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Hello,

This is not the type of thing I would normally blog on, but there seems to be a fair amount of chatter and mis-information about the new flu strain, happening in the chat rooms at worthychat. So, I have decided to put this information here, in order to have it readily available when the topic comes up.

Well, there are some things that people should consider before going nut or getting panicky. First of, this is not a pandemic at this time, it is pre-pandemic, and perhaps will be pandemic . . .

However, we have pandemics from time to time, and they are not always scary things, but they are cause for concern.

Here is what I think people should keep in mind as they hear the stories of death, that will likely happen . . .

Reagular seasonal flu, that we are all familiar with, causes deaths aslo. In the United States, we typically have 36,000 deaths a year from seasonal flu, with no less that 800 deaths each week since the beginning of this year EACH WEEK.

World wide, the estimates run from 1/4 million to 1/2 a million deaths from regular flu each year. Keep those numbers in mind as you here the numbers from this new strain of flu that is making the headlines. I think the spread of fear through the internet, is way more unusual than the spread of flu from person to person.

I do not know about other parts of the world, but in the states, 90% of flu deaths occur in people over 65 years of age.

So, so far, this new strain of flu is spreading quickly, but it has not demonstrated itself to be any more dangerous that regular seasonal flu at this time, but being a new stain, we do knot know alot about the strain yet, and since it is not flu season, se also do not know if it will become worse when flu season arrives, or whether infections will taper off, we basically just don’t have enough infomation on this particular flu to make intelligent projections, butwe also do not kno enough to panic over it either.

Information provided believed accurate as of April 30, 2009

Information derived from CNN, Center for Disease Control, and pandemicflu.gov website

BTW 109 cases of this so far in the U.S. with 1 death to date - that being in the state of Texas

Following is an archive of  a Bible study I gave in Worthychat on 4/15/2006. Especially relevant as we meditate on the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord.

Not a lot of preface to this one. Let’s just say it reveals God’s inpiration of the scriptures, and demonstrates the value of careful study. I call it FlashBack to the Future.

Matthew does not give us a very detailed description of the crucifixion. Jesus said a
number of things from the cross, among them, the following, as reported by Luke:

“Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise .”

Luke 23:46

“Father, into Thy hands I commit My spirit.” And having said this, He breathed
His last.

You are probably familiar with these sayings, and their contexts. I am assuming that Matthew, had a reason for leaving these sayings out, he surely was aware of them, or perhaps God had a reason for Matthew omitting them.  So, what reason could Matthew have for focusing on the saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani”? Could it be that there is something here, that is more important, of a differing importance? Is Jesus, in crying out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me” experiencing a moment of doubt? Is His faith wavering? Does there seem to be an element of accusation in these words?

It is clear, from Jesus’ conversations with his disciples, that He fully understood His mission. He knew that He was to die, He knew it would be hard, and He knew it had to be done.  Jesus did not doubt, whatever does not come from faith, is sin, and Jesus never sinned:

Jesus was always a righteous man, He always lived by faith.

Jesus never sinned, so everything He did, He did not do in doubt. He was tempted, but never sinned.

We can see, that Jesus was not doubting at all, so why did He ask why God was forsaking Him?

I think the answer lies not in the content of what He was saying, but the source of the saying. I think also, you will see why Matthew thought this saying was uniquely important.

Time for a flashback:

Ps 22:1 says:

My God, my God , why hast Thou forsaken me?

Sound familiar? That is right, Jesus is quoting the words of a Psalm, why would He do that, why this psalm? When Jesus was crucified, He was crucified in Jerusalem, in the land of Israel, the homeland of the children of Abraham, God’s chosen people, the keepers of the written word of God. A Jew, on that day, might upon hearing those words, know the
source, that they came from this Psalm. The more learned ones, may even have been able to recall the context of the words and gone over them in their minds. If so, what would they recall?

7 All who see me sneer at me;

They separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying,

8 “Commit yourself to the LORD; let Him deliver him;

Compare the words above with those of Matthew:

39 And those passing by were hurling abuse at Him,
wagging their heads,

43 “He trusts in God; let Him deliver Him now,
if He takes pleasure in Him

See any similarities? Do you think it is possible, that some of those present, might
have noticed this? I think that is possible, even likely. Perhaps, some went home, deeply
troubled by the events that had just unfolded. They would never forget this. Perhaps some
would take the trouble to examine this Psalm, when they had the opportunity, What else
would they have seen?

13 They open wide their mouth at me,

As a ravening and a roaring lion.

14 I am poured out like water,

And all my bones are out of joint;

My heart is like wax;

It is melted within me.

15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd,

And my tongue cleaves to my jaws;

And Thou dost lay me in the dust of death.

16 For dogs have surrounded me;

A band of evildoers has encompassed me;

They pierced my hands and my feet.

17 I can count all my bones.

They look, they stare at me;

18 They divide my garments among them,

In the above passage, we see this person surrounded by strong aggressive men, snarling at Him, while He is poured out like water, His strength waning, his bones being pulled apart, heart is under stress, thirsting, and recognizing that He is about to die. While in this condition, the evil surround Him, having pierced His hands and feet. He can sense each of His bones in the agony, and while people are gawking at Him, those at His feet, gamble and divide His clothes.

I would like to think, that if I were a Jew at that time, having witnessed this spectacle, that when I read this passage in the Psalm, I would have said “Oh my God, I witnessed this that day. I was there, the words of this Psalm, were fulfilled in my presence”. I would hope, that I would have fallen to my knees, and begged for mercy. I suspect, that many did. I also suspect, that as Matthew’s gospel was spread, that there would be those who read it, who may also have been here that day, or been close to the events, who also would have had this reaction, I am confident, that those who were
permitted to realize the significance, would also have sought God’s forgiveness, and received it, as people have hrough the centuries since.

One from that time, would have seen something else in that Psalm:

28 For the kingdom is the Lord’s,

And He rules over the nations.

29 All the prosperous of the earth will eat and worship,

All those who go down to the dust will bow before Him,

Even he who cannot keep his soul alive.

30 Posterity will serve Him;

It will be told of the LORD to the coming generation.

