Things We Will Never Know

 

Setting Sun at Galle Face

But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. (Daniel 12:4 KJV)

Has there been a greater increase in knowledge than what we’ve experienced within the last century? Patent Office Commissioner, Henry Ellsworth stated in 1843:

The advancement of the arts, from year to year, taxes our credulity and seems to presage the arrival of that period when human improvement must end.

A slightly different, more negative, quote has been erroneously attributed to Charles Holland Duell, but in 1902 he actually said:

In my opinion, all previous advances in the various lines of invention will appear totally insignificant when compared with those which the present century will witness. I almost wish that I might live my life over again to see the wonders which are at the threshold.

How true that was! I’m typing this on my desktop, with my tablet and iPhone beside my tower. Men have walked on the Moon. Ships transport small cities' populations for pleasure. Phots from distant plants fly digitally around our world. So it seems that knowledge has increased tremendously.

The amount of patents hasn’t slowed one whit, has it? I worked for a company where algorithms were patented. Seemed odd to be at first, but their value was evident in the software our customers were willing to pay a great deal, since using it caused their profits to increase to the level of paying for the cost within months.

As a Software Quality Engineer, I knew what I did to make our software fail, and the programmers had the knowledge to fix their error. I designed tests based on max/min entries, database calls, and combinatorial interactions. I used the software to the maximum of its design elements, often in ways a programmer did not imagine. End users are good at that.

As a Christian, I cannot prove God exists – no tests as there were in our software. I take it on faith. What I know about God is written in the Bible. Many people have studied it and believe they’ve found error, but I’ve found a faith that provides a comfort level for me – and mysteries yet to be displayed. I know that I don’t know a lot. In a way, that’s a gift to keep learning.

Some of the Bible alludes to things we cannot know. Daniel was told to shut up the words and seal the book. Jesus told us that only God knows when time ends. But He gave us a different directive before He left the Disciples:

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matthew 28:19-20 KJV)

He gave us in three years enough to talk about our entire lives. Definitely enough to pass on to others. Why? Because He taught that our souls are eternal. Mankind doesn’t just make decisions that move last just a moment, we make decisions that last eternity:

He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:18 KJV)

I wish I could have listened to the full conversation Nicodemus had with Jesus. We have a tendency to skip the first part where Jesus expected Nicodemus to understand because of his position, his education, his very career, yet he did not:

Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? (John 3:10-12 KJV)

Learn as much as you can about heavenly things. It is good for your soul.

Not Just A Symbol

 

I read a National Review op-ed some time back and believe this paragraph to be true:

The entire Christian worldview rises or falls on a simple matter of historical fact: Whether a Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead to vindicate His claims to divine personage. Without the resurrection event, Christ’s moral teaching, while perhaps still of interest to the anthropologist or the charlatan, ceases to become a divine command levied under pain of eternal damnation. It is impossible to be too “hung up” on whether that specific event happened or not, because, as Kevin says, “if God is real, then that fact is the most important fact in the universe, something that should be perfectly obvious even to a committed atheist.”

That article was in response to an early one in February, 2020, “Cher, God, Whoever.” where the author includes:

Christians should remind ourselves from time to time that we believe radical and implausible things, that Peter’s understanding of the world was (and is) not only fundamentally different from that of Tiberius but ultimately and finally irreconcilable with it.

As Christians, we do need reminding that what we believe is often incompatible with societal norms.While a large number of people who say they are Christians do support abortion on demand, it is biblically implausible. Paul - Christianity's prolific first-century defender agreed:

But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. (1 Corinthians 15:13-14 KJV)

To accept that, beyond the resurrection question, Jesus said:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16 KJV)

Yet continued:

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:17-18 KJV)

And said more:

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6 KJV)

How can a Christian accept the premise that all paths lead to God? We may have one verse to stand upon, based on inspiration of God and written by a Jewish scholar who accepted Christ:

For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;) (Romans 2:12-15 KJV)

Thanks be to God that we are not responsible for any person’s rejection of His word – but we are responsible to share His word and our witness to our neighbor. Matthew, Mark, and Luke speak to this – I like Matthew’s scene:

Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22:36-40 KJV)

My question to Christians is: Do you love your neighbor enough to speak to them about Jesus? My question to non-Christians is: May I speak to you about why I do love you?

Sunday Is Coming

 

Ruben's Women at Christ's Empty Tomb

Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: (Luke 24:1-4 KJV)

Rubens’ painting The Women at Christ’s empty tomb captures those verses in a unchanging moment in time. That morning changed every moment forward, though.

