5/16/14

From Jim McGuiggan... AN EMPTY BALLPOINT PEN


AN EMPTY BALLPOINT PEN

I’m tired of a God who won’t step in and deal with wickedness—won’t put a stop to it! I’m tired of a God who does all his crying through the tears of humanity! I’m weary of a God who’s always willing to forgive us our sins. Isn’t that sweet of him! If you believe some of those who profess to be his interpreters and followers he foreordained us to sin, for pity's sake.

Poor little humans! We only have one tiny life and for so many it’s one long crucifixion until they die of exhaustion, unmissed and unmourned . Dear God they haven’t time to become great sinners because they’re too busy covering their heads while they’re being beaten, too busy trying to figure out how they’re going to feed their children and so exhausted that their hearts can’t carry the crushing emotional burden; there’s so much pain, disappointment and unanswered prayers; so much undeserved suffering. 

All right, so they’re all sinners but what chance was there that they could be otherwise? Here’s an actual case. His name’s John, he’s eighteen, he’s no vicious hoodlum and his mother is no “Beast of Buchenwald”. Yes, yes, they’ve done wrong things in their lives—did God expect them to be sinless?

Here’s their story told by John’s mother. Multiply it by a billion!

On January 25th, 1973 in Memorial Hospital, John Risso, red-haired, laughing, tall, eighteen, tractor-driving, cow-scratching, flirtatious, shy, died after two and a half years of leukemia. After six weeks of a raging temperature, experimental drugs, bleeding, and an abscess in his rectum that became gangrenous, he died soft and gentle, finally, after six hours of violent death throes. His face was so thin, his hair only a memory, a soft red fuzz, arms blue and green from shots and intravenous feeding, the looked like an old picture of a saint after his tortures were over...

Why would a kind God do what was done to John, or do such a thing to me? I’m poor, have only second-hand furniture and clothing. The things of value were my husband and sons...How can I live with the agony he suffered?

Part of the time he was in a comma, and he kept saying, ‘Mama, help me, Mama, help me.’ I couldn’t and it’s killing me. I whispered in his ear, ‘John, I love you so much.’ All of a sudden his arm came up stiffly and fell across my back, and very quietly he said, from some vast depth, ‘Me too.’ “

There are no currently satisfying answers to the agony of the world because it isn’t “answers” or “explanations” these people want though, despite the silly advice from silly OT professors for us to keep our mouths shut on the subject, the sufferers keep on asking “why?” 

Paul’s message of the suffering of God in and as Jesus was scandalous and it hasn’t changed. To those who wanted vindicated, those who wanted a work of the Spirit to prove that God was on their side he offered a King without dignity, without acceptance, a “loser” streaked with spit and sweat and blood, hanging on a public gallows. To those who wanted the dignity of being seen to be wise, scholarly, academically well-heeled and esteemed he offered the wisdom of God embodied in a kid nailed to a stake.

I don’t know much; I’ve never been a scholar and it’s too late for me even if I had the ability to become one but I know I’m tired of scholarship with all its wisdom—a wisdom that can show a mass of opposing ways to understand the same texts. “Oh look, see what I can do with this section if I rearrange the textual pieces like Lego fragments—I can make all kinds of different shapes out of it.”

I’m tired of famous OT scholars teaching ethics and social action from the biblical witness they have no faith in; using it when it suits their agenda and sneering at it when it doesn’t; one moment telling us that the God of the Bible is concerned about justice and the next moment telling us that the God of the Bible is “obsessed” or “drunk” with punishing people. I’m tired of those who know this about them [or should!] oohing and aahing over such people. Okay, maybe they’re right, maybe they can out-talk us, they’ve out-read us; maybe we can’t, as they say, get beyond the biblical narrative that portrays God as a Jekkyl & Hyde but at least one would think there should be openness. I don’t say such people should be persecuted but there’s something profoundly out of straight when we listen to people thinking they believe in the Bible when in truth they believe what they believe independent of the Bible but use the Bible as a textbook because that's the book they’ve studied most of their lives! 

