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The internet is an astonishing and amazingly useful device. I don't know what I would do without it. I get most of my information of the internet. Most of my communication is through the internet. Most of my entertainment is found on the internet. So what would happen if the entire thing suddenly crashed and was gone?
I would have to learn to use the library. I would have to write letters. I would have to figure out how to read books that I had not just ordered/downloaded off of the internet.
If the internet were gone, a lot of things would go with it. Most of it is just small (or large) conveniences, but we've become very reliant on these conveniences.
For example, when you go to Wal-Mart and swipe your credit card, the information that is transferred from the card to the computer has to go through the internet. If the internet went down, that would be over.
Most of our money processes rely heavily on the internet. If the internet vanished tonight, the entire United States economy (what's left of it, anyway) would collapse into dust. The government would be lost for at least six months, trying to figure out how to communicate from sea to shining sea. Someone would probably figure out how to use snail mail, but that takes about 10,000 times longer to send a piece of information from New York to Los Angeles. And then it would take just as long to send a reply.
I could go on and on about how terrible it would be if the internet went out. But what if God decided to stop receiving prayers? How many people would notice? My estimate: twenty-two people. If I were a mutant, I could count that on one hand.
Well, the number may be a little higher, but the point is the same: Christians rely a lot more on the world (internet) than they do on God, who is a lot bigger and a lot safer than the internet. And with God, you don't need virus protection and you don't get spam.
P.S. To you ancient people who remember a time without the internet, is it like the equivalent of your libraries? What would you have done if someone burned down all your local libraries?
Showing posts with label fascinating. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fascinating. Show all posts
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Friday, April 11, 2008
Information
We are living in the communication and information age. At this time, communicating with a person on the other side of the globe is as easy as talking to your next-door neighbor. It's about as easy to gather information as it is to gather oxygen. It has become as the song says "it's a small world after all." Plus, the invention of jets allows us to get to anywhere on the planet in two days, three at the most.
This has done a lot of things for the planet. For example, the information increase has allowed us to learn faster and easier than ever before, which makes knowledge available to nearly everyone. And when everyone has a basic understanding of the workings of the world, this helps prevent superstitions and false cures for disease that lead to worse ailments.
But there is also a problem with this constant flow of information. It has deculturized our world (I just made that word up, by the way. It means to remove all culture from something). Because we can get anywhere quickly, we have begun thinking that everyone is like us. This is not so. The cultures of the countries across the ocean differ from ours in sometimes enormous ways.
One thing in particular is often forgotten: Jesus was from one of the cultures differing the most from ours. The Middle East is nothing like the United States. The Middle East today is different than it was 2,000 years ago. So to properly understand Jesus, the culture He came from has to be understood.
I can't give you a good understanding of this. There's too much to learn, and I don't yet know a tenth of it all. But I can give you a little piece of information about His homeland.
Jesus was a Jew. The Jewish people have a complex history, which can be found in the Old Testament and the Apocrypha (as I said in another post, the Bible is the word of God. However, it is debated whether the Apocrypha is "inspired." Either way, though, it has been shown to be an accurate historical document). About one hundred years before His birth, there was a large war between the Hebrews and everyone else over how they could worship God. This can be read about in first and second Maccabees. Somehow, I must think that this was as important to them as our wars are to us.
What does this mean? Well, it's sort of like this: imagine that Hitler had won World War II. His grandson is ruling the world, killing people he doesn't like, destroying forests and causing many other problems. This is the kind of world Jesus was born into.
So what can be done with this? I don't really know, this is just what I wrote. Hopefully one of you can make some use of it.
Goodbye, valiant reader,
Mitchell
What does this mean? Well, it's sort of like this: imagine that Hitler had won World War II. His grandson is ruling the world, killing people he doesn't like, destroying forests and causing many other problems. This is the kind of world Jesus was born into.
So what can be done with this? I don't really know, this is just what I wrote. Hopefully one of you can make some use of it.
Goodbye, valiant reader,
Mitchell
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Islam and Christianity
This really is the final comparison. So far, no problems have been seen in Judaism, and enough evidence has been put forward to let us rely on it for the moment. So now, let's look at Christianity and Islam.
