The Big Questions

The big questions are:
1. How did I get here?
2. How did we get here?
3. What is the purpose of being here?
4. What should I do while I am here?

At the age of 27 years, about 43 years ago, I had made a big mess of my life. So I turned my life over to Jesus.
I am happy about how life has turned out for me and the family that God has given me.

Prior to salvation, I was quite undecided about those big questions listed above. Now, after walking with the Lord for 41 years, I have managed to answer those questions to my satisfaction. There are, however, a few questions hovering somewhat unresolved in my mind.
For instance, as pertaining to the big question #2 above—how did we get here?—I do subscribe to the biblical explanation, although I do not understand it. I cannot comprehend all that is being described in chapters 1 and 2 of Genesis.



I do understand, and accept as true, that very first sentence of the biblical revelation:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

The verses that follow confuse me every time I try to impose order in my mind about the sequence through which our Creator did his creative work. This confusion does not really bother me. But it does fascinate me to ponder that subject.
Cutting to the chase—that is to say—the end of the book or the end of my life, the big truth that has been shown to me is that I will live eternally after passing through this life’s death.
How do I know this?
As the old song sings. . . the Bible tells me so.
The Word tells me what I really need to know: there is one man in the history of the world who survived death itself, and lived to tell about it:

Jesus.

This is a matter of belief, and I do believe it, thank God. I have been given the faith to believe in my resurrection from death, because Jesus himself has already shone the way—has been there and done that— and has passed that privilege of overcoming death along to me and to anyone else who believes what he has said about it, and demonstrated by his Resurrection.
Now, getting to the point of why I write on this particular day, year of our Lord 2020, March 3. . . while I have been fortunate enough to answer those big questions, there are still a few curiosity points that bounce around in my mind and my soul as I live and breathe in this earthly life.

For Instance, what about that creation sequence that is is described in Genesis?
People have been wondering about it, talking about it for thousands of years. In the last two centuries, speculations about question #2 above—how did we get here?—have taken a wider swath of variation than ever before. As far as I can see, this widening of theories and enquiries is prompted by two main developments in our collective human database—
1.) the discovery of geologic time, which scientifically explains how our earth was continuously rearranged by huge tectonic and geologic forces over millions of years. 
2.) Darwin’s discovery of natural selection in the biological developments of life in nature.
As a believer in Jesus, I have no problem with either of these scientific discoveries. I believe these discoveries are merely a human way of classifying the universal and life principles that God set in motion millions of years ago.
For example: Genesis reports, in verse 1:24:

Then God said, ‘ Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind.’

This is just an old-fashioned way of saying: God designed into his creation a written code for ordering the development of life: DNA.


So I hope you’re tracking with me on this. I realize that some of my believing brethren do not subscribe to this interpretation. But that’s okay; we’re not going to agree on everything. By ’n by, we’ll still celebrate our eternal life together with Jesus because of what he endured in sacrificing his perfect life at Calvary.
But the reason I am writing this today is: an amazing thing happened this morning. I had a funny little revelation while reading in Genesis. 
In Genesis 2, we learn the truth that:

“. . . the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.,  The Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there he placed the man whom He had formed.”

So we learn that Adam—and later Eve, were a special creation, placed in a special place, for a special, divinely determined destiny. But Adam and Eve screwed that arrangement up when they opted for knowledge instead of truth.
So our Creator had to suspend their special status. Consequently, he ejected them from the Garden; they had to  go out and make their way by the sweat of their brow like  all those other humans who had evolved out there in the wild wild world.
A little further down in the scripture we learn more about historical human developments. From Genesis 6:

“Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves . . .”

Who were those “sons of God”? They were the offspring of the Creator’s special creation in Paradise, the children of Adam and Eve.
We are told the names of the created couple's first three sons: Cain, Abel and Seth.
These boys were, categorically, the “sons of God,” because their parents did not carry the same genetic imprint as those other men and women who originated “east of Eden,” outside the gates of Paradise.

