12 Year Old Disproving the Big Bang Theory

I just read a blog about a 12 year old genius disproving the big bang theory. His name is Jacob Barnett. Here is the link if you would like to read about his idea and about him: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/a-beautiful-mind-12-year-old-boy-genius-sets-out-to-disprove-big-bang/. His story is certainly amazing and his theory about the big bang and carbon even more mind boggling.

It is nice to know that the big bang theory can be disproved by using the information within the theory. However, one doesn't have to bother with the carbon aspect that Jacob referred to. He talks about the stars giving off the carbon that would be needed to create earth, but the first question shouldn't be, "Where did the carbon come from?" It should be, "Where did the stars come from?" If it has to start with stars exploding. You see, the biggest problem with the big bang theory is that it always starts with something, but where did that something come from? You are always left with more questions.

Great job kid, but God created the stars, carbon, earth, and everything else (Genesis 1).

A Three Year Old's Logic On Heaven

Last night we had a memorial service for one of our faithful members. On the way to the church building my three year old daughter had a conversation with her mom about Heaven.

Paityn: Where are we going mom?

Mom: To the church building to tell Grace's family we loved her and miss her.

P: Why?

M: Because she went to Heaven.

P: Oh, with God and your other baby? And Jesus too?

M: Yes, you are so smart.

P: Can we go to Heaven too?

M: We can if we do what God tells us to do, and obey Him. But once we go there we can't come back. We stay with God forever.

P: Okay, let's go there. Can we walk?

While we may not be able to walk to Heaven, we are to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord so that we may go to Heaven. Listen to the words of Paul as he writes to the church in Colosse,

"For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins" (Colossians 1:9-14).

Even though we meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17), we still need to walk in our earthly life according to God's will if we are to meet Him in the air.

I Was Born This Way!

Some of you may have heard Lady Gaga's new song, "Born This Way." The first time I heard this song was when a young girl was performing it on the Ellen show. At first I was amazed with this girl's talent and how beautiful her voice was at such a young age. But then I started to listen to the words and what the song was actually saying. The song's basic message is no matter what you are or have decided to be, you are perfect that way because God makes no mistakes. You can google the lyrics if you want more of the details.

This floored me! I couldn't believe what I was hearing. In essence, this song blames God for whatever path I decide to go down in life, and not only that, it says we are justified in those decisions because God made me that way and he made me perfectly, hence the title.

The major aspect of this song that bothers me the most is the little bit of truth thrown into the lyrics that allows people to follow whole heartedly to the conclusion. She mentions that God makes no mistakes. That is a true statement. When He created us, He made us perfectly. No sin, no mistakes, beautiful creations of God made in His image (Gen. 1:26).

However, just because God doesn't make mistakes, that does not mean we are incapable of making them. From the very beginning man has made mistakes (Genesis 3). We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We are the ones who make mistakes. And we cannot justify those mistakes by saying, "I was born this way."

The only way we can be perfect and justified is in the sight of God through the blood Christ,which cleanses us and washes us white as snow. So that we may be redeemed from our sins and be adopted as sons of God to receive the inheritance He has set for us in heaven. (Ephesians 1:3ff).

It's Not Easy

It's not easy to be a Christian. Those of us who have decided to live our lives according to the Word of God have realized that it is difficult. There are so many parts of this world that try to push us and pull us away from God and what He would have us do. I recently read about one such attempt, where a gay couple tried crashing a date night by acting "flamboyantly gay."This date night was designed to honor marriage with many married couples in attendance at the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky. You can read more about the details here: http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2011/02/15/crashing-date-night. There are also links within their post about the incident which will take you to pages with vulgar language, fair warning.

Because this attempt was posted and encouraged on the internet previous to the event, the staff at the Creation Museum were prepared to handle the situation. They turned the gay couple away peaceably without incident. Now, because they turned them away, the museum has received some bad publicity on blogs and in newspapers.

This is an example of situations and circumstances where we can find ourselves as Christians. They are not pleasant, we do not look forward to them, but we know that they are coming. How many times was the Lord tested by the Pharisees and other leaders in the Jewish society? If He was tested and tried numerous times them we can be sure that we will.

Sometimes we worry about situations like this one where no matter how we respond we will still be slandered or hurt in various ways. Here is what Peter had to say about these things,

"Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame" (1 Peter 3:13-16).

It may not be easy my friends, but if we do what is right, good, and holy in the sight of God then we have nothing to worry about.

Valentine's Day

VALENTINE’S DAY IS HERE!!! I know that there are some who have mixed feelings about this day. Some look forward to it as one of their favorite days of the year, while others believe it to be a day of commercial enterprise just trying to make more money off of love. Whatever you believe about Valentine’s Day it is at least a day in which we can tell and show our loved ones that they are truly loved. For those of us who do not do that on a regular basis it is probably a day that we should take advantage of. Hopefully we will use every day to show our significant other that we love them.

There is someone else that we need to express our love and appreciation to on a regular basis, God. In Genesis 1:26 God said, “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God loves us so much that he creates us in His image and puts us in charge of the rest of his creation.

Of course, we all disregarded His love and charity toward us by living sinful lives (Romans 3:23). And our sins earned us death, “For the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23). However, God continued to show His love toward us in His eternal plan of salvation,

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will (Ephesians 1:3-5).

In John 3:16 God expresses His love by sending his Son, “For God so loved the World that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” In Romans 5: 6-8 we are reminded of how great His love is for us, “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Knowing all that God has done for us because of His love how can we express our love to Him? First we need to obey the gospel accepting the gift of His love, salvation, like those in Acts 2 repenting of our sins and being baptized for the forgiveness of our sins. But we can also continue to express our love by keeping His commandments, “If you love Me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15).

Let’s not allow this love to be one-sided with God doing it all. We need to show God how much we love Him by our obedience, praise, and acceptance of His will. As we try to show the ones we love how much we love them today, we should be showing God how much we love Him.

Prepared for the Bridegroom

As a child one of my favorite things was to go with my brothers' on their Boy Scout camping trips. Well, I guess I really didn't have a choice in the matter with my dad being the scout master and my mom doing all of the cooking. The part of these trips that always fascinated me was the immense preparation it took before we could leave. Of course, all of the preparation went along with the Scout motto "Be Prepared."

My question for us today is, "Are we prepared for the Bridegroom?" If you think about it, we prepare for almost everything we do: our jobs, school, exercising, making dinner, etc... But when it comes to our relationship with Jesus, "how much do we prepare?" This reminds me of the parable Jesus gave in Matthew 25:1-13:

“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour" (ESV).

Have you prepared for the Bridegroom? If you have not prepared for the coming of Jesus I urge you to be like a good Boy Scout and "Be Prepared!" You can prepare when through faith (Acts 16:30-31) and repentance (Acts 17:30-31) you are baptized into Christ washing away your sins (Acts 2:38; 22:16) and continue to follow Him faithfully (1 John 1:7).