31 They will come and will declare His righteousness

To a people who will be born, that He has performed it.

Pictured in the above passage of that psalm, we see the prediction that the church, that is to say that the future believers, who are gentiles, will turn from their pagan gods to the one true God. Of course, this turning to the Lord, was accomplished because the Messiah died for all men, and the faithfulness of Jesus apostles, in spreading the good news, led to the adoption of the gentiles, into the family of God, making the promise to Abraham come to fullness.

It is my belief, that Jesus quoted this psalm, not in any doubt about His Father’s faithfulness, but was indeed making a powerful statement. It is as though He were saying, “look to the scriptures, you will see this, and you will know I AM He. ” We can look today, and see this is clearly a prophecy, and a fulfillment. I believe, that this was a sign to believers, to the faithful, that they should be reassured, that the Son of Man, was supposed to die, something they were not expecting to happen to the Messiah, when He came. Otherwise, when Jesus died, they might doubt, and look for another as Messiah. This was NOT a sign to convince the unbelievers, they were to get a different sign, one more powerful than this one.

In Luke 23:46, we saw Jesus breathe His last. Those close to Jesus, were in despair, devastated, disillusioned. Although Jesus told them, repeatedly that He would be soon dying, it  was not enough, they were ready to give up, and try to put this all behind them as if it was only a terrible nightmare. They didn’t understand some things that Jesus told them. So, they hurriedly put Jesus in a tomb, and went away in their grief. To mere men, the grave appears to be the end.  Jesus was no mere man. Remember I told you that the unbelievers would get a more powerful sign?

Jesus has here, predicted his death, burial and resurrection, and stated that this is the only sign He would give those included in the evil generation. We tend to think of a generation as a group of people born at approximately the same time. In Greek, is can mean that, or the age in which a generation lives, or a race of people. I have no idea which is implied here. The sign given to this generation, would be Jesus’ resurrection after being in the earth 3 days. What Jesus went on to say, I think is very powerful, that Ninevah, would stand up (Greek anasteésontai, from the same root word that we understand as resurrection) with this generation, and condemn it at the judgement, because they repented and mere preaching of a prophet, but this generation did not believe, when the Son of God was among them, fulfilling prophecies and performing miracles.

The resurrection is a powerful idea. All people have a common enemy, one that we cannot defeat. That enemy is death. People are born with a survival instinct. What people do not stop to consider, is that death is inevitable, and that the
answer to the issue of survival, is to be able to survive after death. How would one know, if that were possible? The only real evidence that would at all be convincing, would be for some one to die and return back to life from the dead. They could not die as in having ones heart stop for a few minutes, that is not convincing, but really dead, all life
functions gone, cold on a slab kind of dead. If I am going to listen to someone tell me that there is a life after death, I want his source of information to come from someone who has been there, that is authority.

Where did the power come from for this resurrection?

Father ?

Son

Holy Spirit ?

Amen to that, what a great verse! There we see the Spirit who raised Christ from the dead, also dwells in the believer, giving life to our mortal (temporary and subject to death) bodies. What does this mean to us? We started at the Crucifixion, and went backward to see a detailed prophecy concerning it, back forward again to the resurrection. We
stopped there to see a small detail about the power of and behind the resurrection. Since tomorrow is resurrection Sunday, you will hear plenty about the resurrection itself.
Now, it is time to go forward again to our present, to examine it’s significance to our lives today.

The resurrection is the very core of our belief as Christians.

It that passage Paul asserts that if the resurrection did not occur, then you are living your life in vain, with no chance of an afterlife, and, in fact, you are a liar about God and still lost in your sins. Not only is the fact of the resurrection necessary for for your afterlife, so is your belief in the resurrection:

This brings to life another important part of our walk, one that is ignored by too many, failure in this area, can never be justified if you are able. We need to confess not only for our own salvation, but we are to love others, as a responsibility to God, a small thing which He expects from us. Evangelism. Many do not do this, because they are shy,
unconfident, not used to being pushy, or any number of other reasons. If God asks this of you, on what basis can you possibly refuse? We are told to love others as God also loved us. He loved us enough to die for us, but many of us, do not love Him enough to tell others about Him. Instead of loving our neighbors, we demonstrate contempt for them. By
not telling them of our Savior, we are in effect saying, that we would rather have them spend eternity in torment, than for us to be uncomfortable for a few moments. What could be more selfish? What is more important than a soul, for whom Jesus died? It boggles the mind, that the church treats others this way. Yes, I am guilty too.

I put this part about evangelism for one simple reason. As I was researching the preparing for this study, I kept coming across evangelistic passages. It was not in my plan to include it, but I could not steer through the passages in a way that avoided it. So, I took the hint and decided that is was not to be avoided. Those passages are there to
be read and to be accepted. Just as it would be unloving to not tell someone about the Savior, it would be unloving of me, to not encourage you to spread the word. Evangelism, is what a good and faithful servant does above all else. Christ didn’t die, to hear more worship songs. He didn’t die, so institutions would have more money given. He did not die, so people would do acts of charity. He did not die, so people would study the Bible. He died to save the lost. He died for us, and for everyone whom we have not told about Him.

After you attend your next church sevice, if not before, I’d ask you to consider, what Christ did for
you. After meditating on that, ask yourself, “What am I willing to do for Him?”.
Finally, consider following through on your answer.

May God richly bless you as you follow the Son.

Postscript:

That was the end of the study. However, after I gave this study, two attendees asked me if I knew about the worm. ”

Know about the worm? What are you talking about?”

“You know, the worm in the psalm, the one where it says “I am a worm, and no man!”

They told be some things about some worm, which I found a bit unlikely, but being an investigator at heart, I looked into it. It was an interesting investigation. You can read it here. Again, just another evidence of the inspiration of scripture.

Is the Earth Old or Young ?

No answers here, but some things to think about.

I hear this question frequently, but I always wonder what is in the mind of the person asking the question. Is the answer to this question important, and if so, why and in what ways?

An unbeliever might like to pit the conclusions of modern scientists, who almost universally hold to the idea that the Earth is very old against the apparent assertions of the Bible that the Earth is relatively young. In other words, if the Bible says the Earth is young, and scientists say the Earth is ancient, then clearly the Bible is wrong and not to be believed.