Now just because they were “sons of God” does not mean they necessarily acted like it. You may remember that Cain killed Abel, and that God had a serious discussion with him about what was to happen next. But then God had mercy on Cain, even though he had committed such a heinous deed by killing his own brother, who had not deserved such a fate.
 God gave Cain a second chance anyway, by releasing him out into mankind to get a new start.
In Genesis 4, the story continues:

  “Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Cain had relations with his wife, and she conceived, and gave birth to Enoch, and he built a city. . .”

For a very long time, I had wondered about . . .
 a.) these “sons of God”—who they were and where they came from? Answer: They came from Adam and Eve.
and b.) the land of Nod, and the people who populated that land? Answer: They were humans who evolved through God’s natural selection process.
Now I understand more about reconciling the revealed Truth of our Creator with what we ourselves have scientifically understood  about life on this amazing planet.



Glass half-Full

Believing, or figuring it all out?

You may believe, as I do, that we were created long ago in the image of God.
Or you may think that we evolved, even longer ago, from lower life forms,
Since we don’t really really know exactly how it all spun out, let’s consider these two scenarios for a moment.
What if one of our hominid progenitors were set aside in a select place and given a “special” touch by the LifeForce, so that the new being would share a certain spiritual characteristic or two with its Creator? . . .
instead of being just, you know, another dumb critter.
What if some of us, caught up in this mysterious thing called human history, chose to identify with the special Creation?
What if others of us just continued to evolve the rough-and-tumble way, acknowledging our primeval struggle through the long ranks of evolving, biological creatures. . . vertebrates, primates, hominids, neanderthals, and ultimately homo sapiens?
What if the Creator (aka the LifeForce) set up both paths of human development—one being “special’ and the other being the long, gradual process that Mr. Darwin sought to explain?
And what if, according to our human predicament, you were able to choose which model of development you would subscribe to, and thus pattern your life by?
Which would you choose?
Come let us reason together.
Could it be that the LifeForce ignited that first big shbang, and then later selected a spot from whence to spark something new, called “life”, beginning at the very lowest level? and then took a sort of sabbath break from creating while allowing the life process to move forward in a natural way over a vast expanse of time?
On the other hand could it be that, at some point in said development, that LifeCreator sovereignly made a supra-natural selection, setting a particular primate aside and, sprinkling in the dust of the earth, and initiated thereby a spiritual, civilizing character through the soulish man and his other half, the loverly (wo)man?
I’m thinking that scenario would render some of us Sons or Daughters of God, while others would be sons or daughters of nature.
What if—way back when— the Sons of God saw the daughters of Men? And then, finding them desirable, chose to hookup with them?
What would we have then?
Perhaps we have a human race torn between simply believing versus trying to figure it all out—a homo sapiens species somewhat divided between them who settle for the simple wonder of believing . . .


versus them who propose to analyze it and document the results:


Which would you be?
I have made my choice, because I have not yet been able to figure it all out.  How about you?
 
King of Soul

On Questionable Apples

Long, long ago and far, far removed from this present day and time, it is written
that our ancestress Eve was pondering an apple or something similar
on the infamous tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Whilst she pondered, neither weak nor weary,
o’er forbidden fruit of not-forgotten lore,
suddenly there came a hissing,
as of someone gently kissing,
kissing her cognitive mind
with a curious temptive find.
Her visitor, the serpent, was speaking.
Thereby was her curiosity peaking,
and as her imagination was being fed,
the subtle serpent said
take a bite
it’s all right.
If you do it, your eyes will be opened.
So she did, and they were;
her eyes were opened.
Meanwhile, back at the Eden ranch,
her significant other was wondering,
What’s up with Eve?
Where’s my woman to whom I cleave?
So he ambled over to that mysterious tree
to see
in what circumstance his Eve may be.
And there he found her partaking
and little did they know that history was in their making
when Adam grabbed the thing and took a bite
from that forbidden fruit which expanded their sight
because the serpent had said it would open their eyes,
as Genesis says indeed it did open their eyes,
so now they would know not only good but evil as well
and so from that pivotal tasting 'til now, all hell
breaks loose;
hence all the bad news
from then till now,
and all the trouble that human traffic will allow,
which only goes to show
what maybe you already know:
A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.

