The Purpose of Life

Why are we here? What is the purpose of life? Those questions have been asked by thoughtful people in every generation, in every society on earth, as long as there have been humans on earth.

Christians the world over will tell you the answer can be found in the Bible but most can’t point to any one scripture that has the answer. The answer is found in the Bible. And it is, in fact, clearly stated in one scripture.

One of the wisest men who ever lived, King Solomon, asked those questions and went on to answer them in one of the shortest books in the Bible. The book of Ecclesiastes has only twelve chapters but contains some of the most profound questions, and profound truths ever sought by man.

It is fitting that the most philosophical of questions is answered in the most philosophical of books in the Bible. Solomon’s conclusion of the matter is a part of Gods revealed word to mankind.

Ecclesiastes 12:13 states the answer…”Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” It’s that simple. And, it's that tough.

Note the first part of that scripture says to 'Fear God'. It doesn't simply say to keep His commandments. A mindless automaton could go through the motions of obedience. Fear, however, comes from inside us. No one seems to talk much anymore about fearing God. That’s because the kind of fear the scriptures refer to is widely misunderstood. The kind of fear the scriptures refer to is a part of respect. To fear God is like fearing ones loving parent. A parent’s duty is to correct and punish a child they love when necessary. Our Heavenly Father loves us. A healthy fear of Him, like a healthy fear of ones parents, serves to make us better people.

God gave us His commandments as an act of love for us. He gave them to us for our own good. God's laws aren't regulatory, they are revelatory. They reveal the way life works. God revealed them to us so we could lead happy and fulfilling lives. Rather than seeing them as a burden the way the world does, the believer should see them as a blessing. God’s word says to keep them is to show our love for Him.  To keep them, even when our own nature would have us act otherwise is an act of worship. To disobey them is to separate us from God.

The greatest irony is that most people calling themselves Christians have no interest in actually obeying God. Most of worldly Christendom reduces the message of the Bible into simply accepting Christ as ones savior without actually doing what He, or the rest of the Bible, says. The reason for that is also simple. To obey God is to act contrary to our own nature. The carnal mind is at odds with Gods way.

Like modern-day lawyers many Christians know God’s law but they construct elaborate arguments about why we don’t have to obey God’s law. The Gospel of Christ is much more simple and direct than that. His first word when He began His ministry was ‘Repent’…that is to turn from disobedience and obey God. That’s the first step in the gospel of Christ. One cannot truly accept the person of Christ while rejecting His message.

Keeping God’s law is about our obedience to Him. It is an acknowledgement that the God who gave us the commandments IS God and only He can determine what is good and what is evil. Only He can determine what is an acceptable act of worship. That’s a lesson that harkens back to Eden.

The quality of our lives is determined by the choices we make.  We can choose to look out only for ourselves and give in to every urge in life for the immediate gratification that offers. Or, we can exercise self control; choose to acknowledge the needs of others and help each other through life. God's law directs us to do the latter. God gave us the free will to make our own choices. Our character is formed by the choices we make every day. Every time we choose to obey God it strengthens our character. Like any loving parent God wants us to develop a strong, upright character because it is essential to a happy and fulfilling life. Good character is a trait God wants in His children both in this life and in His Kingdom.

Christianity is not just a statement of a belief in Christ as ones personal savior. Christianity is a way of life. In fact it was first called ‘the way’. The Christian way of life is to choose to obey God, not just in the letter but also in the spirit. It’s about obedience not just in our actions but also from our hearts. To truly accept Christ is to enter a covenant relationship with God. To obey God is to fulfill our part of that covenant. We don't do it for salvation. It's not a salvation issue. It's an issue of love for our Creator and our response to His love for us...

Keeping God's commandments is the most difficult and most rewarding thing one can do in life. To choose to keep them is to face a battle with our own nature every day. We will often lose that battle but we're not here to simply give in to our urges. We're here to fight the good fight. It's the battle that builds our character. 

The other side of keeping God's commandments is choosing to accept His Grace. God's grace, freely given to us through Christ's sacrifice, is His greatest act of love towards us because it blots out our failures in fulfilling our purpose. God's grace heals the chasm that our disobedience causes between us. That doesn't mean we should ever take His grace for granted. He is gracious in blotting out our failures for trying to keep His commandments. Those who claim His grace without even trying to obey Him mask a hostility towards God.

Our purpose is to live up to our part of the covenant we entered by by accepting Christ's sacrifice. Learning to obey God from our hearts is why we draw breath. His law is about His love for us. Our obedience is about our love for Him. God doesn't force us to obey Him.  He sets before us life and death and He implores us to choose life. In God's law is life... 

From the Heart...

The Bible was written and compiled for believers. This should be an obvious fact. Non-believers don’t care about what it says except perhaps as a matter of literature. The history, the prophecies, the wisdom and the directives, (laws, statutes and judgments) were all written for those who believe God and seek to live by His will. He didn’t leave us in the dark. He gave us an instruction manual for life on earth.

 e

In the New Testament, or Greek scriptures, a great deal has been recorded about the practices of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Some see what the Bible says about them as merely a historical record. It is not. God has a purpose for everything recorded in scripture whether we know what that purpose is or not. The practices and hypocrisies of the Pharisees and Sadducees are pointed out for our edification. The lessons are for us…the warnings are for us.