A believer, on the other hand, might look at this problem and conclude, that the unbeliever has a point. Out of concern for the skepticism of the unbeliever, the believer might want to make it easier for the unbeliever to accept the Bible. Similarly, the believer may have his/her own doubts about this and so adopt the position, that the correct interpretation of the scriptures is that the Earth is old and in harmony with the consensus of scientists.

Personally, I believe the age of the Earth as it relates to an unbeliever is of little significance, and is usually either an excuse not to believe, or is a way of avoiding the important topic of the unbelievers salvation. As a believer addressing this issue with an unbeliever, I will point out that there are believers that hold both positions and that the real topic of concern is whether Jesus came to Earth, died for our sins, and was resurrected on the third day. That is the belief upon which our salvation rests, and any other topic pales in importance.

Therefore, I shall be addressing this topic from the stand point of the believer – what it means to us. Is it important what we believe? What should we believe?

What concerns me the most, is not what we believe in regards to this question so much as why we believe what we believe. A standard rule of biblical interpretation, is that we interpret the Bible literally, unless we are compelled to do otherwise. Some might make the case that the science is so compelling, that we have to interpret Genesis in some figurative way.

I have to ask, what is it, that makes the science so compelling? I am a scientifically minded person, I run much of my daily life depending on ideas which science has observed and proven. Obviously, science has proven to be a powerful and useful tool. However, I think that the most trustworthy part of science, is the part where we can observe current phenomena, develop theories about the phenomena, and test those theories. When we begin to attempt to apply science to metaphysics – the spiritual part of our universe, science has left it’s realm of expertise. Topic of an historical nature – the issues of the formation of the universe, the development of life etc, science has also strayed from it’s expertise because it is attempting to guess what has happened in the past, from clues in the present. Most of the time, this will be of questionable reliability, since there is no way to repeat history in a test tube. It is gone, and not subject to examination.

What it comes down to then, in my opinion, is: “What do you trust more, the pronouncements of a demonstrably infallible God, or the pronouncements of demonstrably fallible men?” Now, to be certain, we can make mistakes in our interpretation of the Bible, so both methods have a risk of error. Never-the-less, I believe that the Christian who maintains that the Bible teaches or allows for and ancient earth, is knowingly electing to disbelieve the most natural literal interpretation of the Bible, in favor of the theories of men, derived from the natural sciences. Personally, if I am wrong in my assessment that the Earth might be quite young, I would rather have the clear conscience of taking God at His word and be in error than choosing to trust the dictates of men that God pronounces to be fools for their unbelief of Him.

It is true that there are reputable scientists who believe in an old Earth and who profess to be Christians. I do not doubt that most of these men and women are saved, trusting Jesus for their salvation. I do find it very odd, however, that they are willing to trust God about the scientifically unlikely event of the His resurrection, upon which their salvation rests, but cannot find it within themselves, to take Him at His word with regards to issues of origins. In fact, I find it saddening.

As you have probably concluded, I am of a younger Earth persuasion. This is not to say that I believe that the Earth was created in 4004 B.C. as some assert. I note that the Bible never makes such a claim, and that this number is merely the result of calculations of a man who added up life spans and genealogies in the Bible. I have never checked his math, but in as much as the Jews were known to practice genealogies with gaps in them, recording more notable ancestors, it seems to me that there is some room for some extra time. In my estimation, all you can prove from the Bible about when the Earth was created, is that Adam, the first man, was created in 4004 B.C. or earlier. How much earlier, I have no idea. In other words, I do not believe the Bible makes any definitive statement on how old the Earth is. Having said that, can I prove there are gaps. Yes and no. The Bible as we know it, notes them itself, by comparing genealogies in some books versus others. In other words, different book describe ancestral lines with differing numbers of people in them. Therefore, some of these have to be incomplete, or else other have extra generations. If there are extras, then those passages are either untrue, or they are some sort of allegory. The do not appear to be allegory, so the most logical choice is that the others are not complete. If they are not complete, then we know that gaps were an allowable custom. Knowing that gaps are allowable, we can assume that all of the genealogies could contain gaps.

Now, a little known and underdiscussed fact is, that the Hebrew text from which the 4004 B.C. creation date comes, is the Masoretic text, the major text underlying the translations of modern Old Testaments. However, copies of the manuscripts of the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Hebrew, predate the Masoretic text by about 350 years. Jesus and the apostles frequently quoted the Septuagint, so it is safe to assume it was thought reliable as the word of God. The geneologies of the Septuagint, if totaled in the same way that the 4004 B.C. Creation date was arrived at, push the creation date back to 5315 B.C. See how muddy and impossible it is to determine the date from the scripture?

To me then, the Bible allows for an undetermined age of the Earth, and mankind is at least 6000 years old (7300 if going by the Septuagint). Which brings us to the length of creation time passed before God made man.

The Old Earth Theorists, will have to hold to the idea that the 5 days prior to the creation of man, are not 5 literal days, but days which are of undetermined lengths of time, even millions of years each. This is done to force the scriptures to harmonize with scientific conclusions. That people may choose to interpret the Bible according to the dictates of predominantly atheistic scientists, is their own business. However, I think that it sets a very dangerous precedent, which allows for changing the meaning of the word of God, to suit whatever belief is in fashion. This is already being done in other portions of scripture. For example, science is looking to find a genetic causation for the behavior of homosexuality. If a link can be found to exist between heredity and sexual orientation, then what will follow is a discounting of the biblical notion that the practice homosexuality is a sin. Now, that leap will not be a logical one, but the leap will be made, never-the-less. I could cite other examples, but this one will serve to illustrate the point. The point is that even if it can be proven that homosexuality is genetically caused, it still does not alter the fact that God calls it a sin to practice, just as He calls it a sin for heterosexuals to act their carnal desires outside of the man/woman marriage that He ordained.

For myself, I shall not ever use the temporary and ever-changing opinions of science to interpret the God inspired scriptures which never need adjustment, but that is just me. Many Old Earth Creationists are aware of the supremacy of God’s word, but just do not have enough faith in the most natural interpretation of scripture to overcome their faith in modern science. In such cases, I can understand that, but I wish more of them were honest about that fact that that is what the problem is. Sadly, many choose instead, to find that the traditional beliefs of Christianity are suspect an inferior.

