Plants that Do Math Add Evidence for God by Kyle Butt, M.Div.

 

https://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=12&article=4733

Plants that Do Math Add Evidence for God

by	Kyle Butt, M.Div.

One of the first steps to becoming a good student in school is to learn the basics: reading, writing, and arithmetic. Students spend hours trying to master the basics of arithmetic. But it seems that students in grade school are not the only math masters. A new study indicates that plants may be exceptional at math as well. Allison Smith and Martin Howard of the John Innes Center in Norwich suggest that plants perform basic arithmetic in order to preserve the correct amount of starch during the night (Ledford, 2013). Heidi Ledford, writing for Nature News, explained that scientists once thought plants broke down starch at night time at a fairly constant rate. Experimental results, however, have shown that plants can vary their rate of starch consumption based on the number of hours of darkness they experience. Regardless of how many hours plants sit in darkness, they can regulate their starch use so that virtually no starch remains when the light returns (2013).

While this is the first study to suggest that plants do arithmetic, researchers indicate that this process could explain other biological systems, such as animal hybernation and long migrations in which food supplies need to be regulated to ensure survival. More research will be needed to verify Smith’s and Howard’s conclusions, but Howard states: “We are dealing with a fundamental biological process in cells that’s doing a sophisticated arithmetic calculation” (Ledford, 2013).

The implications of these findings that pertain to the existence of God are obvious. If plants really are doing arithmetic, that means they have been programmed by some type of intelligence. This intelligence must understand arithmetic, and be able to write into plants a code by which the plants can use arithmetic to their advantage. The atheistic, materialistic explanation for the origin of the Universe cannot adequately account either for the laws of math or for plants that can use those laws to survive. When the Creator designed plants, He saw that they were very good (Genesis 1:12). The concept of an intelligent Designer is the only one that adds up.

REFERENCES

Ledford, Heidi (2013), “Plants Perform Molecular Maths,” Nature, http://www.nature.com/news/plants-perform-molecular-maths-1.13251.

Philip Pullman and The Golden Compass by Eric Lyons, M.Min.

 

https://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=12&article=2336

Philip Pullman and The Golden Compass

by	Eric Lyons, M.Min.

On December 7, 2007 theaters worldwide released the much anticipated movie The Golden Compass. The movie has generated a great deal of discussion, especially among Christians, because it is based upon Philip Pullman’s first novel in his controversial trilogy titled His Dark Materials. Critics contend that the trilogy is “anti-Christian” and “atheism for kids” (“Pullman Not...,” 2007), but Today on NBC and other media outlets contend that Pullman is “not promoting atheism” (“Pullman Not...,” 2007, emp. added). When interviewed on the Today show a month prior to the movie’s release and asked to respond to those who say The Golden Compass is anti-Christian, Pullman stated:

I always mistrust people who tell us how we should understand something. They know better than we do what the book means or what this means and how we should read it or whether we should read it or not. I don’t think that is democratic. I prefer to trust the reader. I prefer to trust what I call the democracy of reading. But everybody has the right to form their own opinions and read what they like and come to their own conclusions about it (“Pullman on...,” 2007).

If there ever was a politically correct statement, this was it. The question was, “What is your response that this book is anti-Christian?” Is it or isn’t it? Pullman evaded the question altogether and indirectly attacked his critics by painting them as untrustworthy know-it-alls.

Fortunately, Pullman elsewhere has addressed his thoughts concerning God and Christianity more directly, allowing the public to see beyond the politically correct answers he gave on the eve of The Golden Compass’s release in theaters. In 2001, he penned an article titled “The Republic of Heaven.” It appeared in The Horn Book Magazine—a bi-monthly journal of children’s and young adult literature (see “About Us,” 2007). Those familiar with Pullman’s trilogy know that his republic of Heaven represents the antithesis of the biblical, celestial heaven of Almighty God. The republic is the “here and now,” which supposedly is all there is, and is ruled by men, not by a King in Heaven. In addressing his “republic of Heaven,” Pullman wrote: “[W]e must find a way of believing that we are not subservient creatures dependent on the whim of some celestial monarch, but free citizens of the republic of Heaven” (2001). He pointed out early in the article that the children’s books he loves “are saying something important about the most important subject...which is the death of God and its consequences.” He continued: “I take it that there really is no God anymore; the old assumptions have all withered away. That’s my starting point: that the idea of God with which I was brought up is now perfectly incredible” (Pullman, 2001).

