God and Sceince: Can they Coexist? Evolution or Creationism? What I Believe As Truth

Several months ago, I posted something about this subject on another site. In response, a young woman asked some questions about it and also said she was not sure whether God could co-exist with science. She said she wanted to believe in God but she was just not sure. And the most distressing part of her comment was that she said she was without hope. Wow. How sad when a person believes they are without hope. I can not even begin to imagine what that must feel like.

In response, I quickly responded to her comments. She was not without hope and that is the message that we all have in Christ. I also pointed her to scripture and some other articles online that she could look up. 

So many people want to poo-poo the idea of God and science and mostly God. Somehow, they are forgetting Genesis 1:1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Of course, many don't forget that scripture. They just do not believe it. For centuries, man has looked to the stars. They have tried to figure out the universe. And they have made so much progress. And what do we call them? Scientists. So these scientists are looking at the creations above, trying to figure it's dynamics and yet many people do not see, or perhaps do not want to see, the connection between them and God? Really? To me, that makes no sense at all.

God and science do co-exist. How can they not if he created it?

I know that Creationism was taught in schools when I was a kid. However, many years ago when I was in junior high, evolution was beginning to raise up its ugly head. I had a homeroom teacher named Mr.Procter during the 7th-9th grades. He was a science teacher at the school. I did not have him for science while there and it probably was a good thing. I did not know anything much at all about evolution. And I am not sure he actually taught it in his classes. But what I do remember seeing was his posters and charts on the wall of how man evolved into ape to human. I never questioned that. After all, he was the teacher and he should know. Right? Yeah, right. Thankfully, being in church and raised to believe in God I came to know the truth. But, what of those other young minds that were in Mr. Procter's classes? I am sure he did teach it to some degree there or why would he have the charts on the walls. And how many of those students went on to believe the lie of evolution? Sad to say how much influence he could have had on them as they grew up.

But I for one, do not choose to believe we just happened out of a puddle of mud and somewhere down the line, became human. It is just not in me.I choose to believe that God did create the heavens and the earth and that we are created in his image and are his workmanship. Those scriptures alone beat the dust right out of anything less. Genesis 1:27  Ephesians 2:10

As for the young lady with no hope. She did follow my posts for a while after that but I have not seen her for quite some time. It is my sincere prayer that somehow, I made some kind of difference in her belief. I may never know on this side of eternity but I know that if she was open or gets to the point that she is open sometime in the future, that she will realize that she does have hope. The only hope that is of number one importance. That of Jesus Christ.






     May your day bring blessings as you depend on God. Thanks for stopping by! God bless!

Teach Us to Number Our Days Lord!

Looking back over my life, I know that I have wasted a lot of time on menial things. There are days when I have wished for some of them back so that I could do them over and perhaps do them better. As young people, I don't think we often look ahead and realize that at some point we will have regrets and wish we had done things differently. We live for the moment, or the day. Often just trying to get through them with no thought of what will be in the future. I remember how much my two youngest sons used to fight and argue with each other and it used to drive me crazy because they were relentless. At those times, I used to think how glad I would be when they would be grown up and those times would be gone.Not that I wanted them gone. Just all their fighting.

Well, they are gone now. Removed by quite a few years. And now I look back and wish I could go back and have them at home, fighting or not. I had not appreciated my time with them while I had them. At least not as much as I should have. And that goes for all 4 of my kids. I lived in the moment each day, just to get through it without thought for a time to come when I would wish those moments back.

God does not want us to live in regret, however. And I could waste my time now each day regretting those years and forgetting to just be thankful to God for all he has done for me. And not doing what he wants me to do now. At this time of my life. He has things for me to do and if I am always looking to the past, I will be no better at doing what he wants, as what I was when I kept looking to the future.

At some point, we will all get to the end of our lives and what will be in our minds then?Have we foolishly wasted it on things that are not important? Or can we honestly say we did all we could to do what God asked and wanted of us?

Psalms 90:12 says "Teach us to number our days." But I need to personalize that so that God would teach me to number my days because I do not want to get to the end of my life and have to then stand before God and tell him why I wasted so many of them. I know God forgives me for my past mistakes. He already has. Now I need to remember to not only live for today but do what he wants me to do. For today, and tomorrow and for every day for however many, I have left. And do it to the best of my ability  Because we have no guarantee of how many of those we still have.