First of all, Christianity is the completion of Judaism. In Judaism, there is prophecy of a Messiah, the Son of God who will come to rescue the earth from sin. Christianity fulfills that prophecy through Jesus. Since you (the reader) probably know at least a little about Christianity already, I don't feel the need to explain in great detail who Jesus was. Let's just leave it at this:
In the Torah (the Jewish holy book, in the Bible the Old Testament), there are over three hundred prophecies of the Messiah, what He will do and how He will do it. These prophecies are very specific. Jesus fulfills every one of them. Unless shown otherwise, Christianity fully completes Judaism.
The problem, however, is Islam. Islam was founded by a man named Muhammad. He claimed to be a prophet--the last prophet, in fact--and that he was given the ultimate revelation from God. Basically, the revelation was that Christianity and Judaism were all wrong. Their supposed "words from God" had been distorted somehow, lost in the translation somewhere.
He claimed to be restoring the way of the old prophets, such as Noah, Abraham and Moses. One of the core beliefs of Muhammad was that there is only one God. The Christian doctrine of the Trinity is considered blasphemous by Muslims, as is the fact that we claim Jesus is the Son of God (they belive Him to be a prophet, but not God).
So Islam has a strong objection to the deity of Jesus by claiming that the Torah is inaccurate. This would mean that the prophecies concerning Jesus are irrelevant.
Islam and Christianity were both built on the foundation of Judaism, so they should be proved by the same way Judaism was proved. Judaism's proof came through its moral law, so if one of its branches is correct then the moral law should be just as relevant to us as the Jewish law. Christianity fits with this: Jesus Himself stressed many times the importance of the law.
Islam does not fit with this. Their law, in several cases, is nearly the opposite of Judaism. In other places it contradicts itself. So in this regard, Christianity is superior, and Islam doesn't make it. If a branch differs from the root, the branch is in error. Does this conclusively prove anything? No. But it is, however, enough for me. So I remain happy with my religion. However, I'm not going to even start on denominations.
First of all, Christianity is the completion of Judaism. In Judaism, there is prophecy of a Messiah, the Son of God who will come to rescue the earth from sin. Christianity fulfills that prophecy through Jesus. Since you (the reader) probably know at least a little about Christianity already, I don't feel the need to explain in great detail who Jesus was. Let's just leave it at this:
In the Torah (the Jewish holy book, in the Bible the Old Testament), there are over three hundred prophecies of the Messiah, what He will do and how He will do it. These prophecies are very specific. Jesus fulfills every one of them. Unless shown otherwise, Christianity fully completes Judaism.
The problem, however, is Islam. Islam was founded by a man named Muhammad. He claimed to be a prophet--the last prophet, in fact--and that he was given the ultimate revelation from God. Basically, the revelation was that Christianity and Judaism were all wrong. Their supposed "words from God" had been distorted somehow, lost in the translation somewhere.
He claimed to be restoring the way of the old prophets, such as Noah, Abraham and Moses. One of the core beliefs of Muhammad was that there is only one God. The Christian doctrine of the Trinity is considered blasphemous by Muslims, as is the fact that we claim Jesus is the Son of God (they belive Him to be a prophet, but not God).
So Islam has a strong objection to the deity of Jesus by claiming that the Torah is inaccurate. This would mean that the prophecies concerning Jesus are irrelevant.
Islam and Christianity were both built on the foundation of Judaism, so they should be proved by the same way Judaism was proved. Judaism's proof came through its moral law, so if one of its branches is correct then the moral law should be just as relevant to us as the Jewish law. Christianity fits with this: Jesus Himself stressed many times the importance of the law.
Islam does not fit with this. Their law, in several cases, is nearly the opposite of Judaism. In other places it contradicts itself. So in this regard, Christianity is superior, and Islam doesn't make it. If a branch differs from the root, the branch is in error. Does this conclusively prove anything? No. But it is, however, enough for me. So I remain happy with my religion. However, I'm not going to even start on denominations.
Monday, February 11, 2008
John 1
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it."
This is the first five verses of the first chapter of the gospel of John. There's a lot of fascinating stuff in these verses, but I want to talk about the last verse (The lights shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it). Other versions say that the darkness "has not put [the light] out."
