of all of the rules, rituals, ceremonies and sacrificial animals? First, one must understand that He is a God of details and therefore the rituals and ceremony. Second, one must understand that the animals were to represent a sinless being. Animals don't sin and so their blood would be used to atone for the sins of the man. But, man's sins were many and frequent and animals would undoubtedly become scarce. God could provide Himself a sacrifice (as He had before) but this would get extreme. There has to be a better way.

God, in His infinite love and wisdom, chose to send a sacrifice that would be one time for all, sinless and perfect. The real kicker however,...the sacrifice would choose to be sacrificed.

This would be a "lamb" who instead of being led to the slaughter, would go willingly just like in old times. This would be a perfect sacrifice, one without blemish, no blind eye, nor anything that would make this an unworthy sacrifice to present before God. This would be one who's blood would be spilled upon the ground only once. This sacrifice will go willingly and without hesitation.

God sent Jesus. A deity..a man...a sacrifice for the sins of all mankind for all times. He would die once. There wouldn't be the need to sacrifice Him over and over. Once He was sacrificed His job would be done and the sins of mankind would be atoned for. As mankind believed in the sacrificial lambs, he-goats, oxen, and doves, as being able to atone for their sins, they would have to believe that Jesus could do the same thing. It was a small thing to ask and an easy burden to bear.


And so it was, Jesus climbed upon the cross and allowed His blood to be shed. He gave that as a sacrifice to atone for my sins and plead my case before the throne of God. He gave His life so I could live free and at peace. He did well.

 

WE ARE ALL THE SAME

If I could meet a vast majority of people from around the world, what would be my impression of mankind after the fact? I have met many from around the world. I have somewhat of an opinion towards this inquiry.

I decided to try a social network. In this case, Google circles. It's Google's version of FaceBook. Why didn't I just do Facebook? Because everyone else already has. I never lean towards what all others do, but away from it. I find the unique and unusual, or the path less traveled to journey on. My adult children have warned me repeatedly not to go on FaceBook. I tend to take their protective advice. So, I chose circles instead.

Here is what I have found. This is an early opinion so I might find myself changing it within the weeks and months to come (which is a woman's prerogative). I have found that all in all, people are the same. When you go onto a social site (and I take into consideration that every single person reading this will have already done one or the other social sites and so have their own opinions) people come from everywhere. All over the world. I've been circled from the 4 corners of the globe.

Most of the people I have met online in this forum have been kind people. Most of them have their own set of morals and values that they feel strongly about. Most of them have a faith in something. Most of them prefer kindness over rude and insulting comments. Most of them want to have light hearted banter or philosophical discussion. Most of the opinions have one sharp contrast. Either they believe in God or they do not.

The ratio of believers to non-believers seems to be 20:1 or thereabouts. This is not a scientific statement. This is my little old self making the observation that out of 20 people only one will express disbelief in God.

There's also the percentage that do not mention a belief or a lack thereof. For the most part if I were to say anything about this, it would be that I am relieved to find that the majority of people believe in God and are willing to talk about Him in even the smallest ways.

I had one gentleman attack me for my faith. He wanted to delete my comment from another person's post for my faith and belief. He was so indignant that I could be so stupid as to believe in God...or as he called Him, "your imaginary friend." I simply reminded him that it's a public forum wherein I respect his beliefs as coming from a point of evolutionary theory and I asked him to respect mine as coming from a point of spiritualistic revelation. It's not possible to explain the presence of God to someone who has never felt Him. I have more than just felt Him, and so therefore am highly and richly blessed to be able to say, "He exists."

And so, this post is simply a quick touch on this new venture in my life to find the world out. I am open to this world and respect all faiths and beliefs. I've been insulted rarely but embraced mostly. I find that most of us just want to be loved and accepted and are willing to love and accept another in return. It may be that this is God's way of helping me to want to live. Don't look so surprised! I haven't wanted to live in a very long time. I can't explain this for I don't understand it myself.

I hope my reports only get better. I am an observer. I pay close attention to things as they take shape. I see a great body forming. This "person" is beautiful.

 

MOTHER OF GOD

My dear blogger friend at Crossed Tipped Churches  is an awesome photographer!!! Please do check him out. He has a great eye for the things of God and the church. He is no respecter of religions or faiths (as I've seen it to be) but he is taking pictures in Ohio, which I believe has an abundance of Catholic churches. He posted a photograph he took of Mary holding her dead child.

