DOES GOD EXIST? TODAY

November 7, 2020November 6, 2020

Forgiveness Deficit in the 21st Century

Most of us know the wonderful parable in Luke 15:11-32, in which Jesus describes a forgiving father to teach about God’s forgiveness. Buck Griffith, who runs the most wonderful prison ministry in the world today, has a 21st-century version of that parable in a booklet published by Unbound Word (www.unboundword.com). He picks up the story when the prodigal son returns to the father’s house. It’s a story of the forgiveness deficit in the 21st century:

“The prodigal son dragged himself to his father’s house and knocked on the door. A servant answered. The son told him that he was the younger son and to tell his father he was home. The servant had him wait at the door while he went to tell the father about the ragged and wasted man at the door. Upon learning that the intruder claimed to be his son, the father told the servant ‘that man cannot possibly be my son. If you look out this window, you see my only son who is hard at work. I once had another boy, but he demanded his inheritance. I gave it to him under great stress. It nearly caused me to go bankrupt. He took his money, and he wasted it. Now, as far as we are concerned, he is dead. Now go back and tell the imposter at the door – whoever he is – I have only one son. If the imposter is not gone within ten minutes, we will turn the dogs loose on him.’”

Read the parable in Luke 15 again and tell me which version of the story fits our world today? Each of us needs to ask what our attitude would be if we faced the situation Luke 15 describes. How do we react to the contriteness of another – even a family member – who has wounded us in some way. Is there a forgiveness deficit in your life?

November 6, 2020November 5, 2020

Emotional Mind Games

There is a psychological war going on today that is at odds with the principles Jesus taught. In Matthew 23:4-7, Jesus described religious leaders who would put emotional, moral burdens on people and do nothing to help them: “For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be carried and lay them on men’s shoulders: but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers, but all of their works they do to be seen of men…” In the same way, many people mishandle the major moral issues of our day by pressing others to correct their behavior. We call it emotional mind games.

Galatians 6:1-2 describes how Christians should act: “If a man is overtaken in a fault, you who are spiritual should restore such a one in the spirit of meekness considering yourself lest you should also be tempted. Bear you one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

Years ago, I knew a religious leader whose son had engaged in a sexual act that resulted in a pregnancy. The religious leader had been a prominent opponent of abortion, but when he learned of the pregnancy, he encouraged the young woman to have an abortion, and he paid for it. This kind of hypocrisy reflects the lack of empathy in our culture today. I would blame it on our society’s drift away from God and from what Jesus taught.

There is a cemetery in Rome known as the Flaminio Cemetery. A religious group in Rome secretly obtains the remains of fetuses from abortion clinics and hospitals. They bury these aborted babies in a place they call the Flaminio Cemetery. At each grave, they place a cross with the name of the mother who terminated her pregnancy. The idea is to use emotional mind games to shame the women who gave up their children.

While we oppose abortion, we also know from experience how difficult the decision can be. We regularly receive letters from women who are struggling with guilt feelings years after having had an abortion. When Jesus dealt with the woman taken in adultery, he did not condone what she had done.,However, He said to the religious people who were ready to punish her, “He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her” (John 8:3-12).

We tend to rate sin. The wrong I do is a minor offense, but your sin is a major one. We must stop the emotional mind games and follow the example of Jesus. He told the woman, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and sin no more.” We will accomplish much more with empathy and compassion, working to provide alternatives to destructive behaviors instead of trying to shame people into rejecting sinful choices.

Reference: The Week, October 30, 2020, page 15.

November 5, 2020November 4, 2020

Muslim Violence in France

The current Muslim violence in France is a great argument for the validity of Christianity and its superiority over Islam. In early October of 2020, a young Muslim beheaded a French schoolteacher who had shown a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad to his class. A satirical magazine called Charlie Hebdo republished the images to mark a Muslim attack on the magazine in 2015. On October 29, 2020, a Tunisian man carrying a copy of the Quran killed three people in the city of Nice and riots continue with thousands of Muslims marching on the French embassy.