The light shines in the darkness. The light is Jesus. The Word mentioned earlier in the first two verses is also Jesus. These verses describe Him as being the Word, the Light and the Creator of life. These are all important attributes. Because He is the Word, He is entirely truthful. Because He is the Creator, well. . .He created us.
Because He is the light, he shows us the way we need to go. In Psalm 119, it states that God is a light to our path. The darkness is the world--us, the people that He gives light to. The darkness us the world, and it is an undeniable fact that we are humans, and therefore a part of this world.
Darkness is the absence of light. The world, therefore, being darkness, is the absence of God. God is absent from us.
Here I will make an assumption. Most of you currently reading this are Christians, because otherwise the repeated mention of "God" and "Jesus" would probably have sent you running to a less theological page. So, from this point forward I am going to be speaking to those who are Christians, and have been "saved," to use church-words.
For a person to be saved, Jesus has to enter him. This means that the Light is coming into the darkness. If darkness is the absence of light, and light enters it, what is the darkness? Nothing. The darkness is destroyed. In the same way, we are destroyed the moment Jesus enters into us. Darkness cannot fathom light, because the moment it conceives of the idea, it's gone. To glimpse light would be suicidal to darkness.
When Paul said that anyone in Christ is a new creation, he was being very literal. The moment Jesus comes into us, we cease to exist.
This is a somewhat frightening thought. We either cease to exist, or we go to hell when we die. Those are our options. We will still exist, yes, but not as ourselves. So why would anyone ever want to be brought into the light with Jesus?
That question will be answered either tomorrow or later today. I'm going to go eat something. I hope that something is food.
Goodbye, valiant reader,
Mitchell
This is the first five verses of the first chapter of the gospel of John. There's a lot of fascinating stuff in these verses, but I want to talk about the last verse (The lights shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it). Other versions say that the darkness "has not put [the light] out."
The light shines in the darkness. The light is Jesus. The Word mentioned earlier in the first two verses is also Jesus. These verses describe Him as being the Word, the Light and the Creator of life. These are all important attributes. Because He is the Word, He is entirely truthful. Because He is the Creator, well. . .He created us.
Because He is the light, he shows us the way we need to go. In Psalm 119, it states that God is a light to our path. The darkness is the world--us, the people that He gives light to. The darkness us the world, and it is an undeniable fact that we are humans, and therefore a part of this world.
Darkness is the absence of light. The world, therefore, being darkness, is the absence of God. God is absent from us.
Here I will make an assumption. Most of you currently reading this are Christians, because otherwise the repeated mention of "God" and "Jesus" would probably have sent you running to a less theological page. So, from this point forward I am going to be speaking to those who are Christians, and have been "saved," to use church-words.
For a person to be saved, Jesus has to enter him. This means that the Light is coming into the darkness. If darkness is the absence of light, and light enters it, what is the darkness? Nothing. The darkness is destroyed. In the same way, we are destroyed the moment Jesus enters into us. Darkness cannot fathom light, because the moment it conceives of the idea, it's gone. To glimpse light would be suicidal to darkness.
When Paul said that anyone in Christ is a new creation, he was being very literal. The moment Jesus comes into us, we cease to exist.
This is a somewhat frightening thought. We either cease to exist, or we go to hell when we die. Those are our options. We will still exist, yes, but not as ourselves. So why would anyone ever want to be brought into the light with Jesus?
That question will be answered either tomorrow or later today. I'm going to go eat something. I hope that something is food.
Goodbye, valiant reader,
Mitchell
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Prayer
Yesterday I mentioned (briefly) the miracle of prayer. I believe I devoted the second half of a sentence to it. Today, things are different. Today, I’m going to spend a whole post talking about it.
Prayer is a thing that we think very little about. Most Christians pray on occasion, usually when they want something, but don’t think about what it actually is. In an earlier post, I devoted a lot of words to praying, but I never said what exactly it is.
Prayer is a form of communication. It’s the spiritual equivalent of the phone, except that you can only call one person using prayer. That person (God) is always listening, and you don’t need any kind of phone to talk to him. It’s as simple to use as vocal cords, with one principal difference. Prayer is anything but natural, entirely unlike talking.
God is infinitely patient, and will listen to anything you have to say. Again, this is completely unlike the phone. To prove my point, let’s do an experiment.