It really made me think about her. Mary, the mother of Jesus. The picture he chose was profoundly beautiful and sweetly heart rending. A mother holding her son after He has been brutally maimed, her hand cradling his head. It broke my heart. And then the conflict that all blood-bought Christians share, rose up in me, and I was so very grateful. As I looked at Russ' photograph, the tears streamed down my face. The emotion I felt was profound.

Once there was a mother. She had a son. Not just any son, and not just any conception. But a son who was a Deity, and a conception that was immaculate. His birth was contingent upon her obedience to the command of God. What would have happened if she had not believed the angel of the Lord that day? Would God have sent another angel to convince her or was she just one of millions he could have chosen to birth the Son of God?

Was the angel persuasive or was Mary just passive, making her a willing participant? We won't know on this side of eternity. My mind goes to the heart of this young mother. It's been researched and reported that Mary could have been as young as 12 years old when the angel came to her. Shocking for an American, considering our teenage daughters are still considered children at the age 18. But in the East, women are married off quite young and motherhood comes to any young woman who is able to conceive, provided her husband has been chosen for her by the family.

Mary...so young. Just a child perhaps. But beloved to God. Lovingly chosen to bear His son, and trusted to give Him up. I asked Russ on his blog, "do I dare to thank this mother?" I've never thought much about Mary. I always felt it would steer me in the wrong direction to give her more place than the Bible gives her. However, I've also come to realize that there's much of this life that isn't written in the Bible. It's even said that all the books of the world cannot hold the acts of Christ. So, that being said, I think Mary deserves her place in our speech. She deserves our appreciation for having faith enough to believe that what was going to happen was for the good of mankind, and even though she could do nothing to stop the loss of her beloved child, she agreed to obey.

Mary, beautiful mother of Jesus, I'm so sorry that they hurt you and stole your child from your arms. I'm so sorry that you had to watch the cruelty this world contains. I understand, however, you were told, "woman, behold thy son." St. John 19:26. And now, my heart is wrenching within me at your pain, all those 1000s of years ago. I hurt with you. Now, I feel sure that you are seated within the throne room. Hailed by the angels as the mother of their Master and Lord.

She suffered much while here..right along with her son. "I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us." Romans 8:18. Mary, mother of God, full of grace and truth. Thank you.

I DON'T BELIEVE THIS EITHER!

(The title of this blog is in relation to the previous blog entry.)

Here is today's contemplation: If God did not create this world and everything in it (taking into consideration all that this world needs in order to survive, grow, and flourish) then why is it so aptly protected?

Consider the fact that when a meteor enters the earth's atmosphere, it is moving at a rate of speed that gives it the potential to cause the same level of damage upon impact as the bomb that landed on Hiroshima. This means, if the meteor makes impact at the rate of speed it enters our atmosphere, the damage it would cause upon impact is total devastation for miles and miles. (I realize that a good scientific statement adds numbers, but you'll have to look up the exact data yourself.)


Now, consider the fact that meteors enter our atmosphere everyday. However, they burn up upon entry. Now, if this planet was solely dependent on the evolutionary process for everything, then what did the planet do to survive the daily meteor onslaught billions of years ago and up to today? Come on atheists, you can't honestly believe that the planet's atmosphere evolved to realize that meteors were coming through, which "it" came to realize was causing damage, and so "it" decided to change "itself" to form a protective barrier.


Sounds ludicrous doesn't it? That's because if something doesn't sound right, it isn't true.


FRIENDLY REMINDER: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was without form and void; and the darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." Genesis 1:2.

I DON'T BELIEVE IT!!

Here's something I just discovered while watching a PBS special about hummingbirds (while I eat supper and break from study.)

There are 350 different hummingbird species. Each has it's own particular flower that it's "designed" to eat nectar from. According to the commentator, each bird has evolved to have a bill that fits the flower perfectly. There's the "Swordbill" hummingbird, for instance. This little fellow has a bill that is three times the length of his tiny body. It fits inside a trumpet flower.

According to the science behind this lock-&-key theory, the flower has trained the bird to evolve so that it can pollinate the flower. How long does evolution take? Millions of years. That's what scientists say.

If it took millions of years for the bird to evolve in order to fit the flower and the bird is the flower's ONLY pollinator...what did the flower do to pollinate itself before the bird finally evolved? What's the truth behind this hummingbird evolution?

I think they're full of hooey! Each bird was designed, and I'll even go as far as saying, hand reared, by God Almighty Himself. There's no way a process that takes millions of years can keep the flower around and alive while at the same time working on the bird. You know what? I feel stupid even saying it.

Watch the video. Tell me what you think. Let's talk about it.