We must point out that not all Muslims endorse this kind of behavior and violence, and a few have even denounced it. The fact is that Islam was rooted in violence and the Quran endorses it. You can understand the Muslim violence in France and other countries when you read passages in the Quran like the following: “Fighting is obligatory for you” (2:216), “Retaliation is decreed for you in bloodshed” (2:178), “Those who avenge themselves when wronged incur no guilt” (42:42-43), “When you meet the unbelievers in the battlefield, strike off their heads” (47:3-5).

The teaching of Jesus Christ is in stark contrast to the Muslim teaching. You can’t read the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 and not see the contrast. Jesus told His followers to love their enemies, to turn the other cheek, to go the second mile, to return good for evil, and to live at peace. In addition to that, the Bible makes it clear that our battle is not with flesh and blood – not with the physical. Read Ephesians 6:12 and realize that unlike Islam the message of Christ is primarily spiritual, not political

Years ago, a statue of Jesus immersed in urine was circulated as a work of art. Atheists have circulated numerous cartoons of Jesus that were insulting and repulsive. There are numerous atheist periodicals that constantly abuse Christianity As we approach the Christmas season, we will even see billboards ridiculing the story of Christ. The Bible condemns retaliation and encourages love, peace, and tolerance. Violence over the Christian faith by Christians is minimal and only caused by people with other motives.

As we hear about the Muslim violence in France and elsewhere, we are reminded of the freedom we have in America because our founders were men who tried to follow the principles of Christ as a rule of law.

Reference: USA Today 10/31/20 and AP writer Isabel Debre.

November 4, 2020November 3, 2020

The Forgotten Virus – HIV

With so much concern about the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, the forgotten virus is Human Immunodeficiency Virus, causing AIDS.

In 1981, the Center For Disease Control established the term “Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome” or AIDS. The disease was initially found among gay men and had been transferred to humans from monkeys. AIDS spread rapidly and caused many deaths. In 1885, Dr. Mathilde Krim and the National AIDS Research Foundation merged to form amfAR to battle AIDS. In 1995 the FDA approved a protease inhibiter, a new class of drugs that reduced the AIDS fatalities. By 2006 mother to child HIV transmission in the United States had declined to less than 2%. All that is progress, but not a cure.

Doctors are still treating AIDS cases with medicines that are a means of control. The disease continues to be a worldwide pandemic. In 2019, 1.7 million people became newly infected with HIV. Today, 38 million people are living with HIV. There were 770,000 deaths due to AIDS in 2019, and HIV rates are rising. Stem-cell transplant is making strides toward a cure, but research is slow and expensive. The organization amfAR has invested $550 million in programs aiming for a cure.

The story of AIDS is very similar to the story of COVID-19. Both were contracted initially as a result of human activity with animals. A virus may be inactive in an animal and very active in a human. Lifestyle is a major issue in both HIV and COVID-19. If humans would follow the instructions God has given us in His Word, neither of these viruses would be active in human populations. In both cases, a total cure is unlikely, especially for those of us with limited incomes.

The forgotten virus, HIV, doesn’t make headlines in the media, but it continues to be an issue for millions of people. That fact should send a message that applies to the world we live in today. We should learn from our previous mistakes and understand that. We should not have to go through one pandemic after another before realizing that God’s rules for relationships of all kinds have a purpose. We should recognize the truth of Jeremiah’s prayer: “I know, O Lord, that a man’s life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps.”

Data from amfAR letter of 10/20.

November 3, 2020November 2, 2020

The Questionnaire Game

The questionnaire game is the latest fundraising technique. Organizations mail questionnaires on subjects that arouse strong feelings, and they word the questions to make people react emotionally. Some of these questionnaires may be sincere and address a real issue. Many of them are scams and quick and easy ways to get money. This has been true of political and religious issues.