It should not take any effort on my part, to convince anyone that the most natural interpretation of the creation days of genesis, is that they are 6 literal days. Nothing in the text suggests otherwise. Old earth creationists will go to great lengths to point out that the Hebrew word for day, does not always mean a literal, twenty-four hour day. They are absolutely correct on that point. This Hebrew word is “Yom”.

Gen 1:4-5

5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning — the first day. (NIV)

The first thing to notice about the word “day” as used in the creation account, is that it comes to us pre-defined. The light God called day. We do the same thing to this day. Also, one light and dark cycle, is also called a day. Just like we do. The implications of this one verse are a monumental obstacle, to anyone who wishes to maintain the notion that a day in Genesis, represents a length of time of thousands or millions of years. For one thing, we see here that in context, the word day is used identically as it is normally used in modern English. The internal, literary evidence therefore points to the conclusion that God intended this portion of scripture to be understood as literal, that a day is simply one cycle of light, most likely, 24 hours long. To assume that something else is intended, is a gross violation of rules of interpretation, not only of the Bible, but for any document.

Let’s suspend those rules momentarily, and allow for the idea that this day is, for example, not 24 hours, but one million years. Does this help Genesis square with modern scientific opinion? An interesting thing to note in the Genesis account, is that during this first day, the Sun has not yet been cause to shine upon the earth. The lightness and darkness that is cycling, is not sunlight. This gives some wiggle room because this light and dark, may not be dependant upon the rotation of the earth. We could say perhaps, that days were longer at that time. It get’s more difficult to maintain this notion though at creation day 4:

Gen 1:16-19

16 God made two great lights — the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning — the fourth day. (NIV)

If these days are not 24 hours long, and we go back to the idea that a day is one million years long, might it be that the light was on for 500,000 years during a light/dark cycle. Since the old Earth theory is done to accommodate scientific opinion, then we should be consistent and assess the implication of 500,000 years of light. Is this light of similar intensity to what we experience from the Sun? If so, what would the surface temperature of the Earth rise to? Would the plants (created on the third day) survive the temperatures? Could they survive 500,000 years of darkness and no photosyntheses? Interpreting the scriptures to accommodate scientific consensus, causes more problems that it solves.

We have seen that interpreting Genesis passage literally, makes the most sense from a literary perspective. We have seen that interpreting it in the light of science, makes the text into nonsense. What about this word Yom we touched on briefly, is there a reason to expect that it might mean other than 24 hours in the original Hebrew?

My Bible software reports that this word Yom occurs 2304 times in the Old Testament. That should be plenty of data to work with, to discover the likelyhood that Yom should be understood as some sort of age. How many times is Yom not 24 hours in the Bible?

Here are examples of how it is used otherwise:

The span of human life. - Gen 5:4: “And the days of Adam …. were eight hundred years.” “And if thou wilt walk …. then I will lengthen thy days” (1 Kings 3:14; compare Ps 90:12; Isa 38:5).

(2) An indefinite time. - Existence in general: Gen 3:14: “All the days of thy life” (compare Gen 21:34; Num 9:19; Josh 22:3; Luke 1:24; Acts 21:10).

(3) A set time. - Gen 25:24: “And when her days …. were fulfilled”; Dan 12:13: “Thou shalt stand in thy lot, at the end of the days” (compare Lev 12:6; Dan 2:44).

(4) A historic period. - Gen 6:4: “The Nephilim were in the earth in those days”; Judg 17:6: “In those days there was no king in Israel” (compare 1 Sam 3:1; 1 Chron 5:17; Hos 2:13).

(5) Past time. - Ps 18:18: “the day of my calamity”; Ps 77:5: “I have considered the days of old” (of Mic 7:20; Mal 3:7; Matt 23:30).

(6) Future time. - Deut 31:14: “Thy days approach that thou must die”; Ps 72:7: “In his days shall ….” (compare Ezek 22:14; Joel 2:29; Matt 24:19; 2 Peter 3:3; Rev 9:6).

(7) The eternal. - In Dan 7:9,13, where God is called “the ancient of days.”

(8) A season of opportunity. - John 9:4: “We must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work” (compare Rom 13:12-13; 1 Thess 5:5-8). See DAY (4), above.

That was from the International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, Copyright (c)1996

See anything there that suggests eons? Most of those uses are less that a human lifespan. Some, are referances to historical periods – in other words AFTER the creation of man. The one possible exception, is number 7 above, but it is a reference to God Himself, not his creation. In short, to say that the word Yom contains the potential to represent millions of years, is forcing a definition or use of it, that is so extreme compared to actual uses of the word, that it can be considered as nothing other than a desperate grasping at straws by those that lack the faith to take God at His word. If any choose to believe the unstable opinions of the sciences over the revelation of God’s word, I am okay with that, I really am. I just wish they would have the honesty to state that they feel the need to abuse the science of hermeneutics to satisfy their own uneasiness about God’s word, instead of trying to convince others that it is somehow justified or legitimate to force personal beliefs upon the interpretation of scripture. To quote Prof. James Barr from the EXPOSITOR’S BIBLE: “If the word ‘day’ in this chapter does not mean the period of 24 hours, the interpretation of Scripture is hopeless.”.

Is the evidence too strong against the bible, or at least of a literal interpretation of it? Certainly if scientific consensus is going to be the determining factor concerning out faith and theology, we have to ask the question:

What about the resurrection. Scientific consensus would be that a man who dies, and remains dead for three days, stays dead. If God cannot defy the opinions of scientists, then no miracles happen, not now, not ever, and the resurrection never took place. If that is true, then Christianity is little more than a collection of interesting stories. If God is going to be limited to our understanding of the laws of nature, then why would we be wondering about the length of the creation period. A God without the power to do the miraculous, could not bring the creation into existence in the first place. If that creation did not happen, then why would we suspect that creation has an author at all, and without such and author, does sin really exist? Who gets to define what is sin and what is not, who decides how salvation is accomplished or if it is even necessary. Is there really even an afterlife? Apart from a revelation from a supernatural God, these things are all unknowable, and Christianity has no real value. It may not be critically important, how long creation took, but knowing that it took place, believing God by faith that it did, is important, and I have to wonder how much we really believe god, if we cannot trust Him to accurately describe and make plain, the details of His own creation.