 

Now in this present world we find
a similar situation in our mind.
When’er we partake of world wide web,
by a tree of virtual good and evil are we fed:
implanted with some good talkers and  bad stalkers,
and many types of souls and trolls,
with all stripes of porn and scorn,
even hateful tirades of race
opposed by traces of amazing grace.

So regarding any fruit therein you find
be judicious and take your time.
Don’t partake of anything in haste;
Be careful what you taste!
In the web of evil and good
be careful to partake of what  you  truly should.
 
So this ancient lesson to your mind I bring:
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

King of Soul

The Two Trees

It's no accident that the first human story in the Bible is about a man, a woman, and two trees. One tree is referred to as the tree of life and the other is called the knowledge of good and evil.

Here's a pic, so you'll a have visual to help you visualize the scene. Images are, as you know, so important these days on the internet, because it is generally thought that text is boring and doesn't really get the point across like images and icons do. So here's a pic of two trees; you can get an idea of what the man and woman might have been dealing with:

You'll notice that this image is a little faded, but that's okay. The photo itself is over 5000 years old, so I was quite lucky to obtain it for this presentation.

As you go through life you will come across many different people, places, things. Sometimes you know what to think about them; other times you don't quite know what to think. So knowledge itself can be a sketchy thing, especially when it comes to knowing the difference between something that is good and something that is not good. Occasionally you may come across something that is so "not good" that it can be classified as "evil."

Death that results from a car accident, for instance, is a bad thing, but not necessarily evil. On the other hand, if some jerk runs you down deliberately on the street and kills you, that would be evil--both the act itself and the person who did it.

If someone gives you an apple and you bite into it and it tastes good, then you know that it is good, so to speak. This is knowledge that comes from tasteful experience.

If someone gives you a mushroom, will you just bite into it like you would bite into an apple? I hope not, because some mushrooms are poisonous, while others are not. To be able to identify a poisonous one from a nutritional one would require knowledge. If a friend of yours grows a portobello mushroom and gives it to you for your dining pleasure, that is is good. The mushroom is good in your salad or some other prepared dish. You could even say the person is good because of their generosity to provide this tasty proteinous food for you.

If, on the other hand, a person knowingly gives you a poisonous mushroom, this is evil. The mushroom itself is not evil, because it has no evil intent; rather the person who knowingly gave it to you is evil. So to know the difference between good mushrooms and bad ones is knowledge; not only that-- it is useful knowledge.

Now, understand this: there is a difference between knowing something and believing something.

If you wake up at 5 a.m. and it's still dark outside, you still know that the sun will rise and and day will come. This is not a matter of faith; what you believe about the sun coming up has nothing to do with whether the sun actually does come up. The sun rises to a new day, every day, whether we believe it or not. We know this.

If, on the other hand, you believe that the day will be a good day-- that is a matter of faith. Because your believing that it will be a good will probably make a difference in whether you do have a good day or not. Furthermore, it you believe that there is a God who is good and can make any day good even if bad people are trying to screw it up for you, then that is a matter of faith.

And more furthermore, if you believe that a good God can give you good instruction about how to discern between good and evil, that is also a matter of faith. And you can believe it if you want to, no matter what anybody says. And if someone comes along and tells you there is no evidence to support the existence of God or the tree of Life or any other good thing that you believe, you tell them to go jump in the lake.

Because knowledge can only take you so far in life, in liberty, and in the pursuit of happiness, while a little faith fan take you a lot farther. In the days ahead, we should remember this. All the humble people of the world whose well-being is founded in faith should retain, no matter what happens, their right to believe.

And the people who think they need to make everybody conform to some proven facts and the big data--they don't know what they're talking about. To hell with them.

In this picture, see if you can guess which one is the tree of life and which one is the tree of knowledge.

I'll give you a hint. Both of them are growing on a planet that has survived very long ages of warming and epochs of cooling. As you ponder and choose among the trees of life and the many branches of knowledge, try to cultivate a warm heart with a little faith, while still keeping your cool and being wisely analytical. And it will go well with you.

Also, watch out for snakes.

Glass Chimera