Maybe, like me, you are forgetting to live wholly for God and appreciate every moment he has given you. Sometimes it is easy to do. But I encourage you to learn to do just the opposite of what I did so that you will not one day regret that you didn't do the things you should have. Life is too fleeting. It is as sands slipping down through an hourglass, and we really do need to appreciate all that we have and live for God the best we can, every day of our lives.


                                                                 Cartoon of the day

                                                           Thought for the day

I am glad you stopped by today Friends. I hope you will join me again tomorrow. In the meantime, have a blessed day and be sure to pass it on to someone else!

Christian Dating and What You Should Not Do

As a teenager many years ago, a wise man who also happened to be my father, would quote 2 Corthianians 6:14 which warns Christians not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers. There is a very good reason that scripture is in the bible. If you obey it, it can save you from a lot of heartaches. Despite my dad's warnings, not to mention what that scripture says, I learned the hard way, the truth in it. I think back over my dating years and thank God that I did not end up with some of the guys that I had dated. And I did marry a man that was on the road to alcoholism and a lot of heartache for me for the next 15 years.

I thought I could change him. And that was a lie from the devil that talked me into becoming yoked with him. Only the Holy Spirit can change a person. People should never marry with the idea that they can change their mate.

It is my personal belief that dating is not for kids. I think the reason for dating someone, is that the person is a potential mate and in dating, that is how the couple gets to know each other. To find out if they are right for each other.

If out of a couple there is only one believer, that person may think they can change the other person.
And what usually happens is that they end up becoming much like the unbeliever and being taken down to the same level. For anyone that is dating out there, take my word for it. Better yet take that verse for all it is worth. So you won't be sorry. Marriage is hard enough for 2 people that love God. Why marry someone that doesn't and therefore make it worse.

 Praise God, things did turn out for the good for me. But it took a lot of years of being miserable to get to that point. I certainly discourage young people on this very thing. I lived for too long in too much pain to not at least try to tell people my experience, to someone that might make my mistake.God can take a bad marriage and make it good. But the bible also says we reap what we sow. So if we are disobedient in that area, yes God can bring good of it. But we may have to go through some hard things before he does.And so why go the hard way, if you can avoid that kind of heartache.
Believe me, you won't be sorry if you obey God's word on it. I know I wish that I would have.

                                                               Cartoon of the Day

   

Thanks for your visit today. Take care and........

Is It Ever OK to Get Angry With God?

Life sometimes brings us times of discouragement. We can become worried, depressed and angry at the unfairness of it all. And when that happens, we can express rage at those around us. Take for example the couple that has just lost their child to cancer. The middle-aged woman who after years of marriage was suddenly jarred into the realization that her husband was leaving her for someone younger and maybe prettier. Or a man like I knew years ago that found out he had muscular dysterfy, his wife left him and he checked himself into a downtown hotel and tried to commit suicide by jumping out a window.

And I know of a relative by marriage that lost her son in an accident as a teenager and after all these years, self-medicating herself pretty much into oblivion until she passed away a year ago, never being able to get over it.How sad can that be?

These kinds of situations can surely make us angry We might rant and rave at God. Yell at him. Wave our fists at him.  We turn that anger on God. Why did you let this happen to me, God? Have I not served you with all my heart?  Why did you let this happen to me!???

I think of the church in Laverina, Texas in 2017 where a man went in and opened fire, killing crying babies and children at point-blank range.

Where was God? Why didn't he stop this man? Why didn't he?  We want to know God and we demand an answer!

 Didn't the survivors that day have a right to be angry at God who they believed loved them.

In this life, sometimes we may never fully understand why God allows these things to happen. But from the ashes of the devastation, there is a greater purpose. If we can get past the anger and despair over our loss, God can bring back to us peace and joy so that we know that he alone is in control. He can heal our hearts and we can find meaning and hope and find value in life again.

And so the question is: Is it ok to get angry at God?

Initially, I think it is ok. After all, God created our emotions. And in getting angry, it releases frustration that left unchecked, can end up harming us. God is not surprised by our anger. And he does not get mad at us in return for it. He knows that we are hurting and we need to express it.

However, in saying that, I do not believe our anger should stay there in that place. We need to acknowledge it and ask God's forgiveness and then let it go and let him begin to heal our hearts. For some of us and probably most of us, that usually not is an immediate thing. It may take time. We may need to repeat it over and over.But hopefully, our joy can return. If for some reason, you are angry with God today, tell him about it. He already knows it but it can be helpful to get it out.And then ask him for his forgiveness and thank him that he loves and cares for you.