Consider some of the implications of a lengthy creation. How does it affect other beliefs or statements from the bible? Do other passages make reference to the creation events – do we call them into question? Did Jesus or the apostles mention anything about the creation account that would leave you to believe that they took it literally – if so, how does that affect their credibility? If we can choose to ignore a literal interpretation in Genesis – do we then grant ourselves the same license in other parts of the Bible – if so, how will you know where and when?

These are questions each person must address and consider. While science has century by century, worked to discover how the universe works, each generation of scientists has seen major scientific opinions come and go. Each generation of scientists indeed, has at it’s disposal, new knowledge and new tools to investigate the natural world. Each generation has advanced the collective knowledge of mankind, and each has refuted theories held dearly by collegues of previous generations, and yet, after thousands of years, is still seeking answers to fundamental question, answers that are elusive.

Meanwhile, the Christian is able to hold the same views as Jesus and the apostles expressed 2000 years ago, with no need to apologize for any of them. The 20^th Century saw the sciences advance at a tremendous rate, but as theories about origins and cosmology became more refined and old once discarded as obsolete, we found that the theories of prevailing science, are looking more like the bible all the time. Of course, science cannot truly address origins and cosmology ultimately, because those things are outside of it’s scope of examination. Science works in the present, it examines present clues about past events. The past is not like electricity or chemisty, it cannot be replicated or examined directly. Science is even more at a disadvantage, to look into matters of a spiritual nature. Science examines natural phenomena, the supernatural is outside it’s pervue. Still, it is interesting to observe that scientists seem to be edging their way toward beliefs that the bible expressed all along. Considering that the bible is not intended to be a science text book, it is remarkable how many scientific facts it got right before scientists would discover them.

Election-day 2008 is just around the corner in the U.S. Our country is divided on many issues, and the issue of the day, can change month by month. People discuss who they will vote for, and why, or what party they are loyal to, things of that nature. Many people have hot button issues – for Christians – the pro-life / pro-choice is always one, gay marriage is a new hot-button. For everyone, the economy often takes the day, as the issue most important to most people, that seems to be the case this year as election-day nears.

One of our non-U.S. chatters was asking questions in chat the other night, trying to understand better, what is going on here in the U.S., and how did we get to this place of concern over our markets, economy, and the effects on the global economy. There is plenty of blame to go around, but I won’t bother giving any names of individuals or parties as to where to place the blame. That is not all that productive in this discussion, as it just tends to elevate passions, and that closes the mind. So I will try another approach.

Let’s talk about what we the people do to cause problems and solve problems. First thing to notice and admit, is that no one wanted this to happen, there are no bad guys here. There are only motives, actions and consequences.

I attempted to make the case in chat the other night, that we might be better off if we did not have a system where each person gets a vote, that it might be better to have voters who are qualified to vote, based on their command of the issues that confront us, instead of having a large group of people who are not knowledgeable, making the decisions that affect us all. My point or position was not well received.

We know as Christians, that God judges the heart. If I desire to help someone, and take steps to do so with pure motives, that pleases God. That is a spiritual angle to the elective process that we should all take, and we should not be so concerned with what policies affect us personally, as we should be for how those policies affect our neighbors.

We tend to like to classify people politically as conservative or liberal, or other words that mean the same thing as those words have come to mean. On that scale, I would have to describe myself as conservative. As a conservative, I personally want to thank those who tend to be liberal, who do so out of the belief that liberal policies are good things, things that help people. If that is where you find yourself, I commend you, if you are liberal because you want to help others. Your heart is in the right place, God looks upon the heart. If you are for liberal policies because of how you think those policies will benefit you, that is your right, but you will not hear me applauding that.

Same goes for conservatives. If you are a conservative for selfish reasons, no cheers for you, if you think conservative policies benefit others, then again you have my admiration, and God’s approval I think. Hopefully, wherever you are on the political spectrum, left wing, right wing, or middle of the bird, you are what you are for the love of God and your neighbor.

Let’s assume for the moment, that there are good people on both sides taking their positions for the right reasons. They cannot all be correct in their assessments, or they would all be in agreement. If we all are intending good, then what is going wrong?

I believe the answer to that lies in the different approaches that we use to view life. One person looks at life, and sees how things should be, how things should ideally work. The other person looks at life as how it is, and how things do work. The first is idealistic, the second pragmatic. One from the heart- feels how to vote, the other from the head-thinks how to vote. That is over simplified of course, but I think history will bear that analysis out as mostly true.

One is tempted to think that since God looks at the heart, then God approves of that approach more than the pragmatic approach. I think that is a mistake on a number of levels. An analytical pragmatic person may not be emotionally driven in his/her choices, but if they make those chances, they can be doing so with the same pure motives of hoping to benefit others.

In Matt. 25, Jesus tells a parable of the talents. While His primary point is not about using your resources wisely, that passage and others indicate that wise people do exactly that. In these times we have many resources. We are wealthy by the standards of the world and by the standards of history, though many of us do not feel that we are. Money is a real resource, which can be used for good or for evil. We have free time, because we have so many conveniences to make our life easier, our cars, our washing machines our stoves, you get the idea. If you are reading this, you have access to a computer and the internet, which is a great resource for information. If we have these resources, isn’t it our responsibility to use them for the advantage of our neighbor whom God has commanded us to love?

This is a long lead in to what I want to discuss, the LAW OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES. There is a tremendous history of this law in action. Our current financial situation, to a large degree is upon us, because people wanted to make home ownership available to more people. The observation that our brown and black citizens (and other people with lower than average incomes) are under-represented as homeowners, led to the introduction of policies that made it easy for these people to get into houses that they could not afford. To most people, this is obvious now, but to anyone analyzing these policies, if was obvious from the beginning. What was intended to benefit a few people, had hurt a huge number of people.

