Elder’s Corner: Mourning With Those Who Mourn

I found the following devotional that I would like to share with you. From https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/2015/11/mourning-with-those-who-mourn-looking-for-answers-to-the-terror-in-paris/)

—Enrique

“Lately we mourn and pray for our brothers and sisters in France—for those who lost loved ones in the recent terror attacks, and for the millions of French citizens who must now try to process this brutality.

One of the oldest and toughest challenges for Christians is finding a way to understand the existence of terrible evil in a world that is ruled by a loving, all-powerful God. It’s not an easy question to answer—if it were, we wouldn’t be struggling with it thousands of years after Christ—but the Bible does offer hope in the face of violence and evil.

There are many Bible passages that talk about evil and suffering; one of the best-known is Romans 8, which reads in part: “The sufferings we have now are nothing compared to the great glory that will be shown to us. Everything God made is waiting with excitement for God to show his children’s glory completely. Everything God made was changed to become useless, not by its own wish but because God wanted it and because all along there was this hope: that everything God made would be set free from ruin to have the freedom and glory that belong to God’s children.

We know that everything God made has been waiting until now in pain, like a woman ready to give birth. Not only the world, but we also have been waiting with pain inside us. We have the Spirit as the first part of God’s promise. So we are waiting for God to finish making us his own children, which means our bodies will be made free. We were saved, and we have this hope. If we see what we are waiting for, that is not really hope. People do not hope for something they already have. But we are hoping for something we do not have yet, and we are waiting for it patiently” (Rom. 8:18-25).

We invite you to spend some time in prayer for our brothers and sisters in France. May God comfort the survivors, may He grant safety to police and rescue workers, and may the church of Jesus Christ be a beacon of hope for those overwhelmed by sorrow.”

Man, The Image of God #5: What in the World Am I Here for (Part 1)?

“Everyone who is called by My name, And whom I have created for My glory, Whom I have formed, even whom I have made” (Isa. 43:7 NASB).

Your life has great meaning and purpose! Some will claim that you can discover your life’s meaning by looking within yourself. However, as Rick Warren said, “you didn’t create yourself, so there is no way you can tell yourself what you were created for! If I handed you an invention you had never seen before, you wouldn’t know its purpose, and the invention itself wouldn’t be able to tell you either. Only the creator or the owner’s manual could reveal its purpose” (Purpose Driven Life, p. 18). Even renown atheist Bertrand Russell admits, “Unless you assume a God, the question of life’s purpose is meaningless.”

Meaning comes from the God who created all things, the Lord Jesus Christ. “For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible…every-thing got started in Him and finds its purpose in Him” (Col. 1:16 MSG). However, “Since there was perfect love and fellowship among members of the Trinity for all eternity (John 17:24), God did not create us because He was lonely or because He needed fellowship with other persons—God did not need us for any reason. Nevertheless, God created us for His own glory” (Grudem, Systematic Theology, p. 440).  

While there are 5 specific purposes for our lives listed in the Bible, they all find their basis in the first one of glorifying God and enjoying Him forever. This is about knowing Christ and making Him known. 

Augustine, one of the forefathers of the early church said, "You (O’ God) have formed us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in You.” And God wants the very best for our lives. Jesus stated that He came so that we may have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10). Therefore, David tells God, “In Your presence there is fullness of joy, in Your right hand are pleasures forevermore (Ps. 16:11).

“Fullness of joy is found in knowing God and delighting in the excellence of His character. To be in His presence, to enjoy fellowship with Him, is a greater blessing than anything that can be imagined” (Grudem, pg. 441).  Proverbs 11:28 states “A life devoted to things is a dead life; a stump; a God-shaped life is a flourishing tree” (MSG). 

Therefore, I encourage you to follow the words of the Apostle Paul, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31). And in so doing, you will discover the life that you were born to live.

In His service,

     Matt

Worldview #5: Is Evolution a Religion?