This is vitally important for us to keep in mind because the mind-set of the Pharisees is still prevalent among believers today. There are many churchgoers who are more concerned over the minute dos and don’ts of the law than they are with the content of their own hearts. We’ve all known fellow believers that will debate the fine points of the law to no end. It’s even become common for some to refuse to fellowship with others over such slight differences in belief. What many believers are missing in their faith is grace. They ignore God’s admonitions for us to love mercy…and each other. (One wonders if the differences Christ had with the prostitutes and tax collectors He fellowshipped with gave Him pause…)

Debates about the law have become just as commonplace in our time as they were in Christ’s time. Controversies about the law raged then as they do now. Issues of which calendar to use, when and how to celebrate the Holy days, divorce and remarriage and other issues were as hotly debated in Christ time as they are now.

While we should study the scriptures to show ourselves approved to God, we shouldn’t let minor differences in understanding separate us. God is working with each of us. And we are all on different points along the path in understanding and obedience. The scriptures don’t exist for us to hit each other over the heads with them. They don’t exist for us to judge each other’s understanding. They were written to us…personally. When we read about the hypocrisy of the Pharisees we shouldn’t think: “I know someone just like that!” We should use them like a mirror to hold up to ourselves. We should use them to examine ourselves…. what are our hypocrisies?

We need to see the scriptures for not just what they say, but also what they don’t say. Christ could have easily spent His ministry on settling arguments about when the Holy days were to be observed and other points of the law but He didn’t do that. What Christ focused on in His ministry was our hearts. What He saw as important were the things inside of us. Christ looked for, and is looking for, is evidence of the conversion of our hearts. Just read His first recorded sermon, the Sermon on the Mount. Christ set the tone for His gospel by telling us what qualities God is looking for in His people. He wants His law written in our hearts.

Do you think the thief on the stake that Christ said would be with Him in paradise was a righteous man? He, himself, believed he deserved his punishment. Chances are he was not very observant in the faith but Christ saw something in this mans heart that He believed was worthy of paradise. Too many times believers get caught up in where a comma should be in Christ’s statement to that thief and completely miss the point.

Similar lessons were recorded in the stories about the Roman centurion in which Christ saw a greater faith than He has seen in all Israel. He saw something of that same faith in the Canaanite woman who pleaded for her daughter to be set free from a demon. None of these people were as observant as the Pharisees. None of them could argue the finer points of the law. Some modern believers might condemn them all…but Christ praised them for the content of their hearts. There is a lesson in that.

We should obey Gods law to the best of our understanding and ability. We shouldn’t judge people by our understanding however. None of us has the whole truth. And what understanding most of us have has changed over time. We should never forget the ‘weightier matters of the law’. And we should never, ever forget faith, hope and love, qualities that come from our hearts, are what God values the most.

Primitive Apostolic Christianity

What has been called 'Primitive Apostolic Christianity' is the result of an effort to understand and obey the will of God by following, as closely as possible, the doctrines and practices of the early, New Testament, church. The logic is that modern "Christianity" has lost its way by adopting doctrines that were originally considered heretical because of their pagan, or otherwise non-biblical, origins. Many in the the early church were taught by Christ Himself and later by His disciples. It can therefore be argued that the early church practiced true Christianity. That’s something a serious Christian should carefully consider.

It has often been claimed by it's detractors that Primitive Apostolic Christianity is an attempt to 'Judaize' Christianity by attempting to combine Christianity with "Jewish" law. This is a misunderstanding on several levels. First, the Law of God isn't "Jewish". The Ten Commandments were spoken by God directly to the children of Israel. They are, in fact, the only part of Holy Scripture actually written by God. Scripture tells us they were written by the very finger of God in stone. They were given to the children of Israel but they are intended for all of mankind. While there is no scripture that states that directly, we know that God will judge all mankind according to His definition of what sin is and that points directly back to the Ten Commandments.

The word 'Jew' was first used in the bible to refer to members of the tribe of Judah, the largest of the twelve tribes of Israel. Judah and Israel became separate nations after the reign of King Solomon. They were even recorded to have made war against one another on occasion. The tribe of Judah remained in the Middle East after the Assyrian captivity in which the ten, so called, lost tribes were carried off. Throughout the Hebrew scriptures the word Jew referred to members of the tribe of Judah. In the New Testament, or Greek scriptures, the word Jew has several meanings depending on the context in which it is used. It often refers to a member of the tribe of Judah but often also refers to anyone born in the land of Judah or any member of the religion that the tribe of Judah practiced. It was even used, on at least one occasion, by the apostle Paul to mean anyone with a personal relationship with God.

The first covenant that God made with the nation of Israel involved the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments. It did NOT include the sacrificial and priesthood laws given to Moses. These latter laws and ordinances became known as the Mosaic law...for lack of a better term. The Mosaic law was added to the Ten Commandments because of the sin of the people. To refer to any of the Ten Commandments as 'Jewish' law is to misunderstand the scriptures. That includes the seventh day Sabbath. Christ, himself, said the Sabbath was made for man, He didn’t say "for the Jews".