Despite Pullman’s attempt to skirt questions about the anti-God, humanistic ideologies in his writings, his anti-Christian sentiments as portrayed through his imagined republic are very clear. He hails a republic as the “antithesis” of a celestial realm ruled by God. “This world is where the things are that matter.... [T]his earth is our true home, and nowhere else is.” How do humans function in such a world? What about right and wrong? According to Pullman, “It’s no good to say, ‘X is good and Y is evil because God says they are’; the King is dead, and that argument won’t do for free citizens of the republic.... Satan; he’s dead, too. There’s no one responsible but us. Goodness and evil have always had a human origin” (2001, emp. added). Of course, Pullman’s ideology is also pro-evolution. In seeking to answer “Why does the world exist?” he contended that there is “overwhelmingly powerful evidence for evolution by natural selection. The neo-Darwinians tell us that the processes of life are blind and automatic; there has been no purpose in our coming here” (2001).

But, one might ask, are Pullman’s personal ideologies really played out in his books for young people? Pullman actually hinted that there is no better place to spread one’s ideas. He suggested:

[W]e need a story, because it’s no good persuading people to commit themselves to an idea on the grounds that it’s reasonable. How much effect would the Bible have had for generations and generations if it had just been a collection of laws and genealogies? What seized the mind and captured the heart were the stories it contains.

So if we are to see what a republic of Heaven might look like, we must look for evidence of it, as I’ve been suggesting, in the realm of stories. And one of the few places we can be certain of finding stories, these days, is in books that are read by children (2001, italics in orig.).

Pullman knows that a good story can impact the world—for good or bad. Sadly, the story of a great republic that he has been selling in His Dark Materials trilogy is anti-God, anti-Creation, and anti-Christianity. Perhaps the directors and producers of the movie The Golden Compass chose to downplay the deeper meaning of Pullman’s writings, but parents would be wise to pass on both the movie and the book on which it is based.

REFERENCES

“About Us” (2007), The Horn Book Magazine, [On-line], URL: http://www.hbook.com/aboutus/.

“Pullman Not Promoting Atheism in ‘Golden Compass’” (2007), Today, [On-line], URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21595083/.

“Pullman on the ‘Compass’ Controversy,” (2007), Today, [On-line], URL: http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-us&brand= msnbc&tab=m5&rf=http: //www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21595083/ &fg=&from=00&vid=aba48491- 7d9b-41ff-9e1c-d65ead8d6c6e&playlist= videoByTag:mk:us:vs:0:tag:News _Editors%20Picks:ns:MSNVideo_Top_Cat:ps: 10:sd:-1:ind:1:ff:8A.

Pullman, Philip (2001), “The Republic of Heaven,” The Horn Book Magazine, 77:655-667, November/December, [On-line], URL: http://www.hbook.com/magazine/articles/2001/nov01_pullman.asp.

People All Over the World Associate Atheism with Immorality by Kyle Butt, M.Div.

 

https://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=12&article=5465

People All Over the World Associate Atheism with Immorality

by	Kyle Butt, M.Div.

Recently, Huffington Post writer Antonia Blumberg penned an article titled “Anti-Atheist Prejudice Is Entrenched Around the Globe, Even Among Atheists.”¹ In the article, she commented on research that appeared in Nature magazine.² The summary paragraph on the Nature Web site describing the research stated that “people in most—but not all—of these countries viewed extreme moral violations as representative of atheists. Notably, anti-atheist prejudice was even evident among atheist participants around the world.”³ The researchers wrote,

Combined, these results show that across the world, religious belief is intuitively viewed as a necessary safeguard against the temptations of grossly immoral conduct, and atheists are broadly perceived as potentially morally depraved and dangerous. Viewed differently, people perceive belief in a god as a sufficient moral buffer to inhibit immoral behaviour.⁴

Blumberg wrote, “The study echoes the findings of a report by Pew Research Center, published in 2014, which found that majorities in 22 countries say a person must believe in God in order to be moral and have good values.”⁵ In truth, Charles Darwin recognized this when he stated,  “A man who has no assured and ever present belief in the existence of a personal God or of a future existence with retribution and reward, can have for his rule of life, as far as I can see, only to follow those impulses and instincts which are the strongest or which seem to him the best ones.”⁶

At Apologetics Press, we have written extensively on the fact that the philosophy of atheism absolutely cannot provide a foundation upon which to build a moral framework.⁷ It is true that atheists can behave in more moral ways than people who believe in God. But atheists cannot appeal to atheism to honestly explain or defend such moral behavior. Atheism cannot really even define the terms “moral” and “immoral.”