I’ll admit, I love this time of year. No, no, I am not a big fan of the cold and snow, even though I grew up in Michigan, a place that tends to get a lot of cold and snowy weather. But what I love about it is spending time with friends and family. I enjoy all those special holiday delights that for some reason I only get to enjoy at this time of year. But most of all, I love this time of year as more people consider the birth of Christ. Yet Christmas in the USA is not what it used to be. That may be true because a lot of people disagree with the reason for the season since after all they follow a different religion, the religion of evolution (and may not even realize it)!

What evolution? A religion? You’ve got to be kidding me. People who hold to the teaching of evolution do so because either that is what they were taught in school and/or they believe it is scientific. There are 2 reasons why I believe that evolution is a religion. 

First, Webster defined faith as a “Firm belief in something for which there is no proof.” Last month we discussed how there is no evidence which exists that proves macro-evolution (evolution from one species to another: for example a bird to a dog, or monkey to a man). Meanwhile, science is the “systematic knowledge of the physical or material world gained through observation and experimentation” (http://dictionary. reference.com/browse/science). 

This creates a problem for those who hold to evolution. “Since all things that begin to exist must have a cause, this means that the universe has a cause. However, a naturalistic cause for the origin of the universe cannot be confirmed observationally. Therefore, atheists believe the tenet that all phenomena have a naturalistic cause based solely upon faith in naturalism” (Rich Deem, Evidence for God).

Second, Webster defines a religion as “a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith.” It is hard to deny the ardor and faith which many evolutionists hold regarding their belief. It has been indoctrinating our public schools for centuries. As philosophy professor Dr. Michael Ruse at the University of Guelph in Ontario said, “Evolution is promoted by its practitioners as more than mere science. Evolution is promulgated as an ideology, a secular religion—a full-fledged alternative to Christianity, with meaning and morality… Evolution is a religion. This was true of evolution in the beginning, and it is true of evolution still today (“Saving Darwinism from the Darwinians,” National Post, May 13, 2000, p. B-3).  Note also that the definition does not necessarily involve the concept of God. Consider the following comparison between the religion of evolution and the religion of Christianity:

	Christianity[i]	Evolution
A holy book	Christianity teaches that the Bible is the Word of God and that this book teaches us what to believe concerning God and what God requires of us.	The holy book of the evolutionists is Darwin’s Origin of Species. The evolutionists believe that this book gives an explanation for the origin and development of life on earth[ii] without the need of any God or supernatural agent.
The origin of everything	Christianity teaches that in the beginning God created everything (that is, the entire universe with all its stars and planets, all plant life and all animal and human life) out of nothing over a period of six literal days.	In comparison, evolution teaches that in the beginning nothing exploded and gradually evolved over billions of years into the universe that we see today.
The origin of death and suffering	Christianity teaches that when God created everything, it was perfect. As a result of the sin of the first man, Adam, death, disease, and suffering entered the scene.	Evolution does not recognize the word sin but teaches that fish-to-philosopher evolution can only proceed via death. Hence, death, disease, and suffering are the necessary driving forces of evolution; from this concept, we get the phrase survival of the fittest.
The reason why humans are here	Christianity teaches that humans are the pinnacle of God’s creation and that they were made in God’s image and likeness.	In contrast, amoeba-to-architect evolution teaches that humans have evolved from some apelike ancestor, which in turn evolved from another sort of animal.
The future of humans	Christianity teaches that one day the Lord Jesus Christ will return to this earth and that He will create a new heavens and earth where those people who trusted Him as their Lord and Savior in this life will live with God forever.	Evolution, on the other hand, teaches that humans are not the end product of evolution; evolution will continue and humans will either become extinct or evolve into some other species of creature that will definitely not be human.
The future of the universe	Christianity teaches that the present universe will be burned up by God, and He will then create a new heavens and earth.	Evolution, on the other hand, teaches that one day the universe will reach what is called a heat death, although it is in effect a cold death, for the temperature of the universe will be just a fraction of a degree above absolute zero. This will happen when all the energy that is available to do work will have been used up, and then nothing will happen—the universe will just “be.” The time period for the universe to reach this state is almost unimaginable. It is thought that it will take about a thousand billion years for all the stars to use up all their fuel and fizzle out. By then, of course, there will be no life in the universe; every single life-form, including humans, will have become extinct billions of years previously. There will still be, however, occasional flashes of starlight in the dark universe as very large stars collapse in on themselves to form black holes. For the next 10122 (that is the figure 1 followed by 122 zeros!) years, this so-called Hawking radiation will be the only thing happening in the universe. Then, when all the black holes have evaporated, there will be darkness for 1026 years, during which time the universe will simply “be” and nothing will happen.