There aren't two true religions in the scriptures...there is only one. The religion that God revealed to mankind was progressively revealed over the centuries. Latter prophets expounded on it. That religion was expounded on by Christ because it had gotten 'off track' over the centuries. That 'off track' religion became known as Judaism because it was the religion practiced in the land of Judah. Christ attempted to correct the errors in it by His teachings.

What the early religious system in the Bible pointed to was Christ. The animal sacrifices, for example, all pointed to some aspect of Christ's sacrifice. After His life, death and resurrection those practices were no longer necessary. It was those laws, the Mosaic legal system, that were done away with Christ...not Gods law for mankind. Again, Gods law was never 'Jewish'. True Primitive Apostolic Christians aren't 'Judaizers'. They don't advocate bringing back circumcision or any part of the Mosaic, sacrificial system with it's priesthood and temple ordinances. They advocate keeping God's Laws, including the literal seventh day Sabbath, because obedience to Gods Law is what God expects of those who love Him; disobedience to Gods Law is what defines sin.

Many modern Christians sense something is missing in the practice of their faith and have begun, what many call, a “Hebrew Roots” movement. Some Christians look to modern Judaism for what they sense is missing in Christianity. Modern Judaism, however, is the offspring of the Pharisees of Christ’s time. While there is a great deal of wisdom in Judaism there is also a great deal of error. As mentioned above, a part of what Christ did in His first appearance was to correct where Judaism had gone ‘off-track’. While most of the early Christians were Jews, most Jews rejected Christ and His message.

Since modern Judaism is the offspring of the Pharisees, modern Christians wanting to return to their Hebrew Roots should carefully scrutinize the practices in it. First and foremost a Christian should rely on the scriptures NOT on traditions or non-Christian philosophies, many of which have crept into modern Christianity. Christ specifically condemned many of the practices of the Pharisees that are still practiced in Judaism. That being said, there is much to be gained from the insight of a people who have studied the scriptures for centuries. The Jews rejected Christ in His first coming…they will recognize Him as the Messiah when He comes again. As ‘off-track’ as modern Christianity has become the question is…will most Christians?

But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed. Gal. 1:8

Black and White in America

I, like many Americans, am thoroughly disgusted with hearing empty allegations of racism every day! Far-left liberals see everything in black and white, male and female, gay and straight etc. The guiltiest among them are the so-called ‘leaders’ of the black community like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. These men are RACE HUSTLERS and worse, cashing in on the controversy that THEY stir up! They do so for one reason…their own publicity! They care much more about that than their own communities! And, they project their own narrow-minded racist mentality onto everyone else...especially conservatives.

Most of us are too busy living our lives and trying to get along with each other to be bothered by such narrow-minded lunacy. These race hustlers fail to look beyond black and white to see the humanity common to us all. It is such people who are keeping racism alive and well in America!

Splashed across the news in America just now is the case of Trayvon Martin. For someone who’s been in Outer Mongolia…he was a seventeen-year-old black teenager who was recently shot and killed by a self-appointed neighborhood watchman in Florida. The controversy surrounding the shooting involves, what the media has reported as, a white man shooting an unarmed black youth. (He was, in fact, a Hispanic man...but race hustlers needed him to be white.) Almost every news channel has film of mass protests led by Sharpton, Jackson and the New Black Panther Party calling for the arrest of the man who did the shooting. The Black Panthers have even put a bounty on the head of the alleged shooter. It's a case of racial profiling they tell us.

I’m not concerned here so much with the details of this event except to say I think it’s a tragedy that we’ve lost another young man. I don’t believe all the facts are in yet so I am withholding my judgment. I believe the media is using this event, to their shame, to bring in more viewers. In doing so they are leaking only part of the facts and are stirring up racial discord for no good reason other than ratings. What I find completely hypocritical is that none of the ‘so called’ black ‘leaders’, like Sharpton and Jackson, have voiced ANY public outcries over the 49 young black men shot in Chicago over the St. Patrick’s Day weekend...or any of the other 'black on black' crime that is rampant in some parts of this nation. I guess there were no good photo opps there!

The left wants to tell us what constitutes the news and they want to ban free speech for anyone who disagrees with them. Well, it’s time for honest people to drown them out! Americans, black and white, need to dump ‘political correctness’ and talk honestly with each other. BOTH sides need to LISTEN to each other. Both sides need to face the facts the other presents and stop throwing around charges of racism over honest criticism. Up to now the conversation has been woefully one-sided…thanks, in large part, to white liberals. Black Americans should seriously ask themselves if their 'so-called' leaders are helping them or actually hurting them. They should ask the same thing of white liberals! They also need to ask what's in their own power to change. Racial profiling is going to exist in peoples perceptions until the race in question changes their behavior. Jesse Jackson himself once said: “There is nothing more painful for me at this stage in my life, than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about robbery—and then look around and see somebody white and feel relieved.” Even Jackson himself racially profiles! That's because of behavior in the black community! It's NOT about skin color...it's about BEHAVIOR!!! That's not racist...it's just a fact!

Almost every people on earth have been enslaved at one time. Blacks were enslaved in America for over a hundred years. Other Africans originally sold them into slavery. Arabs later took up and expanded the trade. White Europeans were late in the game. And, it’s a historical fact that the first American to own a black slave was a black man!