The Americans with Disabilities Act – the ADA. Another good example of an idea with a big heart, hurting people. Business are forced to close down because they cannot afford to comply with ADA guidelines, opportunistic attorneys sueing companies for violations for no other reason that to fleece them of money, situations where medical care is less available to the disabled, because doctors are afraid to take cases which the ADA makes financial ruinous etc. People with disabilities now find it harder to find work since the creation of the ADA, as employers are frightened of the financial risks and burders that come with ADA compliance.

Minimum wage laws. There have been so many published studies by renowned economists on this, it is a wonder that minimum wage laws have not themselves been made illegal. Among economists, it is nearly unanimous that minimum wage laws hurt the ones they are intented to help. Many jobs which people have traditionally held, do not exist now, because  the wage cannot be justified by the work performed. When was the last time someone wiped your windshield (other than a homeless person) at a gasoline service station? The young and minorities are hurt the hardest by minimum wage laws. Unemployment of these individuals rises each time minimum wage laws are enacted.

Public education. The lack of school  choice, has made it certain, that those children who are trapped in substandard schools, will remain there.  Affirmative action laws on college entrance, place low performing students into schools where they could not compete, so they dropped out, while instead, student who could make the grade, were prevented from attending.

Social security. Another dumb idea whose time has passed. You are forced to pay a tax, so that someday, you might receive a pittance in your golden years, instead of being encourage to place than money into investments which would net you millions.

The Endangered Species Act.  Designed to protect enangered species, is succeeding at motivating the destruction of habitats.

There are hundreds of example of these big hearted ideas that have gone wrong. This is the problem with voting with your heart, and not your head.

In any election, think about the problem and the offered solutions. Ask yourself where the money comes from, try to figure out who really pays for it. Is it the rich? The corporations? Or is it realy the consumers and tax payers. The left seems to act as though there is this unending suplly of money to be had, and that the government should just be able to take it, and apply it to what those in power deem best. How have they done so far? Government is wasteful, because it has no competition, private industry has to compete and be efficient, or it fails. Ask yourself if those in power, and those who want to be, have the experience and knowledge, a proven track record at problem solving. Sadly, sometimes you have no choice. Remember when I opined that perhaps most voters are not qualified to vote? I will add to that that most politicians aren’t either!

Omegaman for dictator – 2008

I am Omegaman and I approved this message!

 

Now, I am about to post this in my blog – and I am going to allow comments for those who choose to, but since my controversial rants tend to draw fire, I a heading for the hills on this one, and may not respond to any – at this moment, I am way too busy to get drawn in to defending my own positions – fire away if you like, but I am going into hiding for a while.

In as much as several of you lately, and many over the years have asked how I go about Bible Study and why I think my approach is a good one, I have decided to blog on that topic.

First off, I do three different types of Bible studies. Expository, topical, and word studies.

As I define the terms, an expository study is one were I select  a passage, a chapter, a whole book, or some other contiguous grouping of words from the Bible, and then go verse by verse, looking at the verse, it’s context, the intended audience, the historical setting and any parallel or related passages, to gain an understanding of the grouping of words which I am examining.

I would say that a topical study, would be an examination of a specific subject, such as abortion, the rapture, titheing, marriage, etc.

Finally, a word study is where I begin by looking at a word in a verse or verses in english, where either i am uncertain of it’s usage, or just want to more fully understand it’s significance and nuances, Then look ate the original Greek or Hebrew word that was translated into the specific English word at the location in question.Once having identified the original language word, I then look at every ocurrance of that word in the Greek or Hebrew to see the ways the word is used, and also consult works written for the purpose of  original language study, such as Lexicons.

My favorite type is the topical study, but the methods I use are based on principles that can be applied not only in these different studies, but can be applied to other historical literature as well as current literature.

There are rules of interpretation than most conservative theologians agree upon. By and large, they look to me to be good common sense rules, so I try to stick to them. This minimizes the “that’s your interpretation” phenomenon, which is so silly. I prefer to have a good interpretation any day, than MY interpretation. Many of these rules come from traditional Jewish rules of interpretation. Now immediately, we must concede, that there are obviously limitations to these rules, or most Jews would have recognized their Messiah. The problem is, that we are human, we make mistakes, and we bring our own prejudices and preconceptions to the interpretive table. It is true for me, it is true for you also. So, sound rules are a foundation for understanding the Bible in a consistent manner, they are there to help you see past your own prejudices, but they will only work if you are willing to be consistent, and not change the rules to suit an interpretation you prefer.

So what are some of these rules? In no particular order.

Always examine a verse or passage in it’s context.

This means that you look at the verses leading up to that passage, and following, so that you can see what the cubject actually is, being discussed. Ignore the chapter heading and number, these are man-made, it is up to you to determine when a subject begins and ends. Examining a passage in context, also involves not just reading and understanding the nearby verses, but also identify who is being addressed in a passage, for whom is the message intended. Sometimes it is a specific individual, some times Israel, sometimes the church, sometimes it applies universally to mankind, determine this. The historical context is also important, Understanding things about a time and place, can affect how you understand the passage. Context, is one of the most important aspects of Biblical interpretation.

Okay, suppose we have done all that. We have arrived at what we think the verse is saying and to whom. Remember that the scriptures are devinly inspired. Therefore, they will never contradict each other. We can use that to help us check our understanding of a verse or passage in question. The next rule is:

Compare Scripture with Scripture

Here, we search out other passages on the same topic. For example, let’s say we examined the ten commandments, and saw there: “Thou shalt not kill.” We have now the understanding that it is always wrong to kill. However, as we read in other places in the Bible, we find that God ordains wars, and prescribes putting people to death for certain crimes. Knowing that the God does not contradict himself, we understand that we must have a faulty understanding of “thou shalt not kill”. This brings us to another rule of interpretation.

Examine the Verse in the Original Language

Time was when you had to own quite a library to follow all of these rules effectively. In modern times, there are theological libraries in the form of software, which are substantially less expensive than they would be in printed form. Additionally, many of these helps are online. Go and experiment with sites such as blueletterbible.org . You will find many things to aid your understanding. In the case of thou shalt not kill, we would find that a better translation of the Hebrew would have been “You shall do no murder”.

