TRUTH?

 

I’m struggling today with truth.  I have struggled with it all year. (Heck, longer than that, but unfortunately, too many times when I thought something wasn’t true I would dismiss it because it wasn’t THAT bad of a lie… and now here I sit disgusted by all the lies surrounding me!!) I don’t know if you are like me but I feel like the world has lost its mind and no one can be trusted.  Now please do not mistake these words to include the Bible – in fact, the one place I know I can ALWAYS go for truth is the Word of God….but dang….this year has been a humdinger of EXPERTS and MISCALCULATIONS and SCIENCE and NUMBERS and FRAUD and FEAR….and ABUNDANCE OF CAUTION….

 

UGH!!!!

 

And now we sit the day after an election where neither side trusts the other because of so much fraud and deception!

 

WHERE IS THE TRUTH? And how have we managed to get so far away from what is ACTUALLY TRUE?

 

I have a theory….

 

I think truth is a lot like an onion.  If we peel away the protection of one layer ever so slowly we don’t always notice how we are losing our onion as a whole and likely we have so many tears in our eyes we can’t see what’s really going on through the sting.  Every new layer of the onion looks cleaner and better than the layer before but it also comes with more tears and stinging in the eyes until eventually we get to the core and who wants that?  It’s just a teeny tiny version of what the onion used to be.  It’s no good for cooking and now, I don’t have my onion, just a tear stained face with nothing else to show for.

 

For a very long time, this has been happening to our world. We keep getting further away from God’s truth and it is hard to see how it is slowly being peeled away before our very eyes so now all we can do now is cry about it.

 

My dad and I used to listen to Lily Tomlin’s stand-up act when she portrayed the character Edith Ann.  If you are old enough you may remember it (we listened to it on 8 track tapes if that gives you an idea of the era I’m delving into).  Anyway, Edith Ann is an annoying little girl who is constantly bugging her neighbor lady.  (Kind of like Dennis the Menace, but a girl).  There is a line Edith says that in the context of the act is quite hysterical, but today it popped up in my head and it wasn’t quite as funny….. The neighbor lady accuses her of lying because she is telling a pretty unbelievable story to which Edith Ann says, “Oh Lady, I don’t not lie!  But the truth can be told if you know how!”

 

The world is doing this to us.  They are saying, “Oh, I do not lie! But I can tell you the truth because I have a platform, or a media outlet, or an “expert” who will show you the truth that should be told!”  But it doesn’t even stop there anymore because if you dare to question the platform, media outlet or said “expert” then you are malicious, or uneducated, or racists, or uncaring or just plain stupid. 

 

The Bible is the ULTIMATE truth and the further away we get from it, the more messed up our lives and our country becomes.  We have slowly been believing other “truths” as Christians and therefore are now willing to accept so many things that are just WRONG!

 

Christians!  Do you realize we live in a world where destroying someone’s trail camera carries a higher penalty than killing a baby in the womb?!  Did you know this?  State game and parks officials can fine you and jail you for messing with wildlife and their habitats!  Babies can die LEGALLY, but don’t endanger a deer or rabbit!  What? Are you kidding me? (And please, don’t confuse my words and think I don’t love animals – I do, but when did a beating, human heart become LESS important than a deer?)

 

We have a woman, like Justice Amy Coney Barret who is accomplished, smart, moral, and an excellent mother who is being condemned for all the things I just listed!  Really?  Can someone follow the logic with me here? I thought being a strong woman was a GOOD thing??

 

We have business owners boarding up their doors before election night because they are worried that when people don’t get what they want for election results they will get mad and destroy things that aren’t their own.  Things they haven’t worked for or paid for, they think it is their right to destroy because they are mad.  In what world is this okay?

 

We have people who don’t know what bathroom to use and a government who says it's okay to question whether we are male or female!  How much simpler does it get than knowing if we are male or female?

So really, why should any of us be surprised that we not only don't know the results of our Presidential election, but we all question how fair it will be?

I will tell you – because we don’t know the TRUTH.