This country almost tore itself apart ending slavery. Over 500,000 lives were lost in our Civil War, ending the practice in 1865. No one alive today was ever a slave or a slave owner. It’s true that racial prejudice and racism have remained alive and well for over a hundred years since. But white Americans have done everything possible to make up for the injustice of that national shame. And, yes, it was white Americans that fought for their freedom.

Our government has spent over 40 TRILLION tax dollars and passed dozens of laws over 40 years to ensure racial equality. Though liberals think the government should do everything for everyone...it simply can’t. The government can’t change the perception of non-blacks towards blacks. The government can't change peoples attitudes. Change like that will only begin when black Americans begin to take responsibility for, and uplift, their own communities.

America has been the greatest beacon of hope the world has ever known. Sure, we have our problems and our flaws, some of them deep, but this country has provided the most freedoms for the most people in the history of the world. Our history, while flawed, is also full of our attempts to become a better nation.

The following text contains excerpts from a letter written to Barack Obama from Pat Buchanan. I reprint it here because it contains facts that need to be openly and honestly addressed. Instead of crying ‘racism’ after reading it…it should cause the black community to do some soul searching.

First, America has been the best country on earth for black folks. It was here that 600,000 black people, brought from Africa in slave ships, grew into a community of 40 million, were introduced to Christian salvation, and reached the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity blacks have ever known. Jeremiah Wright ought to go down on his knees and thank God he is an American.


Second, no people anywhere has done more to lift up blacks than white Americans. Untold trillions have been spent since the ' 60s on welfare, food stamps, rent supplements, Section 8 housing, Pell grants, student loans, legal services, Medicaid, Earned Income Tax Credits and poverty programs designed to bring the African-American community into the mainstream. Governments, businesses and colleges have engaged in discrimination against white folks -- with affirmative action, contract set-asides and quotas -- to advance black applicants over white applicants. Churches, foundations, civic groups, schools and individuals all over America have donated their time and money to support soup kitchens, adult education, day care, retirement and nursing homes for blacks. We hear the grievances. Where is the gratitude??


Is white America really responsible for the fact that the crime and incarceration rates for African-Americans are seven times those of white America? Is it really white America 's fault that illegitimacy in the African-American community has hit 70 percent and the black dropout rate from high schools in some cities has reached 50 percent?


Is that the fault of white America or, first and foremost, a failure of the black community itself?

As for racism, its ugliest manifestation is in interracial crime, and especially interracial crimes of violence. Is Barack Obama aware that while white criminals choose black victims 3 percent of the time, black criminals choose white victims 45 percent of the time?

Is Barack aware that black-on-white rapes are 100 times more common than the reverse; that black-on-white robberies were 139 times as common in the first three years of this decade as the reverse?

We have all heard ad nauseam from the Rev. Al about Tawana Brawley, the Duke rape case and Jena. And all turned out to be hoaxes. But about the epidemic of black assaults on whites that are real, we hear nothing.

It’s time we stop being afraid of words and throw out the hypocritical lunacy of ‘political correctness’. We need to be honest with ourselves and stop expecting the government to do what governments simply cannot do. White Americans elected a black president. Now it’s time for black people to take responsibility for themselves. The government can't change the perception of any people. Any real change in perceptions, and in racial profiling, will only come when black Americans finally get fed up with the behavior their own people and begin to change their community. I'll say it again...It's NOT about skin color...it's about BEHAVIOR!!!

When will we learn what Dr. Martin Luther King tried to teach us and begin to work on the content of our hearts? Real dialogue, real change must begin in our hearts. That's when our communities will change. And, that's not going to happen while Race Hustlers like Sharpton and Jackson stir things up for their own publicity. That is black and white!

Kindness

Ever wonder about the origin of the word kindness? It struck me recently that we use the same word, kind, for someone or something similar to something else. We speak of two things being the same kind. We speak of other humans as a part of man-kind. It seems to me, in a like manner, kindness is the recognition that others are a part of us…our kin, our kind. We treat them the way we would treat ourselves…or the way we would like to be treated. Kindness is the extension of our definition of our selves to include another being. Kindness is an essential part of love.

In a like way, love might be defined as opening our selves up to include someone or something into our view of ourselves. It is the extension of our concept of our self. We love our teams, our possessions, our pets; we love our families and our friends. Every time we open up ourselves to love something or someone else we extend our selves to include them as part of us. We begin to see others as our kind and, hopefully, to treat them with kind-ness. We rejoice when they rejoice. We feel pain when they feel pain.

I believe one of the purposes of life is growth. I have often used the example of an acorn that pushes up a sidewalk to become an oak tree. We can grow in different areas of our lives. Physical growth and maturity is defined and guided by our DNA. We can also grow emotionally and spiritually. Emotional or personal growth may be defined as coming to understand ourselves better and coming to control our impulses in a way that makes us a stable part of society. Exactly what defines spiritual growth is more controversial.

Though many people these days will tell you they are ‘spiritual but not religious’ they are usually hard pressed to define exactly what they mean by 'spiritual'. I believe only our Creator rightly defines spiritual growth. He understands us far better than we understand ourselves. Out of His love for us He left us a guide for our spiritual growth in His revealed word to mankind. Spiritual growth is defined in scripture using the analogy of fruits...those things that we bring to bear in our lives. For example: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control”. Gal. 5:22-23 KJV According to God’s word these are the qualities that define spiritual growth. Kindness is one of those qualities.