Go pick up the phone, and dial the number of someone you know well. It doesn’t matter who—just call someone. Begin the conversation like you normally would, and then ask for some money. Or ask for something else. Whatever it is that you want. Now, come back and report your findings.
Most likely, the discussion did not go well from there. God is not like that. God will keep on listening to whatever you have to say to Him. That’s part of the miracle.
The other part of the miracle is that we can talk to Him at all. We humans are obsessed with our senses. We rarely rise above them to grasp at our potential. God doesn’t have any potential—He could be no greater than He already is. That’s why we capitalize the word “He” in reference to God.
Prayer is an incredible miracle. Prayer is the natural talking to the supernatural, and not even bringing the dead to life could be so amazing.
So, do more miracles more often. It’s good for you.
Goodbye, valiant reader,
Mitchell
Prayer is a thing that we think very little about. Most Christians pray on occasion, usually when they want something, but don’t think about what it actually is. In an earlier post, I devoted a lot of words to praying, but I never said what exactly it is.
Prayer is a form of communication. It’s the spiritual equivalent of the phone, except that you can only call one person using prayer. That person (God) is always listening, and you don’t need any kind of phone to talk to him. It’s as simple to use as vocal cords, with one principal difference. Prayer is anything but natural, entirely unlike talking.
God is infinitely patient, and will listen to anything you have to say. Again, this is completely unlike the phone. To prove my point, let’s do an experiment.
Go pick up the phone, and dial the number of someone you know well. It doesn’t matter who—just call someone. Begin the conversation like you normally would, and then ask for some money. Or ask for something else. Whatever it is that you want. Now, come back and report your findings.
Most likely, the discussion did not go well from there. God is not like that. God will keep on listening to whatever you have to say to Him. That’s part of the miracle.
The other part of the miracle is that we can talk to Him at all. We humans are obsessed with our senses. We rarely rise above them to grasp at our potential. God doesn’t have any potential—He could be no greater than He already is. That’s why we capitalize the word “He” in reference to God.
Prayer is an incredible miracle. Prayer is the natural talking to the supernatural, and not even bringing the dead to life could be so amazing.
So, do more miracles more often. It’s good for you.
Goodbye, valiant reader,
Mitchell
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
The Bible, part 2
Yesterday I showed (sort of) that that Bible must be God-inspired, meaning that it is correct. I'd like to add one point to that: our observations back up that statement. The historical parts of the Bible are repeatedly proved to be correct, based on every reliable historical source that can be found.
So we know the Bible is true, but is it complete? This is debated by various theologians, and there is a large range of opinions concerning the truth. The debate, essentially, is this: does God convey messages outside of the Bible?
We know the Bible is the truth and nothing but the truth, but is it the whole truth? I would say that it most definitely is not.
Anything that is good comes from God. The truth is good. So all truth comes from God. If the Bible is the complete word of God (the complete truth), then there can be no truth outside of the Bible. That means that right now I could not say "I'm wearing a shirt that says 'I SEE DUMB PEOPLE' in red letters on the front. I couldn't say this because it's true, and it's outside of the Bible.
So the Bible isn't the complete word of God. It is the true word of God, but it can't be complete. But now you're wondering, "what does this have to do with anything?" The Bible isn't complete, because to be complete it would have to be so vast a book that no one could ever possibly read it in a million trillion years. But that does not mean that it's worthless.
The Bible acts as a sort of test to determine what is true and what isn't. If someone makes a claim that is contrary to the Bible, it's not true. If someone makes a claim that goes closely with something in the Bible, it's true. If it's somewhere in between--it doesn't go against the Bible, but isn't necessarily mentioned therein--then something more is required. This something more is God.
God is still fully capable of revealing to us what is true and what is not. So if a question comes up that can't be answered by the Bible, perform a miracle: communicate with a being with a mind more vast than you could fathom.
Goodbye, valiant reader,
Mitchell
So we know the Bible is true, but is it complete? This is debated by various theologians, and there is a large range of opinions concerning the truth. The debate, essentially, is this: does God convey messages outside of the Bible?
We know the Bible is the truth and nothing but the truth, but is it the whole truth? I would say that it most definitely is not.