I’m tired of the banal moralizing that I listen to week after week after week. Preachers who Google and armed with a database of a hundred and fifty favorite verses and their favorite topics they present them in something of different suit and yet, more often than not, with the same tired stories, platitudes and clips from the Andy Griffith show. I’d rather have the scandal.

Colin Morris, a prominent British churchman some years back told us that during the night a couple of hundred yards from his door people found a little man lying on the pavement– quite dead. An Asian. His sole possessions were the pair of shorts he wore, a pair of worn sandals and his shirt with an empty ballpoint pen in it. The autopsy found a ball of grass in his otherwise empty stomach.

Arrrrrgh! 

My dear Mrs. Risso, my poor little Asian man I’ve nothing to tell you other than that there is a God and that he is like Jesus Christ and he will make all things right.

Meanwhile we have the brave speeches that demand churches to give females dignity and their right to be bishops and preachers, brave speeches that in the right circles are applauded long and often. “I have a dream! I have a dream that one day all the churches throughout the Western world will have female preachers and bishops exercising authority over the flocks as the males do today.”

Only God can save the Church from itself! Only God can work savingly through such a pathetic self-serving Community led by talkers like us who are drunk on our own wisdom and passion, who think we're courageous and free when the truth is we are dragged around as slaves by the newest fad that comes along or who take a truth [debated] and act like it is the central truth. Only a God like the God and Father of the Lord Jesus can bless a human family through such a Church shaped by talkers like us—sinfully shaped and with our unknown motivations—unknown even to us.. 

[I’m tired of hearing the sickening substitutes for the glorious Gospel and I'm tired of hearing my own voice and as soon as I get a few things cleared up I purpose to shut down this site.]


From Taylor Richardson... The Human Skin—Engineered by God




http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=12&article=1411

The Human Skin—Engineered by God

by  Taylor Richardson

In what single place can you find the following things: 19 million cells, 625 sweat glands, 90 oil glands, 65 hairs, 19 feet of blood vessels, and 19,000 sensory cells? The answer: in one square inch of human skin! The human skin is considered the largest organ in the body (about 16% of your body weight), and covers an area of 20 square feet. Your skin, or integument, has many different protective and metabolic functions that help keep your body stabilized.

SKIN LAYERS

You have two skin layers. The outer layer, the epidermis, consists of rows of cells about 12 to 15 deep, and is between 0.07 and 0.12 millimeters thick (about as thick as a piece of paper). This top layer is composed mainly of dead cells that are being replaced constantly by newer cells. Isaac Asimov explained the process in his book, The Human Body:
The cells at the base of the epidermis are alive, and are constantly growing and multiplying so that cell after cell is pushed upward and away from the dermis. Without a blood supply, the cell dies and much of it, aside from the inert keratin, atrophies. The vicissitudes of existence are constantly rubbing away some of this dead material from the surface of our body, but this is constantly being replaced from below, and we retain our epidermis ever fresh (1963, pp. 258-259).
Sometimes, when areas of the skin are subjected to constant friction, the epidermis responds by thickening itself in that area, creating a callus. These patches of hard skin usually are found on the soles of feet of people who walk barefoot, and on the hands of farmers. It is as though the dermis had traded in its thin plastic gloves for a pair made of leather.
The inner layer, or dermis, is a spongy, leathery area that is about one to two millimeters thick, consisting mainly of collagen (a fibrous protein found in the skin) connective tissue. The dermis is joined to the epidermis by a grooved surface that contains nerves, blood vessels, hair follicles, sebaceous glands, and sweat glands, all of which have important functions. Each hair follicle, for example, contains one hair that transmits the reception of touch to sensory nerves around the follicle. Sebaceous glands produce a waxy secretion called sebum, which helps to waterproof the skin. Sweat glands help to cool the skin and keep the body temperature constant.