Therefore, evolution does not fit into the category of science since there has been no observation or experimentation of evolution taking place. However, evolution does fit nicely into the definition of a religion. It is a system of beliefs for which there is no proof. On the other hand, the Bible does teach creation which can be observed, verified, and is subject to experimentation (see http://eugenechristianchurch. blogspot.com/search/label/Worldview)! Thus, the Bible does not teach blind faith as evolution does. It teaches that we can and should place our trust in the historical individual, named Jesus Christ whose birth we celebrate this time of year.

Merry Christmas,

            Matt

P.S. a great video for more information on how evolution is a religion and the 6 definitions of the world evolution see “Evolution is a Religion-Not Science” on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RLcfwAYCjQ

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[i] Answers In Genesis, “Is Evolution a Religion?” by Dr. Tommy Mitchell and Monty White; available from https://answersingenesis.org/world-religions/is-evolution-a-religion/; Internet; accessed 25 November 2015.

[ii] I (Monty White) once knew a professor of biology who told me that he believed that Darwin’s writings were inspired and that he read from the Origin of Species for at least 20 minutes every night before retiring to bed!

Man, The Image of God #4: The Essence of Man

“May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thess. 5:23).

God's Word is precious. It is meant to be studied, enjoyed, and rightly divided with the Holy Spirit’s help. This is a worthwhile and God honoring pursuit. Some topics will be easy to understand while others challenge and reward us.

One such topic is that of the essence of mankind. Several months ago we considered “The Spiritual Reality” (see http://eugenechristianchurch.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Spiritual%20Reality). In those articles we learned of the reality of a spiritual world. Mankind relates to the spiritual world by having a minimum of 2 different natures (called a dichotomy): spiritual (soul/spirit) and physical. Meanwhile, some argue that we have 3 natures: soul, spirit, and body, called a trichotomy.

There are two primary passages that seem to teach a trichotomy (1 Thess. 5:23; Heb. 4:12). People who hold to this view believe that a person’s soul includes their emotions, intellect and will. “They maintain that all people have such a soul, and that the different elements of the soul can either serve God or be yielded to sin. They argue that man’s spirit is a higher faculty in man that comes alive when a person becomes a Christian (Rom. 8:10). The spirit of a person then would be that part which directly worships and prays to God” (John 4:24) (Grudem, Systematic Theology, p. 472).

If these were all the passages on this topic, there would not be much debate. However, there are several more passages and arguments that support the dichotomy view.

First, several places in the Bible use the word “soul”- (compare John 12:27 with 13:21; Heb. 12:23 with Rev. 6:9) and “spirit” interchangeably or in parallel to one another (Isa. 26:9; Luke 1:46-47).

Second, some passages state that at death, the “soul” departs while others state the “spirit” departs (Gen. 35:18; Psa. 31:5; Isa. 53:12; Luke 12:20; John 19:30; Acts 7:58). Nowhere does Scripture say that both a person’s spirit and soul departed.

Third, man is said to be either “body and spirit” or “body and soul” (Matt. 10:28; 1 Cor. 5:3, 5; 7:34; James 2:26).

Fourth, both the “spirit” and the “soul” can sin (2 Cor. 7:1, 34; 1 Pet. 1:22; Rev. 18:14). This creates an issue for those who hold to a dichotomy since they hold that the “spirit” is free from sin.