Much of the Christian world is at odds with itself over dos and don’ts and obscure doctrines. We have all but ceased to be the light to the world that God calls us to be because we have forgotten the simplicity that is in Christ. We have forgotten kindness and the other qualities that define spiritual growth. It would do us all good to frequently remind ourselves of those qualities. What God wants from us is a change in our hearts. These qualities are the evidence of that change. These are the things we are to work on. They are beyond any doctrinal debate. It is worth noting that the first mentioned is love…it’s where kindness comes from.

A new commandment I give unto you, That you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. John 13:34

Biblical Symbolism and the Holy City

The question about whether the Bible is to be taken literally is one that has been asked by Christians for centuries. Those that have answered “No” have created churches that bear little resemblance to the early church. They’ve based their belief systems on human authorities that have proven to be unstable at best. Those that answer an unequivocal ‘yes’ are faced with some conundrums. Are we to take literally such verses as “if your right hand offends you cut it off”? Believers with a modicum of common sense will say ‘No’ because taking that verse literally is to ignore greater principles in the scriptures. And, most would agree that symbols used in the scripture are not literal. So the Bible is clearly not to be taken completely literally. Some discernment on the part of the believer is necessary.

If it is not literal then whose interpretation should we believe? Answering that with a person means that person has more authority than the scripture. Obviously, no one has a clear claim on that position. So we are left with the principle of letting the Bible interpret the Bible. To do so means having the faith that God inspired, not just the writing of the scriptures but also the compilation of the books of the Bible. If one believes that God had His hand in the canonization of the scriptures then it is no great leap of faith to believe the Bible interprets itself.

This brings us to Biblical symbolism. Using the Bible to interpret the Bible means the symbols used in the scriptures are explained in the scriptures. The question then arises, why does God use symbolism instead of simply stating what He wants us to know?

What you have to understand first is that the Creator of the universe is trying to explain the most profound spiritual truths to human beings with three-pound brains.

Think of the Bible as a kind of first grade primer that is an attempt to teach us how to read. It’s all we are capable of understanding so far and it still takes the Holy Spirit in us just to scratch the surface.

So God uses similes, metaphors and analogies of things we do understand to give us the faintest glimpse of those truths. We are, symbolically, looking through a glass darkly after all.

Marriage, fishing, carpentry and building, blood sacrifices etc. are all things that we can understand so God uses them to teach us.

Christ likens the church to His Body. He also likens it to a bride that He will marry. Additionally he likens it to His temple that He is building.

So we are part of Him in some way. He will become one with us in some way. And when we all fit together in a unified whole He will inhabit us in some way.

All these analogies teach some aspect of His relationship to us.

When Christ stepped out of Eternity to inhabit a mortal body and walk among us as one of us He did so as a carpenter. Ever wonder why? He is building His church, His temple.

King David, a type of Christ, designed the temple he wanted to build so carefully and in such detail that the stones for it could be cut away from the building site and when they were brought to the site they only needed to be slid into place.

Christ inspired some of the authors of the scriptures to liken us to stones that He is working with. He works with each of us away from the building site. He cuts away anything that won’t fit into His final plan.

Those that have already lived have already been cut to fit. So when Christ returns they will be raised first to fit into their places first. Then those that are His that are still alive will be changed and fit into their places. The whole structure will be built on Christ as the foundation. He will also be the cornerstone that allows the other stones to come together and function as one structure. He will build the New Jerusalem out of us. His body. His Bride. And He and the Father will inhabit us.

Christ and His bride will become one. How does He teach us that? By showing us the New Jerusalem that He is building out of us…His body, the bride that He will become one with, and the temple that He and the Father will inhabit.

Don’t fully understand it? We only have three-pound brains after all…

I Kings 6:7, I Cor. 3:16-17, Eph. 2:20-22, I Tim. 3:15, Heb. 3:6, I Pet. 4-5:1, Rev. 21:14

Life Philosophies

My philosophy of life is very simple. The universe exists to create life. Life is about growth. Witness an acorn pushing up a sidewalk to become an oak tree. God defines what growth is. He wrote the guidelines for physical growth in our DNA. He revealed the guidelines for spiritual growth in His Word. He hasn’t left us in the dark. We exist to obey our Creator. Everything we need has always been here to fulfill that purpose. We don’t need modern technology. We don’t need to be rich or famous. We don’t need to go to the ends of the earth seeking spiritual enlightenment. We only need to live our lives guided by His word in the small corner of the earth in which we find ourselves.

Every age of life has it’s own lessons for us to learn. One of the greatest lessons I've learned is that there are only two basic ways of life…the way of get and the way of give. We can live our lives with the motto of: “I-Me-My-Mine” and only concern ourselves with what we can get, or take, from others. Or, we can live the way of give and help, serve and uplift our fellow man. In the process we can be uplifted ourselves. We all have the power to hurt or to heal. It’s that simple to me. I try to choose the way of give every day. I try to understand what love is by allowing God’s love to flow through me. I’m still learning to get out of His way.

It doesn’t so much matter what happens to us as how we respond. This is a lesson wise men in every age and in every society have discovered. We have the choice about how we will live. That, we should never relinquish. To grow, we can’t let others pull us down. We can all learn not to let life pull us down. We can help each other with that.