The previous first day of the week we now call Palm Sunday because of the celebratory reception of Jesus in Jerusalem. Monday and Tuesday couldn’t have been too bad, but it was an odd week. Not just because Passover would be observed, but how quickly the celebratory crowds changed.

By mid-week Judas chose money over Jesus’ message of prophecy fulfilment and how God related to mankind. He made a choice. Jesus instituted what we call The Lord’s Supper – a communion of believers understanding that He handed over His body and blood, and we should never forget that He gave them – they were not taken from Him. The lesson didn’t take, did it. Even Peter, who followed to see what would happen, denied, with a curse, that he knew the man being tortured.

He was laid in a borrowed grave. How can we forget the danger that Joseph put himself in by offering that solace to Mary?

Those who called for His death also called for guards so His body would not be stolen. The women who came that morning spent the evening before:

And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment. (Luke 23:55-56 KJV)

They were at the cross. They watched Him die as well as watched as He was placed in the tomb. They prepared as best they could, but Sunday was coming when they would have more time to do the burial properly.

Tomorrow is July 11 – a Sunday. When I attend Sunday School at First Baptist Church of Cottondale, we’ll be studying scripture that testifies to Jesus’ life and His death, burial – and His resurrection. His resurrection is the reason we gather on the first day of the week, because that’s what His followers did:

And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight. (Acts 20:7 KJV)

Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. (1 Corinthians 16:2 KJV)

Where and when do you go to learn more about God and His interactions with mankind? When Paul preached the story of Jesus’ birth, death, and resurrection, the Bereans turned to scripture. Not Paul’s letters that make up the greater portion of the New Testament, but the Torah. According to the Vatican:

The origin of Old Testament texts and the history of the formation of the canon have been the subject of important works in the last few years. A certain consensus has been reached according to which by the end of the first century of our era, the long process of the formation of the Hebrew Bible was practically completed. This canon comprised the Tôr~h, the Prophets and the greater part of the “Writings”.

The Bereans listened to Paul. Instead of kicking him out of town, as the Jews in Thessalonica:

These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few. (Acts 17:11-12 KJV)

Nothing written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Jude, or Peter – simply the testimony of Paul’s conversion, his belief in Jesus as Christ, plus the scriptures we call Old Testament.

What did it take for you to believe?

I Still Miss Her

 

For the background you may read “I Miss Her” where I speak of my sister-in-law and how I miss her. I firmly believe we will meet again, and we will know each other even better than we did here. We didn’t know each other long enough here – my husband and hers were separated as children, not reunited for 37 years when they were in their 40’s.

When we finally were able to connect, there were so many similarities, though they spent those 37 years in differing families, different states, different careers. Best connection was that the four of us had a deep faith in God, were actively involved in congregations, and shared our beliefs with anyone who would listen (or read.)

Through the years she explained what I later recognized as part of Pascal’s Wager:

Let us weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that God is. Let us estimate these two chances. If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing.
Wager, then, without hesitation that He is. ( . . . ) There is here an infinity of an infinitely happy life to gain, a chance of gain against a finite number of chances of loss, and what you stake is finite. And so our proposition is of infinite force, when there is the finite to stake in a game where there are equal risks of gain and of loss, and the infinite to gain.

That’s not the way she said it, of course. She made it much more personal and easier to understand:

I’d rather live my life believing there is a God and die to find out there isn’t than to live my life not believing there is a God only to find out there is.

Philosophers and theologians debate, as Pascal did, whether one should believe in God. What was the answer to when you asked yourself: Why should I believe there is a “god”, “higher power”, “supreme being,” or any other name people apply to what they can’t explain?  It appears that everyone in the world has – and made a choice:

According to a Wikipedia entry, the big four belief systems make up the following, as of 2020:

Christianity         2.382 billion
Islam                   1.907 billion
Not Religious *  1.193 billion
Hinduism            1.251 billion
                       *Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist

The fifth, Buddhism (506 million) well out paces Judaism (14.7 million.) The sum of those below Hinduism is 1.380 billion, giving us a total of 8.113 billion - pretty much the estimated world population.

The Notes in the Pascal’s Wager link include:

Instead of focusing on whether it is true or false that God exists, the wager concerns whether belief in God is beneficial, or pragmatic, for the believer. Thus, the Wager is called a “pragmatic” argument, in contrast to what might be called an “evidential” argument.