Another tool which is indispensible is a concordance. A concordance let’s you look up Bible verses by words that exist in english in the verse. For example, if you looked up the word “locusts”, you would discove the word occurs in 17 verses. The concordance would show you part of the verse -  a partial context. This is useful if you want to find verses that have a word in common with a verse you are examining. Seeing the context, lets you see if the verse is related to the topic you are studying, or to the verse you are studying, In the Gospels for instance, the different authors some times have additional details that another Gospel writer left out. Perhaps you are wanting to find a particular verse you are thinking of, a concordance can be useful for that. This can also be done with online Bible search sites.

The next ones are not rules, but recommendations. Read a passage in several translations. Translations are not all alike, nor equally good, and none is without error. Most are pretty good for casual reading of the scriptures, but by reading a passage in a different version, you can often uncover some nuance, that you may want to explore further.

Additionally, it is a good idea to to read about a given passage in a commentary or two, or three. In that way, you reap the benefit of the work that someone has already put into understanding the passage you are looking at. Here again, none is without error. In fact, by reading commentaries, you may come across views you never considered. Consider them, but stick with the Bible text itself, which brings me to the next rule.

Let Scripture Interpret Scripture

What do we mean by that. Sometimes a verse you may be considering, is already discussed in another passage in the Bible. Since the Bible is inspired by God, you have to accept the Bible’s explanation of itself. How would you know that a passage is commented on in another section in the Bible? My primary answer is read the Bible until you are familiar with it. I realize than not everyone will follow this advice, so there are other ways. The commentaries I spoke of, will often point such passages out. A good reference Bible, such as Thompson’s Chain Referance Bible, will show related passages - a very helpful tool.

When reading a passage, assume it is literal, unless there is a compelling reason not to.

In John 10:9 (NASB) Jesus says:
“I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”

A literal translation of that would be to think of Jesus claiming to be a slab of wood on a hinge. There is no need to be so literal. The context of the passage will usually indicate what the author was saying. Parables and visions, similes and metaphors are frequently used in the bible, learn to spot them. Some times it may not be so obvious:

John 11:11-15
after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, that I may awaken him out of sleep.” 12 The disciples therefore said to Him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” 13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He was speaking of literal sleep. 14 Then Jesus therefore said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead,
(NASB) In the passage above, we see that even the disciples took things too literally.

Understand the Historical Background

This takes some digging, but it is most helpful to understand figures of speech, customs and historical circumstances surrounding a passage. Where is the author, why is he there? To whom is he writing and why? These type of things are very useful to stay aware of. For example, some passages are written directly to a person of a people, and may not apply universally. Strive to avoid interpreting through the eyes of your own experience and culture.

Keep with precedents

Some people love inventing new meanings for words. Understand what the words meant when they were written from the original languages, if you are working in your own language, understand the meaning of the word when they were translated. For example, you may run across the word “quick” in the King James Version. Quick meant ‘living’ or ‘alive’ in 1611, not ‘fast’. Many modern commentators have erred by insisting that certain words mean certain things that they did not mean when written, don’t make the same mistake and don’t make the mistake of assuming that what they say is true, do your own research.

Use Common Logic

This one seems like a no brainer that I should not even have to mention. Ask yourself, if a given understanding of a passage makes sense. Be careful here though, not everyone thinks alike. When I say to ask if it makes sense, I don’t mean does it make sense to you! I mean is the conclusion a rational one given the words used, the circumstances etc. is it where the majority of scriptural evidence points you? Don’t make the mistake of using you logic to over-rule the plain revelation of scripture. For example, I don’t like hell. It makes no sense to me that such a place would exist, why punish someone eternally for things done during the short span of a lifetime. However, I must keep in mind, that my thoughts are not His thoughts, and my ways are not His ways, so, I go with what scripture plainly teaches - there is a Hell.

Recognize and determine the validity of inference

This is similar to the above. You may find it difficult, for example, to discover a verse that indicates God is a triune being. However, you might fine a verse that refers to a person known as the Holy Spirit, and that the person is called God. You might find a reference to the fact that there is a person called the Father, who is also called God. Then you may find a referance to a person who is called the Son, again, He is called God also. You will find verses that indicate the these person are distinct. You will also find versed that categorically state that there is only one God. Putting them all together, we realize that there are three separate persons who are each God, and there is only one God. Therefore, the three persons are the one God. That is inferance. For some, this makes no sense, I have no problem with it. This is a case however, where you may have to suspend what you think is logic, and accept that this is what is revealed in scripture, we have no right to over-ride revelation with our opinions.

Recognize the unity of scripture

The 66 books that make up the Bible each has it’s own story to tell. However, there is one author behind each of them, and He has His story to tell as well. When you read and study the Bible, be aware that there are themes that thread their way through the various books of the Bible, some books cannot be fully understood without the benefit of the other books. If you have an interpretation of a passage, that is a contradiction to another passage, then you have not reached a correct understanding, for God does not contradict Himself.

There may be more that I am forgetting, I will add them in if they occur to me, but that is the way that I approach the study of the scriptures, I hope some of these principles, are ones that you will find helpful in your own studies. Be Blessed! Ω

When this admin blog area was created, it’s intent was largely to provide a way for the chatters to get to know the administrators better. Sure, if you watch chat long enough, you begin to learn things about people, but at the same time, the the nature of chat, with it’s spontaneous and dynamic mix of topics and opinions, make it more difficult to know any one person very well. Often the speed at which things happen in chat, create opportunities to misconstrue things said, or even attribute something said by one chatter to another chatter by mistake. <

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Probably at some point, you have heard of the woman who spill hot coffee in her lap, and sued McDonald’s for millions. What you usually hear, is how this woman drove into the drivethru at McDonald’s and bought hot coffee, that she then stuck between her legs. Because it was a Styrofoam cup with a slip on slid, the coffee spilled in her lap. Then you hear that that this lady was awarded nearly 3 million dollars because she burned her lap. Generally, most people tend to feel more sympathy for an individual, than they do for multi-billion dollar corporation. In this case some people side more with McDonald’s, reasoning that this woman doesn’t deserve much, if anything, afterall, McDonald’s did not spill the coffee, she did that herself, it was her poor judgement that led to the accident. They also think that 3 million is a ridiculous amount of money, for a coffee scald.