 

This all comes from the fact that we do not live, breathe and spread the Word of God.  Now obviously, you know where I stand, and I’m about to add a link to my next post on my website, but please consider the words I’m typing.  The truth isn’t around us because we have turned our back on it.  We can’t see evil for evil because we aren’t studying the truth every day!  

 

When I teach my creation unit in the middle school Sunday school classrooms, I use this example to drive my point home about the importance of the Bible and seeking TRUTH!  

 

Here it is….

 

In the US Department of Treasury there is a counterfeit division.  These guys are the ones who track down or find any counterfeit money that might be being passed off as the real thing.  There are COUNTLESS types of counterfeit money in our country being used regularly that these agents are responsible for finding and then tracking down those who used it.  When they are being trained to be such an agent, you know what they are required to study?  The real, actual US dollar.  They know the dollar so well, so intimately, that the MOMENT the spot something even slightly off, they recognize it is fake.  Without question!  They know the real thing so well, they can spot something fake immediately.

 

It isn’t any different with us and our Bible.  Read truth.  Know truth.  Period.

Proverbs 9:10 "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."

 

For my next Creation post ENTRY 5, click HERE.  I think this aligns pretty well with what I posted today on this blog.  We need TRUTH.  We need to RECOGNIZE TRUTH.  The only place you are going to get TRUTH is in the BIBLE.

Beginnings - One Nation Under God

 Today I’m going to take a little detour from the Creation Bible story, but I want to still focus on “beginnings.”  It is so important that we remember our beginnings!  As I stated in a previous post, the reason I am so passionate about the Creation story is because if you can’t believe in the beginning of the Bible, why would you believe the end?

 

I think the same is true for our country.  I worry about how the story of the beginning of our nation constantly gets distorted or maligned.  We are a nation that was founded on Biblical principles.  The Pilgrim’s journey to America (we celebrate their 400 year anniversary this year…) was made so they could practice their Christian beliefs!  We fought a Revolutionary War to make sure our freedoms to keep practicing our Christianity would remain and not be taken away from us.  Now, were these people perfect?  Absolutely not.  Are you?  Sinful people still do good things all around us all the time.  No country or people have a history free from bad things.  But in focusing on the bad, we miss that our nation was founded on Biblical teachings.  We are a nation built on God….”we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

 

And yet, what we have seen in the last 8 months is these freedom’s being taken away from us.  The right to worship in many states is still a struggle and pastors are being faced with fines and threats because they dare to open their doors.  Isn’t this America?  Home of the free?  I realized that some of these restrictions might not be taking place in Nebraska, but if this kind of governance can happen in ANY state in the United States, why would we think it wouldn’t happen here as well?  To be honest, it never crossed my mind that my country would behave the way it has this year.  I have always been pretty quiet politically and just done my civic duty when election time came around but watching churches being closed and other atrocities that have occurred this year, I am shocked!  What has happened to the United States? I think I know…we are a nation that has turned from God.

 

Isaiah 5:20-21 “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.  Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.”

 

Did you realize that many times in our nation’s history the President has issued days of prayer and fasting?  And you know what?  Miracles have occurred!  I listen to lots of preaching and podcasts during my work day.  In my listening, I learned of an author named William J Federer.  He is an American Historian and he is FANTASTIC.  He wrote a book called Miracles in American History.  He can recount MULTIPLE times when truly, only the hand of God could have accomplished what happened.  In almost every account either the military leadership or government leadership requested a day of prayer to God prior to the miracle taking place.  I am including two links to one of his talks about his book Miracles in America HERE and HERE. I promise, you won’t regret hearing of these amazing accounts!

 

With that said, I am also going to ask that you join Franklin Graham, and I hope several others, in a day of Praying and Fasting on Oct 25.   I truly believe we live in a great country, but I also believe we have gone astray from so much of our Biblical teaching.  I hope this is God’s way of waking Christians up to pray and speak out against things we know to be wrong.  The world is good a dressing up sin to look okay and even acceptable – you can put a fancy suit on a chicken, but at the end of the day it’s still a chicken…it’s just a chicken inside a suit that is likely falling apart and probably extremely soiled.  If it sounds like sin and looks like sin….chances are….it’s sin! However, in many cases, we as Christians, have gotten so used to living with the sin all around us, what are we to do?  My suggestion? We pray.  We humble ourselves.  We ask for God’s forgiveness and turn from our evil ways.