Anything that is good comes from God. The truth is good. So all truth comes from God. If the Bible is the complete word of God (the complete truth), then there can be no truth outside of the Bible. That means that right now I could not say "I'm wearing a shirt that says 'I SEE DUMB PEOPLE' in red letters on the front. I couldn't say this because it's true, and it's outside of the Bible.
So the Bible isn't the complete word of God. It is the true word of God, but it can't be complete. But now you're wondering, "what does this have to do with anything?" The Bible isn't complete, because to be complete it would have to be so vast a book that no one could ever possibly read it in a million trillion years. But that does not mean that it's worthless.
The Bible acts as a sort of test to determine what is true and what isn't. If someone makes a claim that is contrary to the Bible, it's not true. If someone makes a claim that goes closely with something in the Bible, it's true. If it's somewhere in between--it doesn't go against the Bible, but isn't necessarily mentioned therein--then something more is required. This something more is God.
God is still fully capable of revealing to us what is true and what is not. So if a question comes up that can't be answered by the Bible, perform a miracle: communicate with a being with a mind more vast than you could fathom.
Goodbye, valiant reader,
Mitchell
Monday, February 4, 2008
A Well-Known Book
A long time ago, some people wrote down words on paper. These people were exceedingly diverse--one was a farmer, another was the richest king in the world. The writings of this diverse group was compiled into a single work: the Bible. The Bible is the best-selling book, and has been since before anyone thought of the idea of recording best-sellers.
The Bible has more authors than any other book. It also has less inconsistencies than any other book. This is inconceivable, by any earthly standards. All these people have nothing in common but their religion. How could so many people from so many walks of life all believe exactly the same thing about God?
Unless, of course, their belief is not internal, but external. Here's a definition of those terms:
By "internal," I mean that the believer created this belief in his own mind, using his own logic. By "external," I mean that the believer's belief comes from some other source. This could be simply that this is what the believer has been told his whole life, or it could be God-inspired.
It had to be an external belief that inspired the Bible. But external belief is more broad: it could be God-inspired, but it also might be human-inspired.
The human-inspired idea could easily destroy the accuracy of the Bible, if the ideas mentioned therein line up only because of what other people said. But this isn't a problem, because that really isn't possible.
The doctrines taken from the Bible were thought of after the Bible was written. The authors of the Bible were the first to say the things that they said. They were not just writing about the things they were told their whole lives. This is what I'm doing at the moment--I'm discussing ideas that I've known about as long as I can remember. The Biblical authors are the ones who created those ideas.
But, because their agreement with each other is humanly impossible, their beliefs still must be external. They still have to come from somewhere else. This means God. If they did not think of their own ideas, and no one gave them the ideas, then it had to be God.
So the Bible was God-inspired. Some would argue that this is impossible because God doesn't exist, but there's a problem with that statement now.
The Bible can only exist in its present state if there is a God. Since it does exist, and cannot exist any other way, there has to be a God.
This means that the Bible is accurate, coming from the inventor of life, the universe and everything; it also means that there is an inventor. I hope some of this makes sense to someone other than me. If not, I don't know that I can explain much better. Sorry.
Goodbye, valiant reader,
Mitchell
The Bible has more authors than any other book. It also has less inconsistencies than any other book. This is inconceivable, by any earthly standards. All these people have nothing in common but their religion. How could so many people from so many walks of life all believe exactly the same thing about God?
Unless, of course, their belief is not internal, but external. Here's a definition of those terms:
By "internal," I mean that the believer created this belief in his own mind, using his own logic. By "external," I mean that the believer's belief comes from some other source. This could be simply that this is what the believer has been told his whole life, or it could be God-inspired.
It had to be an external belief that inspired the Bible. But external belief is more broad: it could be God-inspired, but it also might be human-inspired.
The human-inspired idea could easily destroy the accuracy of the Bible, if the ideas mentioned therein line up only because of what other people said. But this isn't a problem, because that really isn't possible.
The doctrines taken from the Bible were thought of after the Bible was written. The authors of the Bible were the first to say the things that they said. They were not just writing about the things they were told their whole lives. This is what I'm doing at the moment--I'm discussing ideas that I've known about as long as I can remember. The Biblical authors are the ones who created those ideas.
But, because their agreement with each other is humanly impossible, their beliefs still must be external. They still have to come from somewhere else. This means God. If they did not think of their own ideas, and no one gave them the ideas, then it had to be God.
