Newsletter 65.
Newsletter 65 from Maurice Sweetsur
Contents.
Consequences of Evolutionary teaching.
Creation or Evolution. Does it really matter what we believe?
T.T. 47 - Big bang or big mess?
O.L. 69 - Separation from God.
A heaven funny.
Consequences of Evolutionary teaching.
Three years ago I wrote on the importance of teaching Biblical Creation to our children (Creation or Evolution. Does it really matter what we believe? - Newsletter 32). I will reproduce the article below for the benefit of my newer subscribers. I was recently reminded of the necessity of such teaching by seeing an article in "Creation" magazine concerning yet another school shooting.
As at Columbine, the recent Finnish high school shooting (in which eight people plus the killer died) once again showed that classroom teaching of evolutionary theory can affect not only what a student writes on an exam paper but also the rest of his life - and the lives of those around him.
The mindset of the killer, Pekka-Eric Auvinen, was evident from his comments posted on the internet (in which he admitted being an atheist), including :-
'Life is just a coincidence - - - - result of long processes of evolution - - - - '
'Religious people, your gods are nothing and exist only in your heads.'
'Human life is not sacred. Humans are just a species among other animals - - - - Death is not a tragedy, it happens in nature all the time - - - - Not all human lives are important or worth saving.'
'Today the process of natural selection is totally misguided. - - - - It is time to put NATURAL SELECTION & SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST back on track! - - - - - I, as a natural selector, will eliminate all I see as unfit, disgraces of the human race, and failures of natural selection.'
'I am the law, judge and executioner. There is no higher authority than me.'
Auvinen's comments, and his final actions, show that what a person believes about origins can be devastatingly destructive to his own and others' lives (not to mention the terrible disruption to society - parents, teachers, police, ambulance and hospital staff, grief counsellors, even national leaders - following the shooting).
Even from a purely practical viewpoint, is evolution really the sort of ideology a society would want to teach to its children, now that the consequences are so evident for all to see?
Decline in Biblical teaching.
Alongside the increase in evolutionary teaching there has been a consequent decline in teaching Biblical truths. This decline of sound Biblical teaching to our children appears (at least to me) to be having a detrimental effect even in my own community. There are twelve primary schools in my town, and about ten years ago they all received regular (mostly weekly) Bible teaching from volunteer Christians. (This is quite a common practice in New Zealand). Today, however, the management of four of the schools have stopped 'Bible' teaching completely, two others have restricted it to only junior classes (5 and 6 year olds), five now only have monthly 'Assembly' type lessons (but not all classes attend), and only one out of the twelve still has a weekly lesson. But even that (in common with all the 'monthly' classes) is now an 'Assembly' type rather than a 'one teacher per class' situation in which you could really get to know the children and possibly help them with any problems they may have had.
Therefore many young people have now gone through our local primary schools with no, or very limited, Biblical teaching on such things as values, respect, integrity and self-esteem. Some schools do run their own "Values" programme but, in my opinion, teaching a set of man's rules without reference to the ultimate Lawgiver is likely to be of only limited benefit. The obvious question many children will ask when they reach their teens is "Why is one man's set of rules any better than my own set of rules?"
The end result of taking God out of our schools? Increasing anti-social behaviour by many of our young teens. There is a general lack of respect for other people and their property with such things as petty crime, graffiti, vandalism, bullying and gang membership all on the increase. The situation was considered bad enough for our town Mayor and our local Member of Parliament to recently lead a protest march against crime in the district, with the main aim of getting a greater police presence in our town. That might reduce the crime figures, but it is hardly likely to solve the real problem and change those teens hearts. Only Jesus can do that. But for many of them they have never heard the gospel, and 'Jesus' is merely a swear word!
I will finish by sharing one example which typifies the problem. Two years ago one local school decided that they could manage without 'Bible' teaching. Just a few months later there were headlines in the local paper detailing the tremendous increase in vandalism the school was having. Young children (some probably still attending the school) were constantly going into the school grounds and throwing rocks through the classroom windows. The school's solution? Well, not to invite the 'Bible' teachers back in, but rather - at great expense to the ratepayers - to build a very high fence round the school perimeter to keep the vandals out.
"Do not be deceived. God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. (Galatians 6 v. 7).