 

2 Chronicles 7:14 “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and I will heal their land.”

 

Pray and fast with me, won’t you?  And maybe, this will be another year in our nation’s history where God shows us yet again another miracle!

WORLDVIEWS and SCIENTISTS

The post I’m sharing today deals with Worldviews and Scientists.  It is always amazing to me how some of the most brilliant scientists of the past were believers in God.  The world we live in now would likely find it appalling!  These men didn’t think a belief in God clouded their judgment or kept them from good science – in fact, they went on to be famous because of their discoveries!! I was “taught” that a good scientist keeps an open mind to different possibilities, and yet I can list professors who have lost their jobs when they shared information on Intelligent Design because it went against the evolutionary narrative.  Is that very open-minded of our universities?

 

I would submit that nothing in the Bible keeps a scientist close-minded and when you read the scientists I have listed with their worldviews and stances, I think you’ll see that some of the most amazing discoveries and minds of our scientific community came from believers in God. Click HERE to read more.

INTELLIGENT DESIGN

Have you ever created anything? Maybe you built a model rocket, wrote a short story, or sewed together a dress.  In all those examples, you put thought and design into your creation.  You had a starting point, a “creation” time frame and an end.  There was likely some order even if you aren’t the most organized.  You probably even made a few mistakes along the way, but then went back and tweaked it before the final product was made!  You were an intelligent designer.

 

Your creation didn’t just randomly appear.  Just because you brought material, thread and a needle to the sewing room didn’t mean that a dress would appear overnight while you slept…well, unless you’re Cinderella and have highly-trained woodland creatures at your disposal!  My point is, there was purpose to what you made.  There was a design process.  

 

My post today discusses a theory called Intelligent Design.  I hope you will appreciate what NON-CHRISTIAN scientists have put together in this movement.  To read ENTRY 3, Click HERE.

 

What is SCIENTIFIC FACT and SCIENTIFIC FAITH?

 As stated in my previous post, we live in a world where so much of the population puts all its faith in science.  Now, please do not get me wrong, I LOVE science!  My entire life has benefitted GREATLY because of science!  I have grown up able to use medicines and technologies that far surpass any other time in history.   I can have air conditioning AND microwaves because of science!  Who among you don’t love those two technological advances?

 

Thank you, science!

 

I am also a woman who had to have two cesarean sections to birth my two boys.  I feel pretty confident that had I been a pioneer woman, I would have seen an early death due to pregnancy.  Thankfully though, I was lucky enough to be born in a time where medicine and technology allowed me to give birth twice without much for pain or cause for emergency! 

 

Go Team Science ALL THE WAY!

 

I also love getting my hands on the latest research findings in many scientific spheres.  It fascinates me what we are able to discover about our world, our environment, and even outer space!  Did you know we actually know more about outer space than we do our oceans?  Isn’t that insane?  Insane, but cool?

 

We live in a truly amazing time!

 

What does concern me though, is that because we have figured a LOT of things out, we THINK we have EVERYTHING figured out….and unfortunately that just isn’t so.  Especially when it comes to our beginnings.  My next post ENTRY 2, delves into science and how there are some solid trustworthy platforms and other versions of science that are a lot more speculative than concrete.  The problem is, we tend to treat them as concrete findings when they in fact, are not.  I love to read about a new theory – no matter what the subject matter.   They are fun to consider and postulate, but if they are not observable or testable, they remain just that – theories.

 

As I stated before, it is my opinion that we either put our FAITH in man or in God.  Man screws up, God does not.  To ready ENTRY 2, CLICK HERE.

You Gotta Have Faith!

 I saw this on Facebook last week and found it both relieving and heavy.  Life really is all about faith and where we put it, isn’t it?  I’m putting faith in the chair I’m sitting in right now (and as I age and my weight fluctuates, sometimes that’s more faith than I want to admit! LOL!)  