As two examples that came in today’s mail, let me point out how this works. The first questionnaire is from “The Freedom Center” and is called “Islam in Our Schools.” The questionnaire begins by making several statements that are both impossible to check out and are very unlikely. For example: “In a Florida school, students had to design and create Muslim prayer rugs.” The unanswered question is, what school and what class? Was it a private school or a public school? Was it an art class or a social studies class? Another statement on the same questionnaire: “While in Texas a seventh-grade assignment taught kids that God was a myth and not a fact.” Again, what school, what subject, and what is meant by “myth.” This statement is followed by: “Countless schools around the country force children to learn and recite the five pillars of Islam.” Countless could be almost any number.

After making these undocumented claims, it plays the questionnaire game with inflammatory questions: “Should schools teach only Pro-Islamic lessons yes or no. Should our schools teach anti-Christian messages to children? Yes or no.” This is just a small sampling of the questions. The questions are followed by asking the person who filled out the questionnaire to include a minimum of $23.00 and return it to the Freedom Center.

Also in the mail was a different questionnaire called “The Faith Survey Michigan Edition.” This questionnaire begins with six personal questions and then asks six rather general opinions such as: “Do you think personal, daily Bible study is an effective way to grow as a Christian? Yes or No.” This one ends with: “Are you willing to help missionaries grow and sustain fruitful discipleship ministries here in America and around the globe?” There is only one choice on this one, and that is, “Yes, I’ve enclosed today’s gift of (check one) $15.00, $25.00, $35.00, and other.” There is no indication of what religious organization you are sending the money to or what they intend to do with the money. You are giving personal information to them – credit card information or check information.

We must beware of the questionnaire game. These questionnaires are a great tool for scammers, and they are likely to be vehicles that are only designed to get money. These are examples in the area of religion, but it is true of political questionnaires as well. Religion and politics have been areas of abuse and exploitation from the beginning of recorded time. Real Christianity is, “To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world (James 1:27).”

November 2, 2020November 1, 2020

Ants Adapting Tool Use

Scientists are always studying the methods animals use to obtain food. Foraging often involves more than finding food in the open or running it down. Sometimes it requires the use of tools and adapting the way they use tools. Crows can use a tool to pry the lid off a milk bottle, and seagulls can crack open clam shells by dropping them on rocks from high elevations. In a recent study, biologists observed ants adapting tool use to obtain food.

Researchers found that black imported fire ants (Solenopsis richteri) can use sand to adapt their method of reaching a food source. Researchers filled small containers with sugar water, a favorite food for the ants. This species of ants have hydrophobic exoskeletons, which allow them to float on the water to reach the food. However, when the scientists added a surfactant to reduce the surface tension, the ants sank and drowned.

That was the point where the scientists saw the ants adapting tool use. The researchers provided the ants with sand in various grain sizes. They allowed the ants to choose a way to reduce their drowning risk. One of the study authors, Dr. Aiming Zhou, said, “We found the ants used sand to build a structure that could effectively draw sugar water out of the container to then be collected.” Dr. Jian Chen, another author of the research, said, “We knew some ant species are able to use tools, particularly in collecting liquid food; however, we were surprised by such remarkable tool use displayed by black imported fire ants.”

It is difficult to believe that the ants have a brain that could reason this out, and they did not display trial and error behavior. The response was immediate and indicated that built into the ant’s DNA is something that enables them to secure food. Entomologist Jian Chen wrote, “Our findings suggest that ants and other social insects may have considerable high cognitive capabilities for unique foraging strategies.” Previously cognitive sophistication has been observed in primates and birds, but scientists had thought the behavior was “hard wired” in invertebrates. These ants adapting tool use seems to defy that understanding. According to Dr. Chen, “Our study is the first to touch on this interesting topic.”

We would suggest that the ants’ Creator designed them to live in a wide variety of environments and built the tools into their genetics that would allow them to do that.

Reference: britishecologicalsociety.org

November 1, 2020November 1, 2020

Made for Another World

“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” Those words were written by C. S. Lewis, a professor of English literature at Oxford University and later at Cambridge University.

He wrote more than 40 books which are still in print even though he died in 1963. His writings have been translated into more than 30 languages. Some of them from the “Chronicles of Narnia” series have been made into movies by Disney.

