RIDICULOUS CLAIMS

I believe in you.

I believe in truth.

I believe in right and wrong.

I believe in justice.

I believe in mercy.

I believe in compassion.

I believe in Love.

I believe in an authority higher than myself.

I believe in a collection of ridiculous claims.

  

AN IMPRESSIVE STATISTIC

Two billion, two hundred and twenty-nine million, seventy-four thousand and one hundred. The quantity and precision make for an impressive statistic; but is the figure realistic?

Does the statistician consider Atheism a religion? Did his calculations include the estimated one hundred to one hundred and fifty million murders committed under Stalin, Mao, the Nazis and others? The various atheistic purges that occurred in diverse places ranging from Afghanistan to Vietnam during the twentieth century. The century historians say was the most murderous thus far in human existence. 

Yet, I must admit even one hundred and fifty million seems rather puny compared to his determination that two billion, two hundred and twenty-nine million, seventy-four thousand and one hundred were caused by religion.

But, why does he place the guilt only on religion? Wouldn’t it be just as accurate to attribute the majority of murders to science? After all the development of weapons used to murder, pointy sticks, knives, poisons, bows and arrows, gunpowder, nuclear bombs, are products of science. Products of human intelligent design. I hope he doesn’t think science will protect him. Over the millennia science has simply learned to make sticks more deadly. 

I don’t blame science, I won’t make silly claims like that because I know the true cause is sin. Evil has been responsible for all murders; past, present and future.

Evil is the real murderer. 

  

LEMON PUDDING

What if what I think to be reality is actually virtual? How can I know if the physical is real? Why is it temporary? Why am I asked to make moral decisions? The plants and animals, why aren’t they?

Perhaps what I think is happening isn’t truly happening? Would it really matter? Wouldn’t a virtual reality serve just as well to test my spirit? Could it be that I’ll return to what is real after I’ve submitted my answers?

Can you tell me? Do you know for sure? Can I trust you? Do you trust me? Is there someone we could trust? Has He given us any clues?

Are judgments based on sight, taste, smell, touch and hearing totally reliable?

It may seem peculiar, a little bit strange, but I’ve discovered that lemon pudding isn’t always made with lemons!

  

THE WAGES OF SIN

Bree Olson wants to be respected; she’d like to be treated as a married registered nurse with 2.5 children living in Indiana.

Ms. Olsen says there’s nothing wrong with porn, it’s fun. Apparently she only gave it up because mainstream people are closed-minded and treat her like a pedophile, they don’t want to be her friend.

I know a little about Indiana. Nurses in Indiana aren’t paid to sin. That’s not to say they never sin, but they aren’t respected for their sins any more than Ms. Olsen is for hers. It makes no difference if sin pays $20,000 a week or even more; the cost will eventually be greater.

A recent poll of teachers found that children as young as 7 are involved in sexting. These teachers also reported incidents where their students had made videos of themselves masturbating. Perhaps that explains why a nurse in Indiana might treat Ms. Olsen like a pedophile, why they don’t want her teaching their 2.5 children.

In regards to friendship; it isn’t the quantity of friends that you have, it’s the quality. A true friend will forgive your sins if you’re willing to acknowledge them and change. Bree Olsen must be unaware that Christ wants to be her True Friend.

Or it may be that Ms. Olsen isn’t all that open-minded.

  

I HAVE FAITH IN “IS”

Photograph by Mechaele Loraffe

I believe a man was born who is the Son of God; who is the Word of God. I have faith in “is” because I believe He was resurrected. Not reincarnated, but resurrected. I believe He is the living God; the Christ who will return as the Messiah.

  

FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD

For God so Loves you.

  

A GREAT MYSTERY

Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. – John 20:6-7

There are two objects made from flax that are of great mystery. They may be witnesses of the single most important event in the history of mankind or they may not. The best known is referred to as the Shroud of Turin. “One of the most perplexing enigmas of modern times” – National Geographic Magazine

The Shroud shows the following: * Blood on the head caused by some sort of trauma * Abrasions and bruises on the face. * A wound to the side of the person’s body with post mortem blood flow. * Over 120 scourge marks. * Blood on the arms. * Nail wound in the wrists, not the hands * Nail wound in the feet. * The person’s legs were not broken. And are pulled up due to rigor mortis. * The person was a male about 5′-8” to 5′-10” in height * Blood from the wounds show evidence of gravity from the body being held in a vertical position. * There are no stains that would indicate decomposition of the body. * The image on the cloth is a negative image and in 3D * Whatever substance and process created the image it is only on the surface and did not penetrate the depth of the cloth. * The cloth contains pollen from plants native to Israel.

The second piece of linen, the Sudarium of Oviedo, has been preserved by those who believe it to be the cloth that was wrapped around Jesus’s head. The Sudarium and the Shroud have been kept in separate locations during all of their recorded history. Both cloths are of the same fabric, the blood on both is of the same type, pollen samples from both indicate they were, at least for a time, in Palestine and stains on the Sudarium align with those on the image of the person’s face who was covered by the Shroud.

“It is either the most awesome and instructive relic of Christ in existence or it is one of the most ingenious, most unbelievably clever products of the human mind and hand on record. It is either one or the other, there is no middle ground.”— Historian John Walsh

  

BUNNIEISM

I don’t believe in the Easter Bunny; perhaps at one time, but I no longer trust him.

The ceremonial  ritual of searching for hidden hard-boiled eggs and candy. If that sort of thing makes you happy.

Well, I see no harm in that.

I believe in Jesus Christ; I believe in Good and evil, I believe He offers salvation from evil. He tells me to Love my fellow man, to speak to those who could be lost. To say: that faith in Love and Goodness matters! That’s why I care, that’s why I set aside some  time to talk to others.

Atheists say God is no more real than the Easter Bunny. That Christianity has no greater value than Bunnieism.

Okay, I can sort of relate to that line of thought.

However, it seems peculiar to me that they would be concerned that I convert to their belief in nothing. What motivates them, what’s the point? If there is nothing I don’t see how they or I would be any worse off one way or another. It seems like a waste of their time.

Have atheists been told to save me from belief in God? If so, by whom?

Was it the Easter Bunny?

  

FRIENDSHIP WITH GOD PART 9

IN CHICAGO THEY DYE THE RIVER GREEN

Tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day; for 24 hours everyone is invited to be Irish. Your acceptance can be shown by wearing something green. In Chicago, Illinois they even dye the river. Most of America’s other large cities will have parades with an abundance of traditional things, said to be Irish, that you can eat and drink.

In New York City’s Battery Park, overlooking the Hudson River, is what appears to be an old potato field. It contains the remains of an abandoned home. Scattered around are stones; large stones imported from every county in Ireland, a memorial of An Gorta Mor.

My genealogy, that is the half inherited from my father, is for the most part Irish. There were those who were Scotch-Irish, the Presbyterian Ulster Scots who immigrated to Pennsylvania in the 1700s; my grandfather came from that line. Grandmother was Catholic, her Irish descendancy traveled to the dark and bloody ground of the Kain-tuck-ee from Mary’s land. These people did not come to America as a lark, they didn’t seek adventure. They came because the task of maintaining life in Ireland had become burdensome.

They were familiar with poverty and such; however, none of my Irish ancestors experienced the Great Famine. Life on American’s expanding frontier would be no picnic, but they didn’t starve to death.

It is claimed that on an average day America throws away 31% of the food it produces. I find it a bit ironic that for many who will celebrate St. Patrick’s Day the figure is often somewhat higher.