FUNCTIONS OF SKIN

One of the most important functions of the skin is to provide us with a sense of touch. Werner Gitt explained it best:
The most important property of the skin is that it contains our sense of touch… The sense of touch is difficult to investigate. All other senses have a definite key organ which can be studied, but the skin is spread over the entire body and cannot easily be delimited or “switched off.” In the case of vision, scientists can observe blind persons to learn more about seeing, and they can study deaf people to learn more about hearing. But this is impossible for the sense of touch (1999, p. 41).
Receptors (from the Latin word receptor, meaning “recorder”) located at the ends of nerve fibers are used to detect stimuli and convert them into neural impulses to be sent to the brain through the peripheral and central nervous systems. Receptors also are located in the internal organs, muscles, and skeletal joints, and can detect information such as the temperature of a cup of coffee or the roughness of sand paper. Although we “touch” with our epidermis, the sense of touch actually is recorded in the dermis and passed on to the central nervous system.
Layers of Skin
Another important function of the skin is that it helps the body keep a constant temperature. Gillen, et al., wrote: “The word homeostasis comes from two Greek terms, homeo (alike or the same) and stasis (standing or remaining). Thus the word means remaining the same” (1999, italics, parenthetical items, and emp. in orig.). A person’s average body temperature is 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, but if it increases by 7 or 8 degrees, and remains there for any of length of time, a person will almost certainly die. So how does the body keep a generally constant temperature? It does so via a method of cooling known as perspiration. The main sources of body heat are the internal organs that work all the time, such as the heart and kidneys. The heat created by these organs is carried off by the blood and distributed evenly throughout the body. This is an efficient way to diffuse the heat at a slow pace, but what happens when the body must get rid of heat quickly? Asimov explained:
We are equipped with tiny glands distributed all over our skin, about two million of them all together, the purpose of which is to bring water to the surface of the skin. On the surface this water is vaporized and heat is in this manner withdrawn from the body. The glands are sweat glands and the liquid produced is sweat or perspiration. A sweat gland consists of a tiny coiled tube, the main body of which situated deep in the dermis. The tube straightens out finally and extends up through the epidermis. The tiny opening on the surface is a pore and is just barley visible to the naked eye. When you are working or playing hard, and heat production is increased, the sweat glands accelerate their production of perspiration. This is also true when the temperature is unusually high. The rate of production may then outstrip the rate of evaporation, particularly if humidity is high, since the rate of evaporation declines with the rise in humidity. Perspiration will then collect on the body in visible drops and we are conscious of sweating (p. 265, italics in orig.).
The temperature determines how many sweat glands a person has, in the same way that the amount of sunlight determines how much melanin is in the skin. People who live in hot, humid climates tend to have more sweat glands, and produce perspiration with a smaller concentration of salt, than people living in colder, drier climates.
The skin also acts like a chemical-processing plant for the entire body. When you are outside, the skin absorbs ultraviolet rays from the Sun, and then uses them to convert chemicals into vitamin D. This vitamin is very important to our body because it helps stimulate the absorption of calcium. Without calcium, our bones grow thin and brittle, eventually leading to diseases such as rickets and osteomalacia (skeletal diseases that weaken bones). In addition, the epidermis contains a special pigment called melanin, which is responsible for the variety of color in our skin. It also acts as a protection against ultraviolet light. The melanin absorbs ultraviolet light without harming itself, and acts as a protective covering over the area beneath it. Like vitamin D, melanin is formed by the exposure to sunlight, so people in tropical regions have more melanin to protect them from the harmful ultraviolet rays, while people in northern regions have little traces of melanin because the Sun is rarely out for long periods of time. But not all people are able to produce melanin in their bodies. Occasionally, individuals are born who are incapable of forming any melanin at all. Their skin and hair are pinkish-white and their eyes are pinkish-red, because the tiny blood vessels are visible in the iris of their eyes (where there are typically colors such as blue, green, hazel, and brown). A person with this condition is referred to as an albino, indicating that they lack pigmentation in their skin. Albinism is not limited just to humans, but also is found in other species of animals as well (e.g., the white rat, the white elephant, the white tiger, etc.).
Furthermore, the skin also helps protect the inside of the body. If you have ever been to an amusement park, you probably have seen the bumper cars that you can drive to bump into other cars. Collisions in those cars are perfectly safe because of the rubber rings that surround the cars. The skin is like those rubber rings in that it acts like a shock absorber when you fall, protecting all of your internal organs. If we didn’t have this “shock absorber,” it would be practically impossible to do physical activities without damaging internal organs or bruising easily.
It is impossible that evolution could have produced such an important and complex organ as the human skin. The many intricacies of its functions are evidence of a Creator. One writer remarked: “The skin is a miracle of evolutionary engineering: it waterproofs the body, blocks out and destroys harmful bacteria, regulates temperature, and continuously communicates with the brain” (McCutcheon, 1989, p. 113). Yes, the skin is a “miracle” all right—but not a miracle of evolution. And yes, the skin was “engineered”—but the engineer was God!