The quote about being made for another world comes from Lewis’s book Mere Christianity. C.S. Lewis experienced times when he longed for something that was just beyond his grasp. Haven’t we all had that experience? We look for beauty, but everything has its imperfections. We long for justice, but we find injustice all around us. We long for love, but people disappoint us. We desire peace, but turmoil surrounds us.

This world has many things that seem attractive to us. Food, travel, sex, pleasures of all kinds beckon us. They appeal to our senses and our inner longings, but again and again, when we obtain them, they fall short of our expectations. We say, “There must be something better.”

We believe, as C. S. Lewis did, that those desires which nothing in this world can satisfy are evidence that we were made for another world. The good things of this world are only shadows of things to come. Lewis was an atheist who came to believe and accept Jesus Christ as his savior. He still faced challenges of grief and terminal illness in this life, but his faith brought him through to another world.

We believe that God made us for another world, and He will bring us to the fulfillment of the beauty, justice, love, and peace we long for.

October 31, 2020October 31, 2020

Origin of Halloween

As our society rejects God and the Bible, people grab onto substitutes for the Christian faith. Sometimes those substitutes can be dangerous and certainly foolish. We see an increase in this activity around Halloween. Decorating with jack-o-lanterns and putting on costumes, and even trick or treating can be fun as long as it doesn’t move into witchcraft or a destructive game. However, it is important that we know something about the origin of Halloween and instruct our children about what is real and what is fantasy.

The origin of Halloween and most of its customs can be traced to an ancient pagan Celtic festival called Samhain, Gaelic for “summer’s end.” When the Roman Empire took over Celtic land, they added their traditions to Samhain and the day became known as “All Hallows Day.” Later the Catholic Church designated November 1 as All Saints Day in honor of Catholic saints. People costumed as angels and saints and paraded through the villages. Since November 1 was once called All Hallows Day, October 31 became known as All Hallows Eve, which was shortened to “Halloween”.

In the Middle Ages, women who practiced divination were called witches from the Anglo-Saxon word wicce or wise one. Superstitious people believed that these women flew out of their chimneys on broomsticks and terrorized people with magical deeds. Jack-o-lanterns and costumes were the rage during Samhain, all designed to scare off evil spirits.

Even bobbing for apples had a religious connection. Around November 1, the Roman celebrated a festival for Pomona, the goddess of fruit and orchards. The Romans believed that the first person to catch a bobbing apple with their teeth would be the first to marry in the new year. People believed that the shape of the peel thrown on the ground would be the first initial of the peeler’s true love.

You may think all of this is ancient, silly nonsense, but people believed it. In today’s world, people grab at almost anything looking for something better than what they have in this life. Jesus said, “I have come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). Life is serious, and Christ has given us the key to having an abundant life. Superstition and tradition may make grandiose promises, but the teachings of Christ work.

You can have fun with the fall tradition and use the origin of Halloween as a teaching opportunity. Above all, follow Christ for the best in this life and the life to come.

Data from The Old Farmer’s Almanac. Fall and Winter 2020, pages 14-15.

October 30, 2020October 28, 2020

Ghosts Are Not Real

As we approach Halloween in America, some people ask, “Are ghosts real?” No, ghosts are not real, and there are natural explanations for the stories about ghosts.

The fall 2020 issue of Popular Science (pages 78-87) carried an article by Jake Bittle titled, “Why Do We See Ghosts?” The article explains some famous encounters with Ghosts throughout history starting in 1500 B.C. and including the Amityville haunting in the 1970s. Bittle points out that some people WANT to believe in ghosts and will interpret anything they don’t understand as the action of a ghost.

Those of us who have spent many nights sleeping on the ground have had the experience of hearing sounds in the dark that we cannot identify. When I was in the army, I spent much of my sleep time awake wondering whether the sound I heard came from a human or a natural object or animal–or my imagination. In ancient times, it could be essential to identify a sound you didn’t recognize so that you could avoid being eaten.