There is no evidence here that God does exist, or through which of the world’s religious beliefs includes the correct supreme being – but every one of us will make our own decision, even if it is the starred line that includes over a billion people. Close to 16% of the world’s population believe there is no supreme being/nothing after death.

My sister-in-law and I made our choice. She left this world and discovered the answer. As a Christian, I believe as she did in the Bible being God’s inspired words for mankind. Thus I believe:

We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:8 KJV)

There is a time limit on our ability to adjust our choice. There is nothing biblical that indicates that this choice can be made following death. Luke 16:19-31, the story of the rich man and Lazarus, does not tell us that the rich man had any opportunity to join Lazarus, just his interest in telling others. But there’s another scripture that includes hope up to the point of death:

And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise. (Luke 23:39-43 KJV)

That’s not evidence.  It’s a promise.

Just Think About It

 

For those of you who have followed me for several years know that white shape below the eye is “Henry,” a meningioma I’ve lived with for several years. Still not giving me serious problems, but we take his picture once a year just to be certain. Because of Henry, I have an interest in brains slightly higher than the average person.  Also, because of my Mom and her Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, I’m interested in research in communication with people who have limited speech.

Thus my interest in NPR’s May 12, 2021 “Man Who Is Paralyzed Communicates By Imagining Handwriting.” Clicking on the title will take you to the article where you’ll learn this and more:

The man was able to type with 95% accuracy just by imagining he was handwriting letters on a sheet of paper, a team reported Wednesday in the journal Nature.

"What we found, surprisingly, is that [he] can type at about 90 characters per minute," says Krishna Shenoy of Stanford University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

The device would be most useful to someone who could neither move nor speak, says Dr. Jaimie Henderson, a neurosurgeon at Stanford and co-director, with Shenoy, of the Stanford Neural Prosthetics Translational Laboratory.

"We can also envision it being used by someone who might have had a spinal cord injury who wants to use email," Henderson says, "or, say, a computer programmer who wants to go back to work."

Both Henderson and Shenoy have a proprietary interest in commercializing the experimental approach used to decode brain signals.

That will be awesome for communication for the handicapped – but every one of us has an even more awesome capability. We can talk with our Lord in our mind, knowing that He hears and understands before we finish. Jesus gave us the example, described both in Matthew 6:9 and in Luke:

And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. (Luke 11:1-4 KJV)

How do you envision God as you speak to Him? A distant white-haired patriarch as painted by Michelangelo, reaching from a great distance to touch the finger of His creation? That's not what He is, was, or ever will be. He wants us to be in touch with Him. He requires of us that we walk with Him:

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? (Micah 6:8 KJV)

He did walk with the first couple He created. We read of that in the midst of their seperation:

And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. (Genesis 3:8 KJV)

I remember how difficult it was for my Mom to communicate with us. ALS removed her ability to talk, and her writing was difficult - slow and shaky. Her mind was still quick, and we would have loved being part of an experimental approach of decoding brain signals. I know it is difficult for people to experiment with speaking to a God they have yet to trust.

Many years ago there was a blogger who knew she was the 100th sheep in Luke 15. The blog no longer exists under the URL I have, but I remember her telling how God did not exist. At lunch with a friend who was a believer, she pulled what I call a Gideon - asking God:

. . . then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me. (Judges 6:17 KJV)

I never did learn what she asked God to give as His sign that He heard her - but it communicated to her that God did want her to walk with Him. Her blog was a blessing to me - just as I hope this one is to you as I pray for your ability to communicate with God.

Thou Shalt Love Thy Neighbor . . .

 

From Wikipedia, attributed to Lorie Shaull

In a paraphrase of Reginald Garrigou-Langrange "God, His Existence and Nature":

Christians who believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God are intolerant in principle because they believe the Bible as inspired by God; they are tolerant in practice because they love their neighbors and wish to share God's love with them.

Verses I’ve used often in my blogs confirm the paraphrase:

Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.  (Matthew 22:35-40 KJV)

Notice it was a lawyer asking the question. An expert in the Mosaic law, the question was asked to objectively test or examine what Jesus would answer. Obviously, Jesus’ answer was accurate. Loving God is the first and greatest commandment. It is consistent throughout the Bible. All three Abrahamic religions hold to that truth – God is supreme and must be loved.