Thanks for coming today Friends. You are soever important to me even though I don't know you. And more important are you God.He loves you so much. Please come back tomorrow! Until then

Do You Need to Be Heard?

There was mental illness in past generations in my family. It still goes on through the present.  It ran /still runs from depression, and manic-depression to suicide. And everything in between. In my own family, it ran rampant for a number of years. And somewhere along the way, I picked up on the stigma that came from it. You didn't want others to know about it. Even among Christians, it was taboo.  Keep it hidden because what would others think? And even though for many years I could have benefited from it, and I did not get it.For years I was left floundering without any help. And it is only through the grace of God that I am here at all.

The question is this as far as I am concerned. Which is better, to get help when someone needs it or wait until they are on the brinking point where there is no return? 

Well, the answer to that question is (hopefully) it is better to get help.All too often, people are at the point of no return.

Granted, one does not go to just any therapist. Someone needing therapy should seek out a Christian. Someone they can trust. Someone that has their interests at heart. someone that will listen, really hear them and advise them on how they can deal with their situation. Someone that can pray with them and help them spiritually. Until they feel they are being heard by someone, they will probably not get better. Not to say it can't happen. I did not get it, and I did get better. And our family dynamic did change. However, not without going through much pain, many years and more importantly God. He did make the difference.

If you need help, please get it. It can be dangerous to put it off until it destroys you. Because after all, that is what the devil is trying to do to you through it. John 10:10 Depend on God to supply you with someone that you can trust to help you. I wish I had had someone like that. It might have chipped off a few years that had been so destructive. But I do praise him that he got me through them. He is ever faithful.

There was a very gracious lady who was mailing an old family Bible to her brother in another part of the country.
“Is there anything breakable in here?” asked the postal clerk.
“Only the Ten Commandments”, answered the lady.




Thanks for your visit today Friends. Have a wonderful day or night, wherever you are. Be blessed and bless others! And I hope you come back tomorrow!

Giveng Thanks is Hard to Do (To the tune of Breaking Up is Hard to Do)

Me yesterday: Really, God?

God yesterday: In all things give thanks, for this is the will of God concerning you. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 

Yesterday started out like any other day in our household. I had just finished the day's blog and did some other things online. Before I got offline, I emailed a friend. She knows I that I have diligently been working on paying off some debt. To tell you the truth, it has been extremely hard for us for quite some time. However, we are getting to the end of a loan we had to take out 2 plus years ago. And so in my email, I had mentioned to her that we didn't have long to go before it is paid off.While we still have more debt to keep pounding away at, this is going to free us up just enough so that paying our monthly bills will be a little less stressful. I told my friend that I hoped now we would not have any more problems that would cause us to go into any more debt. That I needed some relief from the stress.

Famous last words. For me anyway. It was not 2 hours later that my husband noticed that the temperature in the house was getting chilly. He went to the thermostat and found he could not get the furnace to kick on. We had already had a furnace problem earlier in the season that put a large amount on our credit card. My thought was, "Good grief Lord, couldn't you have waited for awhile to let this happen? We haven't even paid off that bill yet." As we do sometimes, the first thing we want to do is blame someone. In this case, it was God. Later I would repent of that statement.

My husband went down to the basement to see what he could find out. He used to be a HVAC repairman and before that actually built furnaces for a company, on an assembly line. So he does know a lot about them. But he has been out of that business for a long time. He didn't know what the problem was and said we needed to call a repairman. Which we did.

It turned out to be some part needs to be replaced and the problem is he had to order the part which means that it will be Wednesday before he will be back out with it.

Oh no. Our house is well insulated, and it did take quite some time before it got really cold in here. We were able to borrow an electric heater from a friend and so it isn't bad in here as I write this even though it is 29 degrees outside. Believe me,I have been through worse situations., Thankfully, it is supposed to get a little warmer in the next few days.

The furnace situation was not the only adventure we had yesterday. When something like that happens, God sometimes does bring a little sunshine in our lives.

In our neighborhood, we have a cat. She doesn't seem to be anyone's cat, per say. But several of us feed her and the babies she has every year.They live outside but this year, early in the season, when it was getting colder, I coaxed her in as I felt so sorry for her. Off and on for a couple of weeks, she would come and go. However, this did not bode well with my cat Baby who is an indoor cat. Baby was not giving up her pad for this lowly homeless cat.  Eventually, I just had to stop letting Mama Kat, as I call her, come in.