So the Bible was God-inspired. Some would argue that this is impossible because God doesn't exist, but there's a problem with that statement now.
The Bible can only exist in its present state if there is a God. Since it does exist, and cannot exist any other way, there has to be a God.
This means that the Bible is accurate, coming from the inventor of life, the universe and everything; it also means that there is an inventor. I hope some of this makes sense to someone other than me. If not, I don't know that I can explain much better. Sorry.
Goodbye, valiant reader,
Mitchell
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Football
Today, as far as the majority of Americans are concerned, is a major holiday, along the lines of Thanksgiving and Independence Day. It's Super-Bowl Sunday.
To be honest, I couldn't care less. Football bores me, as does every other sport. I'm not really sure what's so boring about them, but I can't get interested. In fact, I care so little that I didn't even know who was playing until the game started. (For those of you like me: it's the New York Giants and the New England Patriots. But I might not have the right cities with the right teams.)
I find football pretty much pointless. In fact, I consider all sports pretty much pointless. If you, the reader, disagree with me and enjoy sports, then good for you. It gives you something to do in your free time. But since it bores me, I'm going to try to come up with new ways of making it more interesting.
Imagine if the Super-Bowl were open to everyone. What if anyone, no matter how bad at football, could go play in the biggest game in the entire world. Well, the Super-Bowl would be boring and no one would watch anymore. This won't work.
Well, what if the teams shared the ball. All the players most likely tell their children to share toys and such, so maybe they should start practicing what they preach. But again, this would be boring, wouldn't it?
Okay, so what if one team just forgave the other? If they just worked around their differences, maybe they wouldn't have to have a giant fight over a small leather ball. Oh, but then there wouldn't be a game at all.
Do you realize that football, in all the three areas I just mentioned (nondiscrimination, sharing and forgiveness), comepletely undermines all the values taught to small children? Maybe it should be rated something higher. PG, at least. Preferably PG-13, or even R. That way all the little kids all over the world could be taught these values with more sucess.
Please, join me in my campaign to censor the Super-Bowl. Contact your local TV stations and complain. Together, we can defeat this international killer of morals.
Don't worry, football fans. I'm not serious.
Goodbye, valiant reader,
Mitchell
To be honest, I couldn't care less. Football bores me, as does every other sport. I'm not really sure what's so boring about them, but I can't get interested. In fact, I care so little that I didn't even know who was playing until the game started. (For those of you like me: it's the New York Giants and the New England Patriots. But I might not have the right cities with the right teams.)
I find football pretty much pointless. In fact, I consider all sports pretty much pointless. If you, the reader, disagree with me and enjoy sports, then good for you. It gives you something to do in your free time. But since it bores me, I'm going to try to come up with new ways of making it more interesting.
Imagine if the Super-Bowl were open to everyone. What if anyone, no matter how bad at football, could go play in the biggest game in the entire world. Well, the Super-Bowl would be boring and no one would watch anymore. This won't work.
Well, what if the teams shared the ball. All the players most likely tell their children to share toys and such, so maybe they should start practicing what they preach. But again, this would be boring, wouldn't it?
Okay, so what if one team just forgave the other? If they just worked around their differences, maybe they wouldn't have to have a giant fight over a small leather ball. Oh, but then there wouldn't be a game at all.
Do you realize that football, in all the three areas I just mentioned (nondiscrimination, sharing and forgiveness), comepletely undermines all the values taught to small children? Maybe it should be rated something higher. PG, at least. Preferably PG-13, or even R. That way all the little kids all over the world could be taught these values with more sucess.
Please, join me in my campaign to censor the Super-Bowl. Contact your local TV stations and complain. Together, we can defeat this international killer of morals.
Don't worry, football fans. I'm not serious.
Goodbye, valiant reader,
Mitchell
Friday, January 11, 2008
inconsistent
Life is inconsistent sometimes. Well, not totally. To be inconsistent, one part of it would have to conflict with some other part--for example, one day George Washington is dead and gone, and the next he's sitting on your couch watching TV. It is, however, inconsistent with its design. It's the kind of inconsistency you would find when the blueprints show a room as 279' by 612' (yes, I know how enormous that would be), and yet its 2' by 4'. I'm not exaggerating--the world is nothing like its blueprints.
