Before Dawn
5:45 am
The sun didn't beat me up this morning. The sky is lightening, and the birds are in full voice. It's time to bless the day, and thank the Creator for His many blessings. I'll be on the front porch in a few minutes, with my coffee, my Bible and my prayer journal. But first this:
Yesterday I went into town after I dropped Pastor Art off at work. The first thing I did was go to a nice little park to pray. I have a lot of happy grandchildren memories about that partiuclar park. It was still early, and a bit rainy (thank the LORD for the rain), so I was alone as I walked along the stream, listening to the sound of the determined water dance over the rocks in its way. I got all sad and misty eyed, that way grandmas sometimes do, thinking about my grandkids, and their father, whom I haven't seen or heard from since Christmas.
I strained to remember happy times that I spent with my own grandmothers. I thought, did my own mother, or grandmothers love me any bit near as much as I love my Elijah, my Amadaya. Does my own dear son know how much I love him. The feelings of love were so strong. And I thought, they will never realize how deeply I love them. And then I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit,
"Do you realize how much I love You child?"
God's love for us, as small and insignificant as we are in this huge universe which He created, His love for us is like that of a parent for his child.
The Bible uses a lot of words to explain our relationship with and to the Creator. He's our King, our LORD, our Shepherd, our Master, our Judge. We are the sheep of His pastor, hopefully His good and faithful servents, even His friends. But when Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He told them to call on Abba, Father. When Jesus taught the ultimate lesson on forgiveness, and called out to the Almighty to forgive those who were nailing Him to the cross, He called out to His Father. Those of you who are parents, consider this. To what extent would you go to find your child if he or she got lost? What sacrifice would you make to save the life of your child?
I think now, of the cross. We call Jesus the Son of God. Actually He seemed to prefer the label Son of Man. We say over and over again: For God so Loved the World that He gave His only begotten son... So sometimes the Father seems cruel. How could He do that to His own son, How could He allow such torture and shame? Why? But we need to realize it was the Creator of the Universe on that cross, dying for His beloved creation. That is how much God loves us. So that we who were lost could find our way out of the darkness. Why the cross? Perhaps we can never fully understand why? But not knowing why doesn't mean it didn't happen. The cross may seem like foolishness to those who are perishing. But it is all the proof I need that the Bible is true, and Jesus is Truth. And God loves us. As real and strong and urgent that my love for my children is, even though they are grown and have made some really bad choices, as strong and urgent that my love for my grandson and his sweet sister is, God's love for me, for us, is more real, more urgent. He wants me to spend time with Him, to listen to Him when He speaks to me, to run to Him when the world gets too big or too scarey for me to deal with. To hold His hand as He leads me, not into temptation, but down His path of righteousness...The sun is just about to peek over the horizon. I'm coming Abba...
9 comments:
"The cross may seem like foolishness to those who are perishing. But it is all the proof I need that the Bible is true, and Jesus is Truth."
You see, it is comments like this that drive me nuts sometimes. The story of the cross is the only proof you need that the book that tells that story is true? It is circular logic, and as such is not true. Your faith makes you believe both, but neither can stand as proof of the other.
I can't tell you the number of times (and I know this wasn't your purpose) people have attempted to convert me using similar logic. Obviously their God is the one true God because He sacrificed His son. Well, no. This isn't proof, this is a statement of your belief, that requires me to make a similar leap in order to grab ahold of, and which, if I did, would present the fact that I no longer had the need for this statement to convince me.
circular logic perhaps...but He also says "my ways are not your ways and my thoughts are not your thoughts" so sometimes it just takes a leap of faith, which is why I guess, it is faith which saves: Who so ever believes.
I'll admit the statement you quoted was a bit simplistic. Like the bumper sticker that says:
God said it, I believe it, that settles it. But we know historically that Jesus lived and died on the cross. We know this outside of Biblical evidence. We know that his death on the cross, even the reason for it, was written about by a Jewish prophet at least 300 years before his birth. (The dead sea scrolls, found in the 1940's or 30'3 and carbon dated to some time before Christ.)I love the book of Isaiah, and through the dead sea scrolls, God gave us that book twice. I think, because it contains some of the most distinct prophesies about Jesus. The fact that Jesus existed, and died the death predicted by the prophet Isaiah, before there was even such a thing as crucifixion, leads me to realize and accept the other truths taught in that book, about God. Which validates, for me, most of the rest of the old testament. The fact that Jesus died on that cross, and that single man, mainly due to that significant historical event, split time and effected the whole world, the effect is still felt, 2000 years later...validates the gospels. I believe what Jesus said about Himself. I believe what the Bible says about its self. I believe in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Faith isn't always logical. Faith is sometimes just faith. Am I driving you futher nuts?
Wow, evidence that predestination is true!!!
Hey guys,
Thing is, we believe in what we want to. No one can be convinced of something they don't want to be convinced of. For some, the cross is all the evidence they need because they decide it is, not because it is actually empirical proof. IN the same way, people who do not believe, do so because that's what they want to believe.
No evidence convinces people either way - rather, we gather and believe the evidence that supports what we want to believe. Does this make any sense?
I do agree with you, wanderer, that it makes a pretty poor "argument." Circular reasoning, even about something that may be true, is still circular reasoning.
That being said, I enjoyed your post maryellen! thanks for praying/emailing while I was gone!
ok you guys, this is really nuts.
First of all I believe in predestination, only I believe that everyone is predestined for salvation, and whether or not we accept that free gift is up to us, and not foreknown by God, because He chose it to be that way, and whether or not our peanut brains can understand how that works, a truly loving God would not allow a human to be born into this world knowing that that person was destined to a devils hell for eternity, and also knowing that that person was going to cause severe pain and injustice why he walked on this planet. Second of all, if you want to communicate with me, discuss things on this blog, or just plain call me a heretic and run and hide somewhere in hyperspace, fine, just stop using the names of dead theologians. Then again, Hey John Wesley, are you out there? I could use a little help here.
maryellen
prophecy does not prove predestination. not all prophecy comes from God. I can predict what my students will do, given certian circumstances. I can predict what my husband will do at times. that doesn't mean I have foreknowledge, or that what I predict is predestined. God knows human nature, he knows our hearts, that doesn't mean some of us were born for hell, and others for heaven.
thanks for your comment grey owl.
you slipped in yours while I was writing to John Calvin. Martin Luther left me a message the other day. boy, you just never know who reads these things do you.
MaryEllen - I suspect that John Calvin and Martin Luther are the same person. I also suspect that you and I both know precisely who said person is, since they hide behind pseudonyms but write in precisely the same style. But what can you do? If he wants to be a coward about it, there is little any of us can do but ignore him until he grows up.
As to the actual subject matter here, I want to make clear that I wasn't attacking your beliefs. I am not now. I just question the simplicity of the statement: "That is all the proof I need."
As for the other examples you gave, I have responses, but I won't harass you. After all, Grey Owl was on the mark with how we see things as proof or not partially dependent on our willingness to believe. I see your examples quite differently than you. This isn't news to either of us.
John Calvin - I told your alter ego this before, but I will point out again. This wouldn't be evidence of predestination being true. It would be evidence that if God wants something, He gets it. Thanks for playing.
So who do you suspect John Calvin is? I have been gone for a while, someone I'd recognize?
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