REFERENCES

Asimov, Isaac (1963), The Human Body (New York: New American Library).
Gillen, Alan L., Frank J. Sherwin III, and Alan C. Knowles (1999), The Human Body: An Intelligent Design (St. Joseph, MO: Creation Research Society).
Gitt, Werner (1999), The Wonder of Man (Bielefeld, Germany: Christliche Literatur-Verbreitung E.V.).
McCutcheon, Marc (1989), The Compass in Your Nose (Los Angeles, CA: Jeremy P. Tarcher).

From Mark Copeland... The Selection Of The Seven (Acts 6:1-7) 

                          "THE BOOK OF ACTS"

                  The Selection Of The Seven (6:1-7)

INTRODUCTION

1. As the disciples in Jerusalem increased, problems increased as
   well...
   a. Problems from without - Ac 4:1-3; 5:17-18
   b. Problems from within - Ac 5:1-11

2. In chapter six of Acts, difficulties continue...
   a. Complaints from those within - Ac 6:1-7
   b. Persecution from those without - Ac 6:8-15

[In Ac 6:1-7, with "The Selection Of The Seven" we read how the church
successfully addressed a serious complication...]

I. THE PROBLEM

   A. CHURCH GROWTH...
      1. The number of the disciples was multiplying - Ac 6:1; cf. Ac 2:41; 4:4; 5:14
      2. Increasing numbers in a congregation often lead to problems
         a. It is more difficult to know everyone
         b. Cliques begin to form based on common interests
         c. Misunderstandings become more frequent

   B. HELLENISTS VS. HEBREWS...
      1. Hellenists 
         a. Jews living in Jerusalem but originally connected with
            Diaspora Judaism and characterized by the use of Greek as 
            their principle language, especially for worship and 
            scripture - AYBD
         b. The Hellenists in Ac 6:1 are Christian Jews, while in Ac9:29 they represent the larger group of Diaspora Jews who 
            have not converted - ibid.
      2. Hebrews
         a. Aramaic-speaking Jews who held to their native language and
            culture
         b. In this passage they are evidently Christian Jews as well

   C. DAILY DISTRIBUTION...
      1. Feature of communal Christianity practiced in Jerusalem - Ac6:1; cf. Ac 2:44-45; 4:35
      2. Which was not the norm practiced elsewhere - see "Communal Christianity"
   
   D. NEGLECT OF WIDOWS...
      1. Churches would provide support for widows, with qualification
         - cf. 1Ti 5:3-16
      2. The Hellenist widows were being neglected - Ac 6:1
      3. Leading to a complaint by the Hellenists against the Hebrews

   E. DISTRACTING THE APOSTLES...
      1. The twelve (apostles) summon the multitude - Ac 6:2
      2. "It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and
         serve tables"
      3. Leaders should not be distracted from their primary
         responsibilities - e.g., Exo 18:13-26  
      4. Note well:  The apostles' duty was prayer and the ministry of
         the Word - cf. Ac 6:4

[The problem threatened the care of the widows, the unity of the church
and the spread of the Word.  The solution serves as an example for
solving church-related problems...]