As I grow older, I sometimes worry about what will happen to me. Will I live alone? Will I die alone? Will my life have mattered to anyone? I look around and see other human beings succumb to various ailments and diseases. Alzheimer’s and cancer are especially hideous and cruel to me. I can’t live in worry about the future though. Worry only takes away from my experience of ‘now’…and what I worry about may never happen. So I engage life…here and now. I try to balance contemplation with action and to balance my needs with those of others.

I try to put God first in my life. Christianity is a way of life to me…one I take very seriously. I don’t have it all figured out but I’m working on that too. I don’t preach to others. I never try to convert anyone. I try not to judge others. I try to live my life in such a way that people will see it and think I must have something worth seeking. That’s a part of Christ’s gospel to me.

I try not to use other human beings for my own selfish desires. I first love and respect myself. Out of that love and respect flows my love and respect for others. I’ve tried living putting others first without love and respect for myself and found that nothing comes from an empty cup. Integrity and self respect are the only foundations solid enough to build an honorable life on.

My goal in life is simple…to become a good man in God’s eyes. I know I fail every day in my attempt to live a Christ-like life. But, I get up every morning and try again. I try to be quick in saying, “I’m sorry”…first to my God, then to those around me I’ve wronged. I try to treat every human being with the respect they deserve simply for being alive. Realizing we are all connected, I try to treat the other living things on this planet with respect and compassion too. I am a meat eater but I believe in treating animals with respect and love. We are all connected after all.  I try to see the connections and the beauty in life.

Even though I try to be a good man I know I’m full of flaws and faults. They help me to understand the struggles others go through. I believe people are basically good and bad. Everyone has, at least, one major flaw and many smaller ones. I know I do. Accepting people anyway gives us a chance to exercise love. Acknowledging our own imperfections keeps us from getting cocky!

I think my main purpose in life is to behave justly, love mercy and humbly walk with my God. By doing so I hope to set an example of a better way to live, Christ’s way, and to encourage it in others without being dogmatic. I recognize we all struggle so I try to be compassionate and forgiving. One of my main goals in life is to learn to forgive everyone for everything. I know what God has forgiven me of...

I know I'm nobody and nothing special at all. When asked what my ‘best quality’ is…I’d have to say my values. I don’t live up to them very well but I try. What I know of faith and hope and love God has taught me through other people. I just want to be a channel of God's light to a dark world...like others have been to me. This is to honor them...

I know this life is a gift. I Thank God for it every day…

The Seven Fundamental Principles of Genesis

The famous Scopes “Monkey” Trial in Tennessee (1926) tested a state law called the Butler Act, which made it unlawful, in any state-funded school “to teach any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals." The evolution versus creation debate still rages today. There are those entrenched on both sides and those that try to find some kind of middle ground between faith in the scriptures and the faith found in a scientific theory. It is ironic that such a great deal of controversy in our modern American society comes from our understanding of the first few chapters of Genesis. I have come to believe this is the wrong battle for Christians to fight. Genesis isn’t intended to be a scientific treatise on How God created the universe. The message of Genesis is more profound than that. It doesn’t matter if one argues that the first chapters of Genesis are to be taken literally or figuratively. It doesn’t matter if one believes that the earth is six thousand years old and God literally took the dust of the ground and formed Adam with it or if the story refers to an “Adam and Eve moment” wherein, at some point in evolution, God gave His creation a human spirit and the nature of mankind was changed forever. An argument can be made either way. The greatest irony is that some who fight the hardest in asserting the Bible is the revealed Word of God go on to ignore the very principles contained in it. They go on to ignore the principles within those first few chapters that they insist should be read literally. These principles are truths that God has revealed to us in His word. We need to be reminded of them…often…because they lay the foundation whereupon all other scriptural truths rest. The message of Genesis is that we come from God and He cares about us.

The first fundamental principle in Genesis is that God created the universe and established order therein. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The Hebrew word for created here implies perfection; it implies order. This principle tells us plainly that there is an intelligent, creative force behind the scenes. The universe isn’t some kind of immense, three dimensional, billiard table wherein atoms randomly collide with each other and order just, accidentally, appears. The existence of the universe is intentional. Whether it came about in a Big Bang or not isn’t the issue. How He did it isn’t the issue. The issue is that it exists for a purpose…to create, sustain and nurture life. It has a destiny. It came from God. He created laws to establish order in His universe. When those laws are obeyed the order God intended permeates His creation. When those laws are disobeyed chaos and confusion result.

The second fundamental principle found in Genesis is that God created life. We come from God. Humanity is not an accident. Whether God used some form of evolution or literally formed Adam out of the dust of the earth, our existence too is intentional. There is a purpose in our being here. We have a direct connection to God because we come from God. Even those that deny the Word of God sense this on a deep level. Every tribe of man in every age has believed that man is somehow special…that we were meant for something more. Perhaps it is written into our ‘spiritual DNA’. We all sense that we have some greater purpose. We have a destiny because of where we came from.