It is interesting that in Blumberg’s article she quoted Bart Campolo, an atheistic activist who stated, “We secularists, who pursue goodness simply because we recognize it as the surest way to flourish, need to get a whole lot better at compellingly articulating our own good news, and maybe even learn to make it sing.”⁸ Notice the sentiment behind Campolo’s statement. He sees morality as “the surest way to flourish.” But what happens when the morally right thing to do does not coincide with an individual “flourishing”? What happens when “doing right” means a costly sacrifice even to the point of death to help someone who might never respond in kind? You can see that even in the context of trying to make atheistic morality appear meaningful, Campolo only succeeds in showing that it is a “means to an end” way of life based on a foundation of self-preservation. Imagine what would happen if people made their moral decisions based only on what would help them “flourish.” Campolo’s articulation of atheistic morality helps us to see why the foundational tenets of atheism are distrusted around the world.

Endnotes

¹ Antonia Blumberg (2017), “Anti-Atheist Prejudice is Entrenched Around the Globe, Even Among Atheists,” Huffington Post, https://www.yahoo.com/news/anti-atheist-prejudice-entrenched-around-203055330.html.

² Will Gervais, et. al. (2017), “Global Evidence of Extreme Intuitive Moral Prejudice Against Atheists,” Nature, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-017-0151?ncid=edlinkushpmg00000313.

³ Ibid.

⁴ Ibid.

⁵ Blumberg.

⁶ Charles Darwin (1958), The Autobiography of Charles Darwin, ed. Nora Barlow (New York: W.W. Norton), p. 94.

⁷ Kyle Butt (2008), “The Bitter Fruits of Atheism, Parts 1&2,” Reason & Revelation, 28[7&8]:50-64, http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=12&article=2515; Eric Lyons (2011), “The Moral Argument for the Existence of God,” Apologetics Press, http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=12&article=4101&topic=95; Antony G.N. Flew and Thomas B. Warren (1977), Warren-Flew Debate (Ramer, TN: National Christian Press), pp. 15ff.

⁸ Blumberg.

"THE GOSPEL OF MARK" Our Duty To God And Country (12:13-17)

 

"THE GOSPEL OF MARK"

Our Duty To God And Country (12:13-17) 

 INTRODUCTION

1. Teaching in the temple on Tuesday of the Last Week, we’ve seen...
   a. The authority of Jesus questioned by religious leaders - Mk 11:20-33
   b. The parable of the wicked vinedressers, directed toward the religious leaders - Mk 12:1-12

2. Jesus is then approached by Pharisees and Herodians...
   a. Intending to get Him in trouble with the authorities - Mk 12:13; Lk 20:20
   b. Who question Him whether one should pay taxes to Caesar - Mk 12:14-15

3. Ever the Master Teacher, Jesus easily dealt with their question...
   a. Seeing through their hypocrisy, He called for a coin - Mk 12:15
   b. He asked whose inscription was on it, and they answered "Caesar’s" - Mk 12:16
   c. His reply cause them to marvel - Mk 12:17

4. The reply of Jesus reveals that we have responsibilities to both God and country...
   a. There are things that we must render to Caesar (country)
   b. There are things that we must render to God

[What is our duty to God and country?  In this study we shall review
what the Scriptures tell us about our responsibilities as citizens and as disciples.  We start with...]

I. OUR DUTY TO COUNTRY

   A. PAY TAXES...
      1. This was the point of Jesus in our text - Mk 12:14-17
      2. Paul also taught us to pay taxes - Ro 13:6-7

   B. OBEY LAWS...
      1. We are to submit to the ordinances (laws) of the land - Ro 13:1-5; Tit 3:1
      2. This we do for the Lord’s sake, that we might silence foolish men - 1Pe 2:13-16

   C. FEAR AND HONOR...
      1. We are to respect and honor those in positions of authority - Ro 13:7
         a. To fear (respect) the king - cf. Pro 24:21
         b. Not to speak evil of our rulers - cf. Exo 22:28; Ac 23:5; Tit 3:2; 2Pe 2:10; Jude 8-9
      2. Even as we are to honor all and love the brethren - 1Pe 2:17
      -- Have you noticed that Paul or Peter never had unkind words about Nero?