 

All jokes aside, we put faith in SO MANY things around us…that our alarm will go off, that the car will run, that we will make it to work just fine, that the people we love will be around us another day, etc.  It’s when all those things DON’T happen that we get cranky or lose hope.

 

In our world today, because of science and technology we forget how hard life can be because we have so many conveniences making our life easy.  We have heating and air conditioning so we’re never too cold or too hot.  We have microwaves to heat up food so we don’t have to wait to eat.  We have online ordering so we don’t even have to leave the house to get things we want.  How easy have our lives become?! When life is easy we don’t think about heavy topics like FAITH…we come to EXPECT things will be good and tomorrow is just another day.

 

But what about eternity?  Where do you put your faith when it comes to THAT topic?

 

One inevitable fact is that someday we will all die.  There is no getting around it.  Despite all the smart doctors and amazing technology our world possesses, there is no eternal life here on earth, so…I ask again…where do you put your faith?

 

I’m sharing my next ENTRY (ENTRY 1) from my website today about Faith.  Where do you put YOUR faith?  I think if we are all honest, there are days we put it in God and some days we put it in man.  

 

Man will fail you.  God will not.

 

To read the next website post ENTRY 1 click HERE.  Again, my website is all about the creation story and WHY as believers we do not have to pick and choose where to put our faith!  It all can be placed in the ONE who created it.

Any Day

If you were to die today, do you know where you would go?  This might seem like a crazy thing to ask at the beginning of a blog post, but in my opinion, this is a question that should be on our minds more often than not!  Though we live in a world full of appointments, obligations and timelines, none of us get to decide when our last “appointment” will be.  It’s kinda of scary, yet it is also an inevitable truth.

 

Why do I care?  Or maybe why am I writing this?

 

Well, for a while, I have felt the Lord laying some things on my heart and this past week, even more. I am going to share some things with you for those who don’t know.  First of all, I believe in God.  I believe His son Jesus died on the cross for my sins.  I believe in heaven and hell.  I believe in the Bible and the many truths that lie within it.  I also believe that when I die I will go to heaven because I believe Jesus died for my sins.  These beliefs are not just for me which is why I am sharing them now with you!

 

I know some people reading may believe in this gospel truth and some people may believe Jesus was just a historical figure.  I am honestly not here to argue, I’m just here to share and that is my goal as I move forward – simply to share.  I want to share things that give me peace and hope in a world that isn’t so peaceful or so hopeful.

 

As a Christian, this is what I am asked to do! Mark 16:15 says “And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation”

 

I will be sharing what I believe are biblical truths and commands such as Galatians 6:9 “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up!”

 

Why now?

 

I recently lost a friend.  As I write this post, it’s been a week since I last saw her.  Her death was COMPLETELY unexpected.  In fact, I saw her 30 minutes before she had some sort of medical episode that led to her death two days later.  She was fine when I talked to her.  She was healthy and happy and smiling! My friend Karen wasn’t starting her day thinking “today is the day I’m going to die!”  She didn’t know it and neither did any of us around her. 

 

What about you?  Do you believe in God?  Whether you do or not, doesn’t mean He doesn’t exist.  C.S. Lewis a long-time atheist turned Christian was quoted as saying “Christianity, if false, is of no importance and if true, of INFINITE importance.  The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.”  He also said…and I always find this profound if you truly think about it….”When you argue against Him (God) you are arguing against the very power that makes you able to argue at all; it is like cutting off the branch you are sitting on.”

 

With this in mind, again, I’m going to share some things I believe.  I might do it a little different than most because I’m a proponent of the literal creation account in the Bible.  This may turn some people off, but I hope it actually intrigues you.  I will be sharing some posts I have recently created on a website called THE COMPASS much like this blog called THE COMPASS.  On this site, there are 14 posts detailing some information I hope you will read about the science we know and the actual “proofs” we have about our world’s origin. 

 

I hope you will stick with me.  To get started reading my website, CLICK HERE.