Several years ago, I attended a meeting of paranormal experts on the Queen Mary, a ship that some say is haunted. Our guide repeatedly saw ghosts and tried to convince us that they were real. In every case, there were natural explanations for what our guide saw or heard. Nobody in our group saw anything that could be called a ghost.

As technology has advanced, there have been many new ways to produce effects that people could interpret as ghosts. There also have been studies relating ghost sightings to drug use or mental illness. I have friends who had all kinds of ghost experiences when they were using LSD. In those cases, ghosts are not real, even though they seem real.

There is no biblical support for ghosts. Saul’s experience with the witch of Endor was a miraculous act of God that terrorized the witch ( See 1 Samuel 28:5-19). When people reject God, as Saul did, they are desperate to find spiritual guidance of some kind, and they often seek help from ghosts.

There is no support for the existence of ghosts or their interaction with humans. In Mark 6:49, when Jesus came walking on the water, the disciples “SUPPOSED it had been a spirit,” but that is the only reference to ghosts in the New Testament.

God has promised us that we “will not be tempted above that which you are able to bear” (1 Corinthians 10:13). The Bible tells us that we can find truth in God’s word and by looking at the world God has made (Romans 1:19– 20). We need to avoid wild stories and things like Ouija boards when making life decisions because they are products of human fantasy. Ghosts are not real.

October 29, 2020October 29, 2020

Refusing to Use Vaccines is Bad Science

Many years ago, the daughter of a friend of mine had a severe reaction to a vaccination that left her brain-damaged and physically incapacitated. Many of the family’s friends refused to have their children vaccinated because of this. Several of the children contracted diseases that vaccines have could have prevented. In 1998 there was great concern about whether the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine produced autism. Now with the drive to create a COVID-19 vaccine, people are saying they will refuse to use it. Refusing to use vaccines is bad science.

Many people who oppose vaccinations do so by saying that God designed the human body, and adding materials such as vaccines suggests that God’s work is not adequate. If we carry that idea to its logical conclusion, you would never use an antibiotic or any immune therapy. Parents have even refused to give insulin to a diabetic child with tragic results.

The starting point of rejecting vaccinations was a 1998 study by Dr. Andrew Wakefield. He claimed to prove that the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine had caused autism in children. Wakefield managed to get his research into a peer-reviewed medical journal. He appeared before congress and did a 60 Minutes TV show as well as several British TV shows. It turned out the Wakefield’s claimed study was a scam.

Special interests had paid Wakefield a large amount of money to find evidence they could use in a suit against vaccine manufacturers. The claimed autism evidence was faked. The problem was that the medical community did not follow scientific rules in analyzing Wakefield’s claims. Wakefield was stripped of his medical license because his research did not follow scientific methods and used none of the required safeguards for research of this kind.

Refusing to use vaccines is bad science. Vaccines stimulate the body to produce an immune response to defeat a selected virus. There is no substitute for what the body has built into it. Most of us take an aspirin or a vitamin pill to stimulate the body to solve a perceived problem. My old doctor used to say he never cured anyone of anything. He simply found ways to make the body solve a problem itself.

I have had a severe reaction to bee stings and hay fever reactions to alfalfa. I can take medications to stop those reactions, and without those medications, a bee could kill me. When I was a child, I had severe reactions to sulfa drugs, which threatened my life on one occasion. Any of us can react to a medication or a natural substance, and sometimes this reaction can kill us. My friends eventually lost their child to the reaction she had to the vaccine. It was a tragedy and brought great pain to them. Such an incident is rare, but it does happen.

We raised an adopted child whose biological mother had measles during her pregnancy. He is mentally challenged, blind from cerebral palsy, and wheelchair-bound. If his mother had taken the vaccine that killed my friend’s child, my son Tim would have had none of his problems. Refusing to use vaccines is bad science, and it can have dire consequences. I don’t know all the answers, but God has allowed us to have medical tools, and refusing to use them is not a solution.

Reference: The Doctor Who Fooled the World: Science Deception, and the War on Vaccines by Brian Deer, Johns Hopkins Press.