   D. DO GOOD...
      1. We are to be ready for every good work - Tit 3:1
      2. We are to have conduct that is honorable before all - 1Pe 2:11-12,15-16

   E. PRAY...
      1. To make supplications, offer prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks - 1Ti 2:1
      2. To pray for kings and all who are in authority - 1Ti 2:1-3

[Christians are but sojourners and pilgrims in this world (1Pe 2:11).
While our true citizenship is in heaven (Ph 3:20), we are to be a
blessing to those earthly countries in which we sojourn.  Fulfill our
God-given obligations, and we will be an asset to any country in which
we live!  Now let’s review...]

II. OUR DUTY TO GOD

   A. LOVE GOD WITH ALL OUR BEING...
      1. Jesus considered this the greatest commandment of the Law - Mt 22:34-38
      2. Being the greatest command, I would suggest this is our greatest duty!

   B. OBEY GOD FROM THE HEART...
      1. If we love God, we will keep His commandments - 1Jn 5:3
      2. Jesus taught that keeping His commandments is evidence of true love - Jn 14:15,21,23

   C. MAKE GOD OUR PRIORITY...
      1. His will, His rule, His righteousness, should be our first priority - Mt 6:33
      2. Not only over our personal concerns, but even over our duty to country
         a. When there is a conflict between duty to God and country, God must come first
         b. As stated by Peter:  "We ought to obey God rather than men" - Ac 5:27-29
      3. This helps to answer questions that often arise regarding the Christian’s duty to government
         a. Can a Christian vote?
         b. Can one serve in political office?
         c. Can one serve in the military or other civic duty?
      4. If such duties come at too high a price (i.e., placing country
         before God), a Christian must obey God rather than men
         a. In some countries, the price may be too high, and Christians
            could not serve in political office or exercise certain rights as citizens
         b. Other countries may allow for God to take precedence in
            one’s conduct, permitting Christians to participate in such things

CONCLUSION

1. Christians ought to be a blessing for any country in which they reside...
   a. A source of revenue, with respect for laws, and reverence for those in authority
   b. Contributing to the general welfare, through good deeds and fervent prayers

2. Christians can be a blessing to their country......
   a. When Christians render first to God what is His due, and then what is due the country
   b. When the country respects the priority that must be given God by its citizens

While those in authority might not always understand their proper place,
and expect more of their citizens than what is right, may we who are
disciples of Christ never fail to:

   "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s,
   and to God the things that are God’s."             

Executable Outlines, Copyright © Mark A. Copeland, 2016

An Ignominious Anniversary by Ken Weliever, The Preacherman

 

https://thepreachersword.com/2015/01/22/an-ignominious-anniversary/#more-6683

An Ignominious Anniversary

Today is the 42^th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion. That epic decision has now left over 57 million babies dead. And many women scarred for life. Physically. Mentally. Emotionally. And Spiritually.

I agree with Norma McCorvey “I don’t think there is a good reason for an abortion….“It’s not your body, it’s not your choice, because you got that from God. He gave it to you.”

“Who’s Norma McCorvey?”  you ask.  “And what right does she have to say that?”

Norma McCorvey was a Texas woman who at age 21 was pregnant for the third time. She worked at a low paying job. And Norma didn’t need another child.  She lived at a time before abortions were legal. So she lied and said she was raped, since Texas laws allowed abortions in such situations. However, her scheme failed. She tried to get an illegal abortion. But was unsuccessful. She gave birth to the child, who was eventually adopted. However, McCorvey’s situation led to a law suit.

Yes Norma McCorvey is Jane Roe the plaintiff in Roe v Wade.

Ironically, McCorvey left the pro-choice movement and has become active in pro-life. She has written two books. And even asked for Roe v Wade to be overturned, but the appeal was denied.

Norma said her change occurred in 1995 while she was working in a clinic in Dallas. Operation Rescue opened an office next door and she became friends with Philip “Flip” Benham whose stance against abortion was based on the Bible. One day a chart showing a baby’s development caught Norma’s eye, and she became convinced abortion was wrong.

McCorvey would later admit that she had been used by liberal lawyers to advance their cause. And has charged the Doctors in clinics to be more concerned about their profits, than people who are hurt. She now looks at that which is in the womb as a child, not a mere fetus.

Advocates of abortion like to speak of a woman’s fetus, as if it’s some inanimate clump of tissue.  A non-person.  In fact, Justice Harry Blackmun, in the 1973 decision argued that a fetus was not a person and thus has no rights that can run counter to the right to privacy.