The next greatest, according to Jesus is to love our neighbors as ourselves. A few in each of the three Abrahamic religions have failed in that commandment to the extent they have left horrible footnotes in history and serve as very bad examples. Maybe they can be said to have loved because they hated themselves as badly as they’ve hated their neighbors. Without a doubt, they did not understand God’s love as shown in:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.  (John 3:16-19 KJV)

Memorize the whole, please. Do not omit that “he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” Jesus did not condemn sinners while He shared God’s word. Read the gospels – neither men nor women who were known to have broken God’s commandments were condemned by Christ. He acknowledged their sins. He knew them as well as He did the woman’s at the well, and could have described them as He did to her. However, He was here to offer salvation to whosoever.

That’s the message we need to give to our neighbors. Every one we meet is a neighbor, aren’t they? People we may never meet again?

Why are these two commandments so important? Jesus explains that all the other laws from God, all the prophecies He has given, and I believe our salvation, descend from these two acts of love.

Back to the paraphrase – these two great laws are inviolate to a Christian who believes in God. Both are required for Christians. That would be considered intolerant. Just as John 3:17 defines who is condemned, Matthew 22:30 demands that Christians love – and by other verses - pray salvation for non-Christians. That, too, would be considered intolerant. Believer’s  in God’s inspired messages to mankind in the Bible do seem intolerant of reaching God through other deities.

In reality, we seek to share His love, just as the Bible tells us to:

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matthew 28:19-20 KJV)

Shipwreck

 

Shipwreck of MV Alta. This ghost ship was adrift without a crew in the Atlantic Ocean for two years, until it foundered on the rocks of the southern coast of Ireland in February 2020. [Colm Ryan]

Wikipedia has a wide variety of shipwreck photos. The explanation on this one leads into my subject matter better that others.  There was no one aboard this ship for nearly two years before it crashed into Ireland’s rocky shore. In a Wired article discussing the MV Alta’s “ghost ship” movements:

Georgios Hatzimanolis, an analyst at ship tracking website, "Marine Traffic" . . . .  says this is “not normal behaviour.”

Just as people, ships interact in a number of ways with government entities, locations, other ships, but are alone much of the time. There are “normal” activities – and, also just as people, there are behaviors that are beyond the bounds of rules, laws, and socially acceptable behavior.

That’s why this particular photo/story fits so well with the scripture on my mind this morning:

Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme. (1 Timothy 1:19-20 KJV)

There are examples in newspapers, magazines, and social media where someone who dedicated their lives to following God's will and His plans for their life - and they've made a shipwreck by ignoring what they not only were taught, but what they were teaching to others.

For most Christian ministers, there is an ordination ceremony, succinctly explained online by Britanica:

Ordination, in Christian churches, a rite for the dedication and commissioning of ministers. The essential ceremony consists of the laying of hands of the ordaining minister upon the head of the one being ordained, with prayer for the gifts of the Holy Spirit and of grace required for the carrying out of the ministry. The service also usually includes a public examination of the candidate and a sermon or charge concerning the responsibilities of the ministry.

For IBF churches, there is a commitment by the new minister to his ordainers, to his congregation, and to God, to fulfill that commitment with their help. Not all do. Some make a full shipwreck of their lives, worse than the MV Alta.

The MV Alta’s crew abandoned her. The ship had no control over where it sailed, following only wind and currents. There was no captain, no crew, no autopilot - no ability for the ship to make any decision as to where it should go.

For ministers, it is possible the ordainers could fail. They would no longer act as mentors. They might not mention problems they see in the new minister's life. Even the congregation could fail. Congregations have been known to downsize, to stop attending services, to ignore the ordained with supportive attendance and prayer. 

God will not fail. Multiple verses confirm this belief. Our faith firms our resolve to believe them – but once our faith falters, the following failures are ours, not God’s.

When our faith fails, it is so easy to blame God, though the failure is ours by not holding on to faith that God’s promises are the same today and tomorrow. Paul gave us names as examples of shipwrecks, Hymenaaeus and Alexander. Paul left them to their own desires, leaving them to follow their chosen path.They broke their promises to serve God, lost their faith in His ability to sustain them. This is not normal Christian behavior. Faith sustains Christian lives. A loss of faith can end in a life’s shipwreck.

I’ve seen that happen to a young man who was ordained in our church. A Bible college graduate, an excellent preacher,  a good voice to make a joyful noise unto the Lord, servant as a Youth Minister, later as a Pastor - but who failed to retain faith in God’s will. We’ve seen the loss of his calling, his inability to hold a job, loss of his family, and eventually loss of his freedom. The one thing that has not ceased is prayers for his return to God. Please join us in prayer that he might return to living in God's will.