The third fundamental principle in Genesis is that We are partakers of a part of Gods nature. Here again arguments can be made that we were made in the image of God physically, that we look like God, or that we are like God in our nature. Either way, we are partakers of a part of Gods nature. Modern scientists try to make us believe that we are like just any other species of animal. They tell us that we are only different in degree…not different in kind. The scriptures tell us otherwise. There is something special about mankind. God cares about what happens to us just as any good parent cares about what happens to their child because a part of Him is in us. Later in the scriptures He reveals Himself to us as our Heavenly Father. There are modern ‘Christian’ churches that ignore that revelation entirely and instead refer to God as goddess or some other idol created in their own minds. Anyone calling themselves Christian should look to only one source for understanding God and His nature…the holy scriptures. God reveals His nature to us and it is more majestic than any idol of the mind man has ever concocted. A part of us understands that.

The fourth fundamental principle in Genesis is that We are here to obey God. Our purpose on earth is to obey the will of our Creator. We are to live in harmony with the order that God established in the universe by obeying His laws…both physical and spiritual. That’s how we’ll attain the destiny that a part of us knows awaits us. Adam and Eve were placed in the garden of Eden and only given a few commandments…be fruitful and multiply, replenish-subdue-and have dominion over the earth, and…don’t eat of the fruit of one tree. We have a purpose…and that is to obey God to live in harmony within His creation. Even, so called Christian churches balk at this one…they tell us that we are here only to believe. That’s like the owner of a sports team spending millions to hire the best coach that can be found only to tell the players that they needn’t obey him…just acknowledging that he is the coach is enough! To obey God we have to act; we have to do something. God does not force us to obey Him, He gives us free will to make the choice to do so or not.

The fifth fundamental principle in Genesis is that only God can decide what is right and what is wrong. Only He knows what must be done to live in harmony within His creation. Adam and Eve chose to disobey God and ate of the one tree whose fruit was forbidden to them. Adam and Eve took of the knowledge of the tree of good and evil. They chose to take to themselves the right to decide what is good and what is evil. Our ancestors took to themselves the right to decide what only our Creator can really know. It is in our nature to do the same thing. We can disobey the will of God and take to ourselves the right to decide what is good and what is evil, we can live solely by the dictates of our own hearts…or we can return to God and believe His word. The only way to truly live in harmony in Gods creation is to do it His way, to obey His will.

The sixth fundamental principle in Genesis is that Satan exists and he will do anything, use any deception, to entice us away from God. This principle is completely missing from modern human psychology. The human condition can never be fully understood without this piece of the puzzle. There are spiritual beings intent on enticing us away from living in harmony with God and His creation. It is a misunderstanding of scripture to think that Satan is some kind of ‘equal but opposite’ force from God. Satan is a created being and is allowed by God to exist. God allows Satan to tempt mankind for Gods own ultimate purpose. God could have kept the serpent out of the garden but instead He allowed it to be there for His purposes. Later in the scriptures we learn that this is in fact Satan’s world until Christ returns.

The seventh fundamental principle in Genesis is that Only God can decide how He is to be worshipped. When Cain and Able brought their offerings to God…their form of worship…one was accepted and one was rejected. God made that decision. Instead of Cain repenting and returning to obedience…he became bitter and went off on his own. Ever since that day the children of men have devised more and more of their own gods and forms of worship. Instead of simply doing as God commands, it is in our nature to do what we think is right. This is yet another way to deny where we came from. Over and over in the Hebrew scriptures God warns His people NOT to do as the heathen nations, not to worship Him as they worship their gods. Modern Christianity is full of such practices. They have ignored one of the fundamental principles found in the first few chapters of the writings they claim to believe in. Those that diligently seek God should take note here. The only forms of worship God accepts are those He commands. We should make every effort to root out of our lives those spiritual practices man has created to worship the gods man has created.

It isn’t difficult to see that the world rejects all these principles. All the great intellectual movements in our world are contrary to them. The world has come up with it’s own ideas about religion, government, and the sciences…The prevailing ideas in all these fields, and many others, are in complete denial of Gods principles. We are enticed away from them by very powerful spiritual forces. In addition, the human heart wants to do what it wants to do. It doesn’t want to live in harmony with Gods will. But, there is that spark in those that God calls for His purpose. Those that hear His voice need to follow it.

God hasn’t left us in the dark. He has left of a record of His will. He has left us a light in the darkness so that we can decide to return to obedience. The Bible is the ‘Revealed Word of God’… It contains His principles and laws that we couldn’t find any other way. It’s also a record of Gods dealing with mankind. It contains a history of what happens when we obey God and what happens when we disobey Him. Additionally, it contains prophesies of what will happen if we choose to obey or choose to disobey God.

In a sense the Bible is like a first grade primer. Like the stories about Dick and Jane that we older folks remember, it is a way for the Creator of the universe to impart to mortal beings with three pound brains His ultimate truths. God isn’t concerned with animal sacrifices…they were merely a way to teach us about the seriousness of breaking God’s spiritual laws. His son isn’t really a lamb…that’s an image that He uses we can understand. The scriptures are full of such imagery. God uses images of things that we can understand to teach us His truths beyond anything in our experience. Without understanding these principles human beings can never understand this mortal existence. It is our understanding of Gods word that teaches us we have a purpose and a destiny, that history has a beginning, a purpose and an ending. The universe has a beginning, a purpose and a destiny.