The Bible uses the expression “with child” 26 times to refer to pregnant women. The term fetus is never used. Luke, the physician, records that Elisabeth, the mother of John the Immerser, conceived a son (1:35). In verse 41 the doctor wrote “the baby leaped in her womb.” The baby! Not the fetus! It is the same Greek word that Luke uses to describe Jesus after he was born (2:12, 16). God views the unborn baby and the newborn baby in the same way. Both are living human beings.

In the midst of his suffering Job cries out, “Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child. Like infants who never saw light?” (3:16). The unborn child is called an infant!

In describing the greatness of Jehovah’s power and majesty, the Psalmist, David, describes himself as a person, unborn in his mother’s womb.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful,I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. (Ps 139:13-16)

On this ignominious anniversary these words from Norma McCorvey, aka Jane Roe, should be both illuminating and disturbing: “The holocaust against the unborn is the greatest sin they could ever do or even ever participate in.”

–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman

THE SOURCE-AUTHORITY-AND-CONSULTANTS FOR GOD'S TRUTH? BY STEVE FINNELL

 

http://steve-finnell.blogspot.com/2016/11/the-source-authority-and-consultants.html

THE SOURCE-AUTHORITY-AND-CONSULTANTS FOR GOD'S TRUTH? BY STEVE FINNELL

WHERE SHOULD BELIEVERS IN CHRIST BE LOOKING FOR THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH?

THE BEREANS SEARCHED THE SCRIPTURES FOR THE TRUTH. (ACTS 17:10-11......SEARCHED THE SCRIPTURES DAILY TO FIND OUT WHETHER THESE THINGS WERE SO.

WHAT OR WHO WAS NOT THE BEREANS SOURCE, AUTHORITY, OR CONSULTANTS FOR THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH?

THE MAN-MADE TRADITIONS OF THE ELDERS, SCRIBES AND PHARISEES WERE NOT THEIR SOURCE FOR TRUTH.

THE NICENE CREED WAS NOT THEIR AUTHORITY FOR THE TRUTH.

THE POPE WAS NOT THEIR CONSULTANT FOR THE TRUTH.

The Book of Mormon was not their source for the truth.

John Calvin was not their consultant for the absolute truth.

The Abstract Principles was not their source for the truth.

Martin Luther was not their authority for the truth.

The Augsburg Confession of Faith was not their source for truth.

Billy Graham was not their consultant for the truth.

The Articles of War for the Salvation army was not their source for truth.

Mary Baker Eddy was not their authority for the truth.

The Book of Discipline was not consulted in their search for truth.

Joseph Smith Jr. was not on their source list when looking for the truth.

The Statement of Fundamental Truths was not an authority they consulted for the truth.

John Piper was not on their source list for truth.

They did not examine Catholic Catechisms for authority or truth.

They did not consult the books of Rick Warren for the truth.

They did not use the Westminster Confession of Faith for their source for truth.

They did not search the books of Max Lucado for the truth.

John Knox, John Wesley, William Booth, Charles Spurgeon, C. S. Lewis, Alexander Campbell, Dwight L. Moody, nor Bishop Fulton S. Sheen were not used as consultants, nor sources, nor authority for the absolute truth.

WHY DID THE BEREANS ONLY SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES FOR TRUTH? BECAUSE GOD WROTE THE SCRIPTURES AND ONLY HE HAS THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH.

John 14:24 "He who does not love Me does not keep My words;and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me.

The words of Jesus were that of the Father.

John 14:26 "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

The words of Jesus were that of the Father. The Holy Spirit was sent by the Father to teach the apostles all things.

The absolute truth source, consultant for the truth, and authority of the truth comes from the Father through Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the apostles. God's absolute truth is found in the Bible and the Bible alone.

IF YOU ARE LOOKING TO MEN FOR THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH, THEN YOU ARE LOOKING IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES. 

(All Scripture from: NEW KING JAMES VERSION)        

Are you building a tower of Babel? by Roy Davison

 

http://www.oldpaths.com/Archive/Davison/Roy/Allen/1940/babel.html

Are you building a tower of Babel?

"Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. Then they said to one another, 'Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.' They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. And they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth" (Genesis 11:1-4).

But the Lord confused their language and scattered them over all the earth, and they stopped building the city (Genesis 11:7-9). Babel means confusion. In the rest of the Bible, Babel (also called Babylon) symbolizes rebellion against God.