The arguments for a trichotomy help us to understand passages where both soul and spirit are used together. In those cases they are more than likely used as synonyms.

Jack Cottrell said, “Man as a unity of body and spirit is unique. Unlike angels, we are bodies; unlike animals, we are spirits. Thus, man as a unity of body and spirit is uniquely equipped to occupy a distinctive place in the universe, and to fulfill his responsibilities and tasks in relation to God and to the world. With regard to the material world, our bodies make us one with and thus can relate to it comfortably and use it for our needs. At the same time our spirits equip us to rule over the world and have dominion over it. On the other hand, regarding what is above us (God), because we are spirit we have a kinship with God and can relate to Him as persons in worship and fellowship” (The Faith Once For All, p. 147). This is the essence of man.

In His service,

     Matt

Worldview #4: Research Proves Evolution True...

Yes, it is true that “Research proves evolution true BUT going the wrong way!” (Dr. Jerry Bergman, Mutations Debunk Darwin's Evolution, Seattle Creation Conference June 2013).  Webster defines evolution as “a process of continuous change from a lower, simpler, or worse to a higher, more complex, or better state.” This process of continuous change is thought to be a result of mutations. 

Ernst Mayr, professor at Harvard said: “Ultimately, all variation is due to mutation.” Geneticist and evolutionary biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky said: “Mutation is the only source of raw materials...and hence, of evolution.” Therefore, it is frequently taught that mutations and natural selection are the means by which species are able to both create variations within a species (microevolution, for example the breeding of two dogs which creates a new breed of dogs) and create entirely new species (macroevolution, for example a change from a fish to a bird).

However, is this thought process concerning mutations scientific? In order for a mutation to create a new species (macroevolution) new information has to be added. Dr. Lee Spetner, professor at Johns Hopkins University said, All mutations “that have been studied on the molecular level turn out to reduce genetic information and not to increase it” (Not By Chance, p. 138).  Thus, mutations do not create new information they only cause changes in the existing information.

Furthermore, “99.99% of all mutations are either harmful (like cancer) or what they call ‘near neutral.’ ‘Near neutral’ means that by themselves they don’t cause a problem but they add up” Dr. Jerry Bergman, Mutations Debunk Darwin's Evolution, Seattle Creation Conference June 2013).  An example of near neutral would be someone dying of old age. They really didn’t die from being old, but rather there were several health factors that added up to eventually kill the individual. This too points to mutations being harmful.  

The point behind saying all of this is that evolution teaches that through mutations and natural selection things are getting better. Meanwhile, observation science proves that things are not! This is exactly what the Bible confirms would happen. Originally, everything that was created was “very good” (Gen. 1:31). However, as a result of mankind’s disobedience, corruption, decay, disease, and death came into the world (Gen. 2:17; 3:1ff).  Yet thankfully, God promises to one day right the downward slope mankind has made. 

In His service,

       Matt 

Elder’s Corner: Read Carefully—and Be Thankful!

I was following a car that had a bumper sticker attached above the rear bumper.  I thought it said “Save a cow” “Eat a Vegetable.” I thought it was an attack against the American Beef Council's sticker “BEEF—It's What's for Dinner” campaign.  As I got closer to the car I realized I had been mistaken.  The sign really read “Save a Cow,” “Eat a Vegetarian.” It changed the whole meaning. Sometimes it helps to take a second look at our own lives to make sure we're not focused on just ourselves.

I just got back from Tulsa where I attended a seminar put on by the Cancer Treatment Centers of America. Our church is considering starting a cancer care ministry. It seems like many people in our church have been touched by the disease either directly or indirectly. I went because I thought much of the information about caring for patients with terminal illnesses would also apply to other diseases. I got lots of useful practical information for patients and also their caregivers.  Then we toured the facility.  And again God reminded me to be thankful. 

This reminds me of a favorite passage:  Col. 3:12-17  “And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.  And beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.   And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.  Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.   And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.” 

So my hope is that you have a wonderful “Thanksgiving Season” and not just a thanksgiving day.

—Alan