The very fact that the scriptures exist is proof of the greatest principle in the scriptures…God loves us. He cares about what happens to His children. Gods law is proof of His love for us in the same way that any parent who loves their children gives them rules to teach them and to protect them. And, finally, possibly the one scriptural principle known to all the Christian world…”God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son so that whosoever should believe in Him should not perish, but should have everlasting life…” Amen.

Ramblings of an Old Guy! Pt.4

Life is a one-way ticket. This has been a well-known truth to thoughtful people in every age and society on earth. Oh, some young people may deceive themselves into believing that they’ll be here forever…but age tempers that notion soon enough.

Some people say that we are born alone and we will die alone. I suppose that’s true, depending on how we connect with other people. To be connected to others makes our existence seem not so alone.

It seems to me that, in the journey of our lives, all we can really take with us is our connections to other people. Those that share the same time with us seem more connected to us than those much younger or much older. They have their own generations to feel connected to.

I know that I seem to relate to folks closer to my age easier than those much older or much younger. To talk with someone who remembers where they were when Kennedy was shot is more rewarding in some ways than talking to someone who only knows it as a page in a history book. We have more to talk about because we have faced the same issues in our time. That doesn’t mean that it’s not rewarding to talk to older people at all. They have a different perspective…one well worth listening to as far as I’m concerned. Young people also have much they can teach us…if we’re willing to listen. No, what I’m talking about is feeling a little more connected to people who have seen some of the same things in life.

In the last week Whitney Houston died. I never saw her in person. I only heard her recorded voice electronically. She was an absolutely amazing talent! Her rendition of “I Will Always Love You” still sends chills through me. The woman had a true gift from God.

I note her passing because she was one I felt more connected to as a fellow traveler in this journey of life. While I may admire Frank Sinatra or Dean Martin among others, they were not in my generation. They had their own fellow travelers. Ms. Houston was a part of mine.

There have been other musicians, actors, and public personalities that I felt connected to as being a part of my time on earth. I’ve noted their passing as fellow travelers too. John Denver is one who comes to mind as a great influence on me. Each in his or her own way made me feel…not so alone in life. Whitney did that. She added something to life. Life will be missing something without her. I feel for her loved ones…they, no doubt, feel her loss so much more sharply. I will say a prayer for them.

I begin to understand why some people I’ve known in their 80’s, 90’s and even in their hundreds feel…ready to move on. They’ve lost most, or all, around them that made them feel connected to their age.

I used to think I would never feel disconnected from young people. I thought I would always ‘get it’ about some new fad or trend. I realize now what older people have been talking about all my life. I just don’t understand some things the younger generation is into!!

I still like the old ways of doing some things. I’ve always liked antiques because they made me feel connected to the past in some way. Blacksmithing does that for me.

While other people are obsessed with the ‘next thing’ in technology…I couldn’t care less about electronic gadgets and the like.

It seems a shame to me that in our ‘rush to the future’ we are losing something of our past. I guess it’s just nice to talk to someone near my age that still remembers, and appreciates, older ways of doing things; someone who remembers where they were when... Some days I feel my age more than others.

I’m going to miss Ms. Houston and her amazing voice. And there are so many others. But, that's life and it goes on...

Ramblings of an Old Guy! Pt.3

In looking back over the last year I find that I’m also reflecting back on my whole life. Like older people always say, I wonder where all the time has gone. It seems I woke up one morning and fifty years had gone by!

Like so many folks I know, I’ve had periods of melancholy and I’ve fought with feelings of depression. My youth is gone and I have lamented that. But, I’ve decided not to live there.

Today, in 2012, I awake to different feelings. Today I awoke with feelings of joy.

God has given all of us the gift of choice. Like the old saying goes: “Pain is mandatory but suffering is optional.” We all have the power to choose how we will face the truth of our existence. We will all grow older and, one day, we will all die. We can choose to be depressed about that, to suffer ‘existential angst’ in the words of some, or we can be thankful for the gift of this life. I choose to feel thankful to my Creator for this gift!

I can’t do the things I once could but, from a different perspective, I have the view that more years afford me. I can see things that I never could before. I awake to a new year. I look ahead to the challenges and blessings in it. I am assured deep in my soul that the best is yet to come!

I have found an inner peace that didn’t know in my youth. My faith in my Creator has grown stronger. My Hope in His gospel is established. I have opened my heart to feel love in a way that I never could in the past. I now realize that some things I once thought mattered so much…don’t matter at all.

In this new year that God has given me I choose to open my heart to feel the joy in His creation. I live in a beautiful place. I am blessed with a nice home on a great piece of land. I have a best friend that reminds me of the joy of life every day. I have good friends that are there when I need them. I’m there for them too. I love the work that I do! I have the absolute Best mother on the planet! We have become friends and let the turbulence of the past go. I would like to do the same with all my family members but some just aren’t ready for that. I am blessed...

I now find that holding on to pain and resentment has only served to hold me back. I know from my own inner conflicts that people often do things they don’t understand. I have to allow that they too can change and grow. I’m learning to forgive everyone for everything. There are far too many good, noble and beautiful things in this life to focus on the bad things.

This is the Day the Lord has made…I will rejoice and be glad therein!

I’m sure the Best is yet to come!! I have to cut this short…Life awaits!