Thoughts on the spiritual dimension of life
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Saturday 19 July, 2008 - 00:03 by Arj in Default
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Monday 07 July, 2008 18:43
I think now would be a good time to discuss the topic of eternity.
Many of us Aussies would probably remember the word ‘eternity' as it was lit up across the centre of the Sydney Harbour Bridge at the finale to the New Year's Eve 2000 fireworks celebration in Sydney.
Photograph courtesy of Ramon A Williams, Worldwide Photos.
The word was chosen by Ignatius Jones (the artistic director) in honour of the legacy left behind by Arthur Stace, 1884-1967.
For those of you who are not familiar with Arthur's story, I encourage you to visit the website listed in the reference section of this topic. Suffice it to say, Arthur had found himself in a bad place in his life. In his despair he decided to call upon the Lord. From that day onwards, Arthur's life began to change. He was able to overcome alcoholism and find employment. Not long after he had submitted his life to God, Arthur heard a sermon by Rev. John Ridley and was inspired to share that message with the people around him. He began preaching his "one word sermons" in copperplate writing across the city of Sydney - ‘eternity'.
In my previous blog entry I eluded to the fact that our soul is eternal. That is, although our physical body dies, our soul does not. Note the following Scripture -
"Life, lovely while it lasts, is soon over. Life as we know it, precious and beautiful, ends. The body is put back in the same ground it came from. The spirit returns to God, who first breathed it." Ecclesiastes 12:6-7 (MSG)
So what does this mean for us? Well, I'm convinced that Arthur knew the answer to that question. The soul, which is as real as the body in which it resides in, must reside somewhere else once the body is no longer.
Suddenly Heaven and Hell do not seem that farfetched or abstract anymore.
I believe Arthur