So yesterday, when my husband opened the door to the basement, he came across a surprise. We knew Mama Kat had gotten pregnant and also that she had had her kittens. She had been gone a couple of days and came back with less weight. lol.But we did not know where she had had the kittens. Until hubby opened the basement door. There on the landing leading down the stairs, she was. With four of the most adorable little creatures. She had found a way to get in down there and though we don't know how long they had been there on the landing, she had found the warmest place to keep them was right there, I suppose.

I have had cats all my life, and I am guessing they are at 3 to 4 weeks old. And very well taken care of. We brought them in and at first Mama Kat was a little nervous but when she saw that we weren't going to hurt them, she was ok with them being in here.

However, Baby wasn't ok with it. And so I got a large box, put a small blanket in it and put the kittens in it. I let them stay for awhile and then put the box back on the landing where they would be safe from Baby's wrath. At least for now. I don't want them getting to where they will be moving around and suddenly go tumbling down the stairs and probably get killed. So for right now, they are safe.

What am I going to do now with this new family? I don't know. We really can't keep them. And I can't turn them out. I will have to figure out something.

But while I do that, I give thanks to God. Not because I have this responsibility for them. And surely not because of our furnace problem. But simply because these little guys started their lives out on our landing and are so sweet. A part of God's creation of animals for us to love and care for.

Sometimes it is hard to see the good in things. Especially when things aren't' going well. It is hard to say, "Thanks God." And yesterday that was the way it was for me. But despite the furnace, eventually, I was able to say that and mean it. "Thanks God for these little guys that have made a hard day a little better."

Have a wonderful day folks!

How Do I Know God's Will for My Life?

Have you ever questioned God about his will for your life? Are we to blindly go through life just hoping we are in God's will. We have been born again.We have joined or been part of a good bible believing bible teaching church. Maybe we are teaching a Sunday School Class there. Or singing in the choir Maybe we even use our home during the week for a mid week bible class. But is what we are doing enough? And, how do we know if or if not, what we are doing is God's will?

Those things I mentioned are truly a great start.The most important part, of course, is being born again. If we are not born again, there is no way we can ever be in God'swill.

But we need to start anything else we do, with prayer. What is God's will for me? Not all of us can teach a bible class or lead a prayer group or open our homes for a mid-week bible study group. And while we might want to do those things, it is better to really make sure what God wants for us.

Matthew 6:9-10 King James Version (KJV)

9 After this manner, therefore, pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

And then, ask for advice about what you feel God is leading you to do. God has given us those perhaps that may be older Christians that have more experience that could give your their perspective that would help you make decisions Maybe they would think of something you hadn't thought of, that would help you.

Ask others to pray for you about the things you feel led to do Especially those that are real prayer warriors that have your best interests at heart. 

Be open if God closes a door.For instance, he may not want you to teach a class at this time. Maybe it is just not the right timing. Or maybe, that is just not your gift and he has something else he wants you to do instead. And so, that just fizzles out and it does not happen. If that happens, be ready to thank God because he does know why, and he does know best. And then seek him for what he does want you to do. 

In life in general, these things work as well. In finding a job, buying a home, moving to another area, or whatever it is. Pray, ask others advice and to pray, and be open to closed doors. Seeking God's will and godly counsel will get us to his will. And if we think  something is God's will and yet it does not give us peace but does give us a feeling of something not being right, then it probably is not God's will.

For instance, if a Christian is considering a joint business partnership with a non-christian and the Christian is non-easy about it, it is probably God letting him know that this is not his will and not to do it. No matter how good the deal looks, it may not turn out well and God is trying to warn him or her not to do it.  Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 2 Corthianians 6:14 Knowing and living by this scripture can save us a lot of problems we may not see at the time.

There are many, many decisions that we make every day and we should always beware that sometimes there are those that the devil would try to trap us in. To waste our time, get our eyes off Jesus, and destroy us. And with that in mind, we need always to be aware of that-not to the point of looking for the devil around every corner so that our eyes are off Jesus, but just to be praying constantly for his will to be done. And if we do that, God will point us in the right direction.The direction he wants us to go.

Joke of the day (It is truly better not to lie!)

A minister told his congregation, “Next week I plan to preach about the sin of lying. To help you understand my sermon, I want you all to read Mark 17.”

The following Sunday, as he prepared to deliver his sermon, the minister asked for a show of hands. He wanted to know how many had read Mark 17. Several went up. The minister smiled and said, “Mark has only sixteen chapters. I will now proceed with my sermon on the sin of lying.

Thanks for coming by today friends! I hope you had a restful weekend!Now have a wonderful week!