Notice how arrogant and self-centered the people of Babel were: "Come, let US build OURSELVES a city," ... "let US make a name for OURSELVES." They were building for their own glory, rather than for the glory of God.

What about us? Are we building for our own glory, or for the glory of God? Are we building a tower of Babel or the temple of God?

"Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, The watchman stays awake in vain" (Psalm 127:1).

The people of Babel had big plans, but God was not included. We must avoid such arrogance: "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit'; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.' But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil" (James 4:13-16).

Rather than building a tower in Babel, the temporal city of confusion, we ought to build the eternal temple of God. Rather than being arrogant and self-centered, we ought to be humble and God-centered.

Jesus said: "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matthew 16:24-26).

Followers of Jesus do not strive to "make a name" for themselves. They do not build a monument to their own glory. They build a temple for the glory of God.

What is this temple?

A temple is a place where some deity is presumed to dwell. The one true God does not dwell in a building of stone. When Solomon built the temple at Jerusalem, he understood this: "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built!" (1 Kings 8:27). "For thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: 'I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite'" (Isaiah 57:15 RSV).

God dwells in His people. "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16). We are God's temple, individually and collectively as the church of Christ.

To the church at Corinth, Paul wrote: "For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, you are God's building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 3:9-11).

Christ is the foundation, the cornerstone of God's temple. On the basis of His teaching, recorded in Scripture by the apostles and prophets, we are built into a dwelling-place for God: "Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a habituation of God in the Spirit" (Ephesians 2:19-22).

Our first task in building the temple of God is to build ourselves up spiritually. "As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving" (Colossians 2:6,7). "But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life" (Jude 1:20,21).

The temple of God consists of living stones built on Christ: "Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, 'Behold, I lay in Zion A chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.' Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, 'The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone,' and 'A stone of stumbling And a rock of offense.' They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation" (1 Peter 2:4-12).

Rather than building a tower of Babel to our own glory, let us be living stones in the temple of God.

Roy Davison

Unless indicated otherwise, the Scripture quotations in this article are from The New King James Version. ©1979,1980,1982, Thomas Nelson Inc., Publishers.
Permission for reference use has been granted.

Published in The Old Paths Archive
(http://www.oldpaths.com)

And looking up, I saw... by Gary Rose

 

If I was driving along the highway and saw this, I would stop and take a picture too. OK, the light isn’t the best and clouds are a little off, but still, I think the picture is genuine. This reminds me of Constantine, who supposedly saw a vision of the cross in the sky and thought it was a message for Christians to overcome the non-believers. Rome was never the same after that.

Thinking of the cross, I turned to the Scriptures and here are some of them; they speak for themselves...

The Cross and the Gospel are intertwined

^{Romans 1 ( World English Bible )}

¹⁵ So, as much as is in me, I am eager to preach the Good News to you also who are in Rome.

¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the Good News of Christ, for it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes; for the Jew first, and also for the Greek.

¹⁷ For in it is revealed God’s righteousness from faith to faith. As it is written, “But the righteous shall live by faith.”

The Cross is NOT FOOLISHNESS

1 Corinthians 1 ( WEB )

For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are saved it is the power of God.

God, giving his life for our sins.

Colossians 2 ( WEB )

⁹ For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily,

¹⁰ and in him you are made full, who is the head of all principality and power;

¹¹ in whom you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ;

¹² having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

¹³ You were dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. He made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,

¹⁴ wiping out the handwriting in ordinances which was against us; and he has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross;

¹⁵ having stripped the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross brought us near to God

Ephesians 2 ( WEB )

¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off are made near in the blood of Christ.

¹⁴ For he is our peace, who made both one, and broke down the middle wall of partition,

¹⁵ having abolished in the flesh the hostility, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man of the two, making peace;

¹⁶ and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, having killed the hostility thereby.

¹⁷ He came and preached peace to you who were far off and to those who were near.

¹⁸ For through him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.

¹⁹ So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God,

The Cross is a separation from the world

Galatians 6 ( WEB )

¹⁴ But far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

No matter how good I am, I cannot save myself. I have no power in myself that can wipe away my sins. Jesus did it for me on that instrument of torture- The Cross. The perfect sacrifice of his body and shed blood alone have the power to save. All I can do is to humbly obey his Gospel and receive God’s gift. Imagine, one event, so long ago, that saves everyone who truly believes and is baptized will be saved. Absolutely mind boggling!

You know, I wish that I had taken that picture; it says more that thousands of words!