Perhaps, you are one of those people. We are always hearing of frivolous lawsuits and/or excessive judgement is lawsuits. Perhaps this angers you some, because you know that these things, cost us all money. Perhaps you believe that if you were in her shoes, you would not have brought this suit, but just admitted your own fault and move on, after you stopped screaming from the pain.

Those are easy positions to take, aren’t they? You may not have you facts strait however. For example, this woman was not driving, she was a passenger in the car, and the car was not in motion. She was opening the lid to add cream and sugar, yes, the coffee was between her legs as she attempted to remove the lid. The lid was on tight enough (which is good, because you would not want the lid to come off if the cup overturned while driving) that she had to squeeze the cup with her legs to keep the cup from lifting, while she pulled the lid off, but, once the lid was off, the cup lost reinforcement, and the pressure from her legs squeezed cup out of round, and the coffee squirted up and out of the cup. In a moment, the coffee was absorbed into her sweatpants which kept the hot coffee in contact with her skin. The pain made her react instinctively and uncontrollably, spilling the rest of the coffee - you get the picture.

Now, this doesn’t make the spill the responsibility of McDonald’s, but it does transform the incident from one of a really foolish driver with hot coffee in her lap, to a mistake and accident that anyone of us might have made.

Now, what you also might not know, that this was not simply a painful burn. The burns she received were extensive. Six percent of her skin was third degree burns, with additional second and first degree burns. How did it get to such a large about of her body? Well, after the initial burns on her legs an groin, the coffee ran downhill to the car seat, where her buttocks were burned. Without getting too detailed, she was burned everywhere in between. She spent the next eight days in the hospital, having dead tissue removed and receiving skin grafts.

The woman sought $20,000 from McDonald’s, but McDonald’s refused. This is when she sought relief through a lawsuit. During the discovery portion of the trial, McDonald’s produced documents which showed that there had been at least 700 claims by people burned by McDonald’s coffee, in the ten years prior to this woman’s case. This shows that McDonald’s knew that it had a problem with the temperature of it’s coffee.

McDonald’s also provided information, to the effect that they keep their coffee on hold, at 185 degrees, plus or minus 5 degrees. This is substantially hotter that other establishments. Coffee at home, is usually served at 135 to 140 degrees. To give a perspective, most adults cannot make them selves, not matter how hard they try, hold there hand in water over 130 degree. Water at 105 degrees, is about the most people can tolerate in a hot tub, 95 to 100 still feeling quite hot. Eighty  degrees above that, is quite hot! Water at 180 degrees, can give you a third degree burn, in as little as two seconds.

There are other facts that you may not have heard, but I will skip most of them. Remember that three million dollars? Well 2.7 million of that was punitive damages. For those of you not familiar with how are civil court system works, punitive damages are not awarded to the plaintiff, because the plaintiff deserves or needs them. The are designed to punish the defendant (McDonald’s), so that they will have an incentive, to change their behavior, and stop serving coffee that unnecessarily burns 70 people every year. This amount, at the time, was the equivalent of two days worth of coffee sales for McDonald’s. Damages, the amount awarded to the plaintiff as compensation, was awarded by the jury in the amount of $200,000, but it was reduced to $160,000, because the jury found that the plaintiff was 20% responsible. The punitive damages, were reduce by a judge, to $480,000, but the judge said that McDonald’s was reckless, callous, and willful. The parties entered into a secret settlement subsequently, so we do not know how much McDonald’s actually payed. I am guessing that it was less, that McDonald’s threatened to appeal the verdict and/or awards, and that the plaintiff might end up with nothing, so, a compromise was stuck. I do not know, this is just a guess.

O.K. What does all of this have to do with a Christian administrator’s blog?

I do not know if know the facts of the case that I presented about, change your opinion about it at all, that is not the point. But you can see, that someone might come to different conclusions, if they have all of the facts, or in some cases just admit that they do not know all of the facts, and suspend judgement until they do have the facts.

We, as Christians, have a lot of insecurity usually on the topic of judgement. Some of us think think that it means that we should not criticise others. It does not mean that. If you want, you can see my thoughts on judgement as a theological topic, you may, but that is not what I am talking about. I am talking about how quick we can be, to leap to false conclusions, when we do not have the facts. Sometimes we think we have the facts, but we do not know how much more to a story there is than is apparent. Sometimes, it is none of our business to know all of the facts, and in such cases, might we want to consider suspending our opinions out of recognizing our own ignorance? We often have too much pride, to consider that we might be wrong, might not have the facts (who wants to be ignorant?).

How do we do this? How does it manifest, where is the harm?

We do this when we become critical of others, when they behave in a way that we do not approve of, but we may not realize, that we might have done the same thing in their position. Friendships can be damaged, congregations torn apart, or, if not torn apart, we separate into factions or cliques, where we justify why we are not like those other guys, as the do the same thing concerning us. This is not pleasing to God, we are one family, we are to love the brethren, bearing one another’s burdens, making peace, forgiving each other, as God also forgave us. Before you are tempted to reply and scold me and tell me that the Bible instructs us to judge those in church, save your breath, I understand that. Again, that is not the subject here. My topic is more about jumping to unfounded conclusions.

Another way that we manifest this faulty type of judgement, is we sometimes blame God, when something in our life is not as we think it should be. We have no idea what is going on behind the scenes. God is the only one who knows all of the details, that lead Him to the actions He performs, or allows things in our lives, that we may not like. We do not know what greater purpose might be serve by our discomfort, or how those things are shaping us into better people, perfecting us in areas that need change inour lives. Perhaps the biggest thing we forget, is that while we may approach His throne and make requests, the decisions are His, and they are always right. We were bought with a price, we belong to Him, and we have no rightful claim on our own lives. To the extent that we maintain our own sense of entitlement, we are outside of His perfect will for us. We are at our best, when we complete surrender ourselves to His will. It is not a natural thing for us to do, it is a supernatural quality. Jesus said it best:

“Never-the-less, thy will, not my will, be done.”