II. THE SOLUTION

   A. THE APOSTLES PROPOSED...
      1. The apostles summon the multitude of disciples - Ac 6:2
      2. The apostles explain the problem to the disciples - ibid.
      3. The apostles propose a solution - Ac 6:3-4
         a. The congregation to select seven men
         b. Men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom
         c. Whom the apostles could appoint over the distribution
         d. So the apostles can be devoted to prayer and the Word

   B. THE MULTITUDE PLEASED...
      1. The proposal pleases the multitude - Ac 6:5
      2. They select seven men - ibid.
         a. Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, later the
            first martyr - Ac 7:57-60
         b. Philip, who later served as an evangelist - Ac 8:4; 21:8
         c. Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolas, a
            proselyte from Antioch
      3. Note well:  the church, while mostly Hebrews, appointed seven
         Hellenists!

   C. THE SEVEN APPOINTED...
      1. Set before the apostles by the multitude - Ac 6:6
      2. Appointed with prayer and the laying on of hands - ibid.
         a. Indicating acceptance and approval of those who have been
            selected by the congregation - cf. 1Ti 5:22
         b. Beseeching God's blessing and protection on those who serve
            - cf. Ac 13:1-3
         c. It may have also involved imparting a miraculous measure of
            the Holy Spirit via the apostles - cf. Ac 6:8; 8:6-7,18; 
            19:6; Ro 1:11

[The congregation was pleased, and the widows' need was met.  Not
surprising, therefore, was...]

III. THE RESULT

   A. WORD WAS SPREAD...
      1. Once again the Word of God had free course - Ac 6:7; cf. 2Th 3:1
      2. They were able to devote themselves to the ministry of the
         Word - cf. Ac 5:42 

   B. DISCIPLES WERE MULTIPLIED...
      1. Once again the growth of the church grew exponentially - Ac 6:7
      2. Which is what happens when the Word of God is spread - cf. Ac 2:41,47; 4:4
    
   C. PRIESTS WERE OBEDIENT...
      1. A great many of the priests were obedient to the faith - Ac 6:7
      2. Perhaps many who earlier believed but were ashamed to confess
         - cf. Jn 12:42-43

CONCLUSION

1. Church problems are a common occurrence...
   a. Especially as churches grow rapidly
   b. Satan does what he can to hinder growth - cf. Mt 13:24-25

2. Church problems can be a great hindrance...
   a. Creating ill will among members
   b. Distracting members from important tasks

3. Church problems can be solved successfully...
   a. By informing the congregation of the problem
   b. By involving the congregation in finding a solution

From "The Selection Of The Seven", a congregation can learn how to turn a
trial into a triumph...!

Executable Outlines, Copyright © Mark A. Copeland, 2012

From Gary... First of all...

When I view this sign, I think of solders in foxholes, making packs with God in exchange for deliverance from certain death. Why then? Frankly, I think that when we come face-to-face with our own true helplessness in the here-and-now, we remember that there is someone greater than ourselves; someone who really has control over EVERYTHING!!!  And then the following came to mind...

1 Timothy, Chapter 2 (NASB)
1Ti 2:1  First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men,
1Ti 2:2  for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.
1Ti 2:3  This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,

1 Timothy, Chapter 1 (NASB)
1Ti 1:15  It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.
1Ti 1:16  Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.
1Ti 1:17  Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

What we pray for, or rather, what we pray ABOUT, says a great deal about us. Paul says our prayers should be for others (2:1) above.  This is interesting to me, as in light of 1:15.  Paul, that paragon of faith, considered himself to be the foremost sinner. It is a bit humbling to think of this and then of our own life.  If Paul could think this about about himself, then what should we be thinking about?  Our own state, the well-being of others and GOD!!!  Notice, in both passages, that Paul's thoughts turn back to God.  Hummm...  sounds a familiar; I think I saw a sign somewhere that said that....????
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