Creation or Evolution. Does it really matter what we believe?
Many Christians would answer "No" to that question, stating that all that really matters is whether we have put our trust in Christ and been 'born again'. Consequently they would argue that therefore it doesn't really matter what we teach our children about the origins of the Universe and life. In fact I have a Christian friend who refuses to teach on the subject of Creation, stating that it is too controversial.
I can sympathise with my friend's point of view because our children are being brought up in an 'evolutionised' society where it is usually accepted without question that higher life forms evolved from lower ones and that the earth is billions of years old. Therefore to teach children that God made the entire Universe, including all its different life forms, in the space of just six days only a few thousand years ago, is indeed likely to cause confusion in the minds of some.
I should make it clear that I am not talking about Godless evolution, which basically states that everything in the Universe made itself due to a series of chance random processes over billions of years. No, I am talking about theistic evolution, which is the belief that simple life forms did change and evolve into higher ones, but that God directed the process.
Many Christians do believe in theistic evolution, thinking that they have found a way to both keep their faith and accept the most popular 'scientific' views regarding our origins. They argue that God could have created us through a series of evolutionary processes. True, but the real question here is not how God created us, but rather how God said he created us. And a straightforward reading of the Bible tells us that God created each different 'kind' complete and perfect in the space of six days.
Some Christians regard the Biblical account of Creation and the subsequent fall of man as myths. But if the first part of the Bible never really happened, where then do the myths end and real history begin? If people put their own interpretations on the first part of the Bible, where do they stop? If Genesis cannot be trusted, and God didn't really make things as the Bible describes, how do we know for example that all the miracles the Bible talks about really happened? And what about the resurrection of Jesus? Perhaps his body didn't really rise from the dead? Maybe it was just a 'Spiritual' resurrection? Also, if the Bible is open to different interpretations, how do we know which one is the correct one? No. If we don't accept the entire Bible as God's infallible word, we are likely to end up doubting it all.
I believe it is important to teach our children about Biblical creation (See Teaching tip 20 in Newsletter 32) and the subsequent "fall of man", because the Gospel doesn't make much sense without it. We need to teach the bad news before we can teach the good news. If there was no original sin and rebellion against God, why do we need a Saviour?
I believe that the general decline in moral standards today can largely be attributed to the widespread teaching and acceptance of various forms of evolution. If we are taught that we are just highly evolved animals, it is hardly surprising that many end up acting like them.
If your pet dog gets old and sick, the best thing to do is get him 'put down'. So if your granny gets old and sick, why not put her down as well?
If a kitten is born deformed, the most humane thing to do would probably be to drown it. So what should we do with a human 'animal' that is born deformed?
If we all descended from the trees, some races have been 'human' longer than others, so aren't we justified in enslaving these 'lesser humans', or even eliminating them if they pose a threat to us?
Why do we need to wear clothes? Animals don't wear clothes, so why should we bother? (The answer of course is in Genesis - to cover up our shame. But if we reinterpret Genesis - - - - - ).
Why is homosexuality and same-sex marriage wrong? We have no reason for condemning such behaviour, if we don't believe a literal interpretation of Genesis.
If there is no Absolute Authority, and the Ten Commandments, for example, are only rules made up by men, why shouldn't we all make up our own personal rules, and live by them instead?
Thus, a society that believes in evolution is likely to allow euthanasia, abortion, racism, pornography, same-sex marriage and become increasingly lawless. A society that accepts the entire Bible as the 'Word of God' will know that every person is made in 'the image of God' and will treat them with the respect, caring and dignity that God demands.
For many years the Church has fought against such things as euthanasia, abortion, homosexuality etc. But, I believe they are fighting merely the symptoms of a sin-sick society. What we should be concentrating our efforts on is upholding the inerrancy, accuracy and integrity of the Bible. The Statement of Faith for most Christian denominations includes something like "We believe that the Bible in its entirety is the inspired and infallible Word of God." But so often many Christians compromise God's Word, and from their conversations it is obvious that they don't really believe it to have been given to us by the Creator, Himself. And if the 'world' thinks that we don't really believe parts of the Bible ourselves, why should they listen to us? If we don't believe it ourselves, how can we expect them to? They think we are just sharing our own opinions. And why should our opinions be any more valid than theirs? Some of the humanistic arguments put forward by Christians in trying, for example, to persuade youngsters to abstain from sex before marriage or not to co-habit, don't sound very convincing to me. No, I believe we will only be able to make real progress in our spiritual battles when we come to the place where we can say "That behaviour is wrong - because God's Word says so!" Period.
I recently read a very challenging book "Revolution in World Missions" by K. P. Yohannan, founder of 'Gospel for Asia'. Dr. Yohannan puts the case for "Preaching the Word" rather than sharing mainly a 'Social Gospel'. Concentrating on sharing the love of God by meeting the social needs of people has very limited success. He cites Thailand as an example. Christian missionaries have been active here for over 150 years. They have played a major role in the modernisation of the country, being largely responsible for its widespread literacy, first printing press, first university, first hospital, first doctor and almost every other benefit of education and science. Yet Christians still only make up about 2% of the population. Ultimately, what has been the value of these modern benefits, if most of the people still die without Christ?
First and foremost we are called to 'Preach the Gospel'. Some of you are probably thinking " I'm a teacher, not a Preacher." But the word 'Preach' simply means 'to make known'. And we can all make Christ known to the children in our classes. So I encourage you, when you teach a Bible account, do not simply teach it as a good story that the children can learn something from, but teach it also for what it is - the Word of God 'that cannot be broken', teach it in context, and teach it as real history.
It is easy to criticise the religious leaders of Jesus' day for their opposition to him, but at least they accepted the Scriptures as God's authoritative Word. In his discourses with these leaders, Jesus would often silence them by quoting scripture - "The scriptures say this, or the scriptures say that." The religious leaders couldn't argue with that because they all accepted the Word of God as absolute truth.
I long for the day when Society as a whole will once again accept God's Word as the final Authority for what we believe, and how we act. But it needs to begin with those who already profess a personal relationship with God.
Teaching tip 47 - Big bang or big mess?
People who deny the existence of God have therefore to believe that the Universe created itself out of nothing. (To believe that actually requires a lot more faith than I have got!). So how then do atheists explain how the Universe formed? Most use the idea of a 'big bang', even though none of them were there to see what actually happened.
They say that first of all there was absolutely nothing. But then, they claim, all the energy and matter contained in the billions of stars in the universe was somehow there, separated into a single point, which suddenly 'exploded'. This somehow formed lots of hydrogen gas, which spread out and filled the universe. Then the clouds of hydrogen gas started to pull themselves together by gravity. These clouds got hotter and hotter until they each formed a star. Then these stars exploded and formed all the other elements like carbon and oxygen, that made up all the stuff in the universe, including you and me.
But where did the first energy come from? How could it all have been contained in a single point? What made this point explode? And who ever heard of an explosion making order and design? What happens when fireworks explode? You certainly get a bang, but all you have left is a big mess!
There are lots of sound scientific reasons why the big bang idea is wrong, could not work, and simply did not happen.
It is far easier, in fact, to believe that Almighty God made the sun, the moon, the stars and everything in the universe the way He says He did in the Bible.
"The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of His hands." (Psalm 19.1).
Object Lesson 69 - Separation from God.
I usually use this lesson following teaching on Adam's rejection of God in the Garden of Eden, and the consequent "fall of man".
Choose two volunteers to be Adam and God. Have them face each other with each having an outstretched arm in a "shaking hands" position.
"God created us to be His friends, to be joined to Him in love and unity, as demonstrated by my volunteers being linked together. But in the Garden of Eden, Adam rejected God and turned his back on Him (Volunteers break their link, and 'Adam' turns his back on 'God').
God is holy and cannot look on sin, so He had to turn away from Adam ('God' turns away from 'Adam', leaving a gap between the two volunteers). This is the problem we are all born with - separation from a holy God. (Adam is not here anymore of course but, in a similar way, we have all rebelled against God, and now stand in his place).
God still loved the people of this world and so did something to solve our separation problem. He sent His Son to die on a cross (Choose a third volunteer to represent Jesus and stand between 'Adam' and 'God' with his hands on their shoulders, representing the cross). Jesus is now the bridge between us and God. He is our only way back to God. Because Jesus died on the cross and paid the penalty for our sins, this means that God can now turn back to us, offering His forgiveness and love. ('Jesus' sits down, and 'God' turns to face 'Adam' with His hand outstretched).
We now all have a choice to make. We can continue with our back to God, ignoring Him and going our own way, or we can choose to turn back to Him and accept His love and forgiveness ('Adam' turns to face 'God' and reaches out for His hand).
I hope that you all make the right choice.
A Heaven funny.
The couple were 85 years old, and had been married for sixty years. Though they were far from rich, they managed to get by because they watched their pennies. Though not young, they were both in very good health, largely due to the wife's insistence on healthy foods and exercise for the last decade. One day, their good health didn't help when they went on a rare vacation and their plane crashed, sending them off to Heaven. They reached the pearly gates, and St. Peter escorted them inside. He took them to a beautiful mansion, furnished in gold and fine silks, with a fully stocked kitchen and a waterfall in the master bath. A maid could be seen hanging their favourite clothes in the closet. They gasped in astonishment when he said, "Welcome to Heaven. This will be your home now." The old man asked Peter how much all this was going to cost. "Why, nothing," Peter replied, "Remember, this is your reward in Heaven." The old man looked out the window and right there he saw a championship golf course, finer and more beautiful than any ever built on Earth. "What are the greens fees?" grumbled the old man. "This is Heaven," St. Peter replied. "You can play for free every day." Next they went to the clubhouse and saw the lavish buffet lunch, with every imaginable cuisine laid out before them, from seafood to steaks to exotic deserts, and free flowing beverages. "Don't even ask," said St. Peter to the man. "This is Heaven, it is all free for you to enjoy." The old man looked around and glanced nervously at his wife. "Well, where are the low fat and low cholesterol foods, and the decaffeinated tea?" he asked. "That's the best part," St. Peter replied. "You can eat and drink as much as you like of whatever you like, and you will never get fat or sick. This is Heaven!" The old man pushed, "No gym to work out at?" "Not unless you want to," was the answer. "No testing my sugar or blood pressure or..." "Never again. All you do here is enjoy yourself." The old man glared at his wife and said, "You and your bran muffins. We could have been here ten years ago!
Contents.
Consequences of Evolutionary teaching.
Creation or Evolution. Does it really matter what we believe?
T.T. 47 - Big bang or big mess?
O.L. 69 - Separation from God.
A heaven funny.
Consequences of Evolutionary teaching.
Three years ago I wrote on the importance of teaching Biblical Creation to our children (Creation or Evolution. Does it really matter what we believe? - Newsletter 32). I will reproduce the article below for the benefit of my newer subscribers. I was recently reminded of the necessity of such teaching by seeing an article in "Creation" magazine concerning yet another school shooting.
As at Columbine, the recent Finnish high school shooting (in which eight people plus the killer died) once again showed that classroom teaching of evolutionary theory can affect not only what a student writes on an exam paper but also the rest of his life - and the lives of those around him.
The mindset of the killer, Pekka-Eric Auvinen, was evident from his comments posted on the internet (in which he admitted being an atheist), including :-
'Life is just a coincidence - - - - result of long processes of evolution - - - - '
'Religious people, your gods are nothing and exist only in your heads.'
'Human life is not sacred. Humans are just a species among other animals - - - - Death is not a tragedy, it happens in nature all the time - - - - Not all human lives are important or worth saving.'
'Today the process of natural selection is totally misguided. - - - - It is time to put NATURAL SELECTION & SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST back on track! - - - - - I, as a natural selector, will eliminate all I see as unfit, disgraces of the human race, and failures of natural selection.'
'I am the law, judge and executioner. There is no higher authority than me.'
Auvinen's comments, and his final actions, show that what a person believes about origins can be devastatingly destructive to his own and others' lives (not to mention the terrible disruption to society - parents, teachers, police, ambulance and hospital staff, grief counsellors, even national leaders - following the shooting).
Even from a purely practical viewpoint, is evolution really the sort of ideology a society would want to teach to its children, now that the consequences are so evident for all to see?
Decline in Biblical teaching.
Alongside the increase in evolutionary teaching there has been a consequent decline in teaching Biblical truths. This decline of sound Biblical teaching to our children appears (at least to me) to be having a detrimental effect even in my own community. There are twelve primary schools in my town, and about ten years ago they all received regular (mostly weekly) Bible teaching from volunteer Christians. (This is quite a common practice in New Zealand). Today, however, the management of four of the schools have stopped 'Bible' teaching completely, two others have restricted it to only junior classes (5 and 6 year olds), five now only have monthly 'Assembly' type lessons (but not all classes attend), and only one out of the twelve still has a weekly lesson. But even that (in common with all the 'monthly' classes) is now an 'Assembly' type rather than a 'one teacher per class' situation in which you could really get to know the children and possibly help them with any problems they may have had.
Therefore many young people have now gone through our local primary schools with no, or very limited, Biblical teaching on such things as values, respect, integrity and self-esteem. Some schools do run their own "Values" programme but, in my opinion, teaching a set of man's rules without reference to the ultimate Lawgiver is likely to be of only limited benefit. The obvious question many children will ask when they reach their teens is "Why is one man's set of rules any better than my own set of rules?"
The end result of taking God out of our schools? Increasing anti-social behaviour by many of our young teens. There is a general lack of respect for other people and their property with such things as petty crime, graffiti, vandalism, bullying and gang membership all on the increase. The situation was considered bad enough for our town Mayor and our local Member of Parliament to recently lead a protest march against crime in the district, with the main aim of getting a greater police presence in our town. That might reduce the crime figures, but it is hardly likely to solve the real problem and change those teens hearts. Only Jesus can do that. But for many of them they have never heard the gospel, and 'Jesus' is merely a swear word!
I will finish by sharing one example which typifies the problem. Two years ago one local school decided that they could manage without 'Bible' teaching. Just a few months later there were headlines in the local paper detailing the tremendous increase in vandalism the school was having. Young children (some probably still attending the school) were constantly going into the school grounds and throwing rocks through the classroom windows. The school's solution? Well, not to invite the 'Bible' teachers back in, but rather - at great expense to the ratepayers - to build a very high fence round the school perimeter to keep the vandals out.
"Do not be deceived. God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. (Galatians 6 v. 7).
Creation or Evolution. Does it really matter what we believe?
Many Christians would answer "No" to that question, stating that all that really matters is whether we have put our trust in Christ and been 'born again'. Consequently they would argue that therefore it doesn't really matter what we teach our children about the origins of the Universe and life. In fact I have a Christian friend who refuses to teach on the subject of Creation, stating that it is too controversial.
I can sympathise with my friend's point of view because our children are being brought up in an 'evolutionised' society where it is usually accepted without question that higher life forms evolved from lower ones and that the earth is billions of years old. Therefore to teach children that God made the entire Universe, including all its different life forms, in the space of just six days only a few thousand years ago, is indeed likely to cause confusion in the minds of some.
I should make it clear that I am not talking about Godless evolution, which basically states that everything in the Universe made itself due to a series of chance random processes over billions of years. No, I am talking about theistic evolution, which is the belief that simple life forms did change and evolve into higher ones, but that God directed the process.
Many Christians do believe in theistic evolution, thinking that they have found a way to both keep their faith and accept the most popular 'scientific' views regarding our origins. They argue that God could have created us through a series of evolutionary processes. True, but the real question here is not how God created us, but rather how God said he created us. And a straightforward reading of the Bible tells us that God created each different 'kind' complete and perfect in the space of six days.
Some Christians regard the Biblical account of Creation and the subsequent fall of man as myths. But if the first part of the Bible never really happened, where then do the myths end and real history begin? If people put their own interpretations on the first part of the Bible, where do they stop? If Genesis cannot be trusted, and God didn't really make things as the Bible describes, how do we know for example that all the miracles the Bible talks about really happened? And what about the resurrection of Jesus? Perhaps his body didn't really rise from the dead? Maybe it was just a 'Spiritual' resurrection? Also, if the Bible is open to different interpretations, how do we know which one is the correct one? No. If we don't accept the entire Bible as God's infallible word, we are likely to end up doubting it all.
I believe it is important to teach our children about Biblical creation (See Teaching tip 20 in Newsletter 32) and the subsequent "fall of man", because the Gospel doesn't make much sense without it. We need to teach the bad news before we can teach the good news. If there was no original sin and rebellion against God, why do we need a Saviour?
I believe that the general decline in moral standards today can largely be attributed to the widespread teaching and acceptance of various forms of evolution. If we are taught that we are just highly evolved animals, it is hardly surprising that many end up acting like them.
If your pet dog gets old and sick, the best thing to do is get him 'put down'. So if your granny gets old and sick, why not put her down as well?
If a kitten is born deformed, the most humane thing to do would probably be to drown it. So what should we do with a human 'animal' that is born deformed?
If we all descended from the trees, some races have been 'human' longer than others, so aren't we justified in enslaving these 'lesser humans', or even eliminating them if they pose a threat to us?
Why do we need to wear clothes? Animals don't wear clothes, so why should we bother? (The answer of course is in Genesis - to cover up our shame. But if we reinterpret Genesis - - - - - ).
Why is homosexuality and same-sex marriage wrong? We have no reason for condemning such behaviour, if we don't believe a literal interpretation of Genesis.
If there is no Absolute Authority, and the Ten Commandments, for example, are only rules made up by men, why shouldn't we all make up our own personal rules, and live by them instead?
Thus, a society that believes in evolution is likely to allow euthanasia, abortion, racism, pornography, same-sex marriage and become increasingly lawless. A society that accepts the entire Bible as the 'Word of God' will know that every person is made in 'the image of God' and will treat them with the respect, caring and dignity that God demands.
For many years the Church has fought against such things as euthanasia, abortion, homosexuality etc. But, I believe they are fighting merely the symptoms of a sin-sick society. What we should be concentrating our efforts on is upholding the inerrancy, accuracy and integrity of the Bible. The Statement of Faith for most Christian denominations includes something like "We believe that the Bible in its entirety is the inspired and infallible Word of God." But so often many Christians compromise God's Word, and from their conversations it is obvious that they don't really believe it to have been given to us by the Creator, Himself. And if the 'world' thinks that we don't really believe parts of the Bible ourselves, why should they listen to us? If we don't believe it ourselves, how can we expect them to? They think we are just sharing our own opinions. And why should our opinions be any more valid than theirs? Some of the humanistic arguments put forward by Christians in trying, for example, to persuade youngsters to abstain from sex before marriage or not to co-habit, don't sound very convincing to me. No, I believe we will only be able to make real progress in our spiritual battles when we come to the place where we can say "That behaviour is wrong - because God's Word says so!" Period.
I recently read a very challenging book "Revolution in World Missions" by K. P. Yohannan, founder of 'Gospel for Asia'. Dr. Yohannan puts the case for "Preaching the Word" rather than sharing mainly a 'Social Gospel'. Concentrating on sharing the love of God by meeting the social needs of people has very limited success. He cites Thailand as an example. Christian missionaries have been active here for over 150 years. They have played a major role in the modernisation of the country, being largely responsible for its widespread literacy, first printing press, first university, first hospital, first doctor and almost every other benefit of education and science. Yet Christians still only make up about 2% of the population. Ultimately, what has been the value of these modern benefits, if most of the people still die without Christ?
First and foremost we are called to 'Preach the Gospel'. Some of you are probably thinking " I'm a teacher, not a Preacher." But the word 'Preach' simply means 'to make known'. And we can all make Christ known to the children in our classes. So I encourage you, when you teach a Bible account, do not simply teach it as a good story that the children can learn something from, but teach it also for what it is - the Word of God 'that cannot be broken', teach it in context, and teach it as real history.
It is easy to criticise the religious leaders of Jesus' day for their opposition to him, but at least they accepted the Scriptures as God's authoritative Word. In his discourses with these leaders, Jesus would often silence them by quoting scripture - "The scriptures say this, or the scriptures say that." The religious leaders couldn't argue with that because they all accepted the Word of God as absolute truth.
I long for the day when Society as a whole will once again accept God's Word as the final Authority for what we believe, and how we act. But it needs to begin with those who already profess a personal relationship with God.
Teaching tip 47 - Big bang or big mess?
People who deny the existence of God have therefore to believe that the Universe created itself out of nothing. (To believe that actually requires a lot more faith than I have got!). So how then do atheists explain how the Universe formed? Most use the idea of a 'big bang', even though none of them were there to see what actually happened.
They say that first of all there was absolutely nothing. But then, they claim, all the energy and matter contained in the billions of stars in the universe was somehow there, separated into a single point, which suddenly 'exploded'. This somehow formed lots of hydrogen gas, which spread out and filled the universe. Then the clouds of hydrogen gas started to pull themselves together by gravity. These clouds got hotter and hotter until they each formed a star. Then these stars exploded and formed all the other elements like carbon and oxygen, that made up all the stuff in the universe, including you and me.
But where did the first energy come from? How could it all have been contained in a single point? What made this point explode? And who ever heard of an explosion making order and design? What happens when fireworks explode? You certainly get a bang, but all you have left is a big mess!
There are lots of sound scientific reasons why the big bang idea is wrong, could not work, and simply did not happen.
It is far easier, in fact, to believe that Almighty God made the sun, the moon, the stars and everything in the universe the way He says He did in the Bible.
"The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of His hands." (Psalm 19.1).
Object Lesson 69 - Separation from God.
I usually use this lesson following teaching on Adam's rejection of God in the Garden of Eden, and the consequent "fall of man".
Choose two volunteers to be Adam and God. Have them face each other with each having an outstretched arm in a "shaking hands" position.
"God created us to be His friends, to be joined to Him in love and unity, as demonstrated by my volunteers being linked together. But in the Garden of Eden, Adam rejected God and turned his back on Him (Volunteers break their link, and 'Adam' turns his back on 'God').
God is holy and cannot look on sin, so He had to turn away from Adam ('God' turns away from 'Adam', leaving a gap between the two volunteers). This is the problem we are all born with - separation from a holy God. (Adam is not here anymore of course but, in a similar way, we have all rebelled against God, and now stand in his place).
God still loved the people of this world and so did something to solve our separation problem. He sent His Son to die on a cross (Choose a third volunteer to represent Jesus and stand between 'Adam' and 'God' with his hands on their shoulders, representing the cross). Jesus is now the bridge between us and God. He is our only way back to God. Because Jesus died on the cross and paid the penalty for our sins, this means that God can now turn back to us, offering His forgiveness and love. ('Jesus' sits down, and 'God' turns to face 'Adam' with His hand outstretched).
We now all have a choice to make. We can continue with our back to God, ignoring Him and going our own way, or we can choose to turn back to Him and accept His love and forgiveness ('Adam' turns to face 'God' and reaches out for His hand).
I hope that you all make the right choice.
A Heaven funny.
The couple were 85 years old, and had been married for sixty years. Though they were far from rich, they managed to get by because they watched their pennies. Though not young, they were both in very good health, largely due to the wife's insistence on healthy foods and exercise for the last decade. One day, their good health didn't help when they went on a rare vacation and their plane crashed, sending them off to Heaven. They reached the pearly gates, and St. Peter escorted them inside. He took them to a beautiful mansion, furnished in gold and fine silks, with a fully stocked kitchen and a waterfall in the master bath. A maid could be seen hanging their favourite clothes in the closet. They gasped in astonishment when he said, "Welcome to Heaven. This will be your home now." The old man asked Peter how much all this was going to cost. "Why, nothing," Peter replied, "Remember, this is your reward in Heaven." The old man looked out the window and right there he saw a championship golf course, finer and more beautiful than any ever built on Earth. "What are the greens fees?" grumbled the old man. "This is Heaven," St. Peter replied. "You can play for free every day." Next they went to the clubhouse and saw the lavish buffet lunch, with every imaginable cuisine laid out before them, from seafood to steaks to exotic deserts, and free flowing beverages. "Don't even ask," said St. Peter to the man. "This is Heaven, it is all free for you to enjoy." The old man looked around and glanced nervously at his wife. "Well, where are the low fat and low cholesterol foods, and the decaffeinated tea?" he asked. "That's the best part," St. Peter replied. "You can eat and drink as much as you like of whatever you like, and you will never get fat or sick. This is Heaven!" The old man pushed, "No gym to work out at?" "Not unless you want to," was the answer. "No testing my sugar or blood pressure or..." "Never again. All you do here is enjoy yourself." The old man glared at his wife and said, "You and your bran muffins. We could have been here ten years ago!
posted by Maurice Sweetsur @ 3:01 AM