Here's what I mean: the Bible states that the first will be last (Matthew 19:30). It also says that the humble--the inconspicuous and the small--will rule the world (Matthew 5:5). This isn't how the world works. It didn't work that way 2000 years ago, either. Jesus knew that when he said these things.
One story from the Gospel of Mark especially fascinates me. In chapter 12, verses 41-44, it describes a widow going to the temple and dropping two copper coins into the collection box. This is the equivalent of someone going to church today and putting a single penny into the offering plate.
All around her, the rich and powerful are dropping massive amounts of money into this box, proudly displaying to the world just how rich they are. Most likely, they're watching this little widow give the most useless gift imaginable (except for one copper coin, I guess).
Then Jesus says a thing that is so-often repeated that its oddity is nearly forgotten. He calls his disciples around him and says, (v. 43-44) "I assure you: This poor widow has put in more than all those giving to the temple treasury. For they all gave out of their surplus, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she possessed--all she had to live on."
Wait a second. . .she gave a penny, and Mr. Zechariah Rich-Man just put in a million dollars. She gave the most?
I can imagine what the disciples must have said to their teacher. "Do you need a drink, Jesus?" "Are you talking about that widow?"
I'm not saying that Jesus was wrong, but here's what I am saying. Life doesn't fit the blueprints. This widow didn't give the most money, although on a percentage scale she was certainly the highest. But what happened when she went home? She had nothing left. As pessimistic as this sounds, my guess is that she didn't do real well. I'm not trying to discourage anyone from giving 100%, that's just how it typically works.
"So? That isn't the point of the story!" I know this. The thing is, I can't get over the fact that God doesn't seem to bless the people who do the most for Him. Why not? Why? Why why why?
I'm going to close with a list of "whys sort of about suffering," which will be answered in entirety. . .someday. Maybe.
Uno: Why do God's people have to suffer, and the devil's seem to have everything they want?
Dos: If God is so loving, why does He send people to Hell?
Tres: Why did God allow sin in the first place?
quatro cuattro kwatro Four: Why doesn't God just destroy the universe and start over?
Goodbye, valiant reader (and sorry if I wasted your time),
Mitchell
Here's what I mean: the Bible states that the first will be last (Matthew 19:30). It also says that the humble--the inconspicuous and the small--will rule the world (Matthew 5:5). This isn't how the world works. It didn't work that way 2000 years ago, either. Jesus knew that when he said these things.
One story from the Gospel of Mark especially fascinates me. In chapter 12, verses 41-44, it describes a widow going to the temple and dropping two copper coins into the collection box. This is the equivalent of someone going to church today and putting a single penny into the offering plate.
All around her, the rich and powerful are dropping massive amounts of money into this box, proudly displaying to the world just how rich they are. Most likely, they're watching this little widow give the most useless gift imaginable (except for one copper coin, I guess).
Then Jesus says a thing that is so-often repeated that its oddity is nearly forgotten. He calls his disciples around him and says, (v. 43-44) "I assure you: This poor widow has put in more than all those giving to the temple treasury. For they all gave out of their surplus, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she possessed--all she had to live on."
Wait a second. . .she gave a penny, and Mr. Zechariah Rich-Man just put in a million dollars. She gave the most?
I can imagine what the disciples must have said to their teacher. "Do you need a drink, Jesus?" "Are you talking about that widow?"
I'm not saying that Jesus was wrong, but here's what I am saying. Life doesn't fit the blueprints. This widow didn't give the most money, although on a percentage scale she was certainly the highest. But what happened when she went home? She had nothing left. As pessimistic as this sounds, my guess is that she didn't do real well. I'm not trying to discourage anyone from giving 100%, that's just how it typically works.
"So? That isn't the point of the story!" I know this. The thing is, I can't get over the fact that God doesn't seem to bless the people who do the most for Him. Why not? Why? Why why why?
I'm going to close with a list of "whys sort of about suffering," which will be answered in entirety. . .someday. Maybe.
Uno: Why do God's people have to suffer, and the devil's seem to have everything they want?
Dos: If God is so loving, why does He send people to Hell?
Tres: Why did God allow sin in the first place?
Goodbye, valiant reader (and sorry if I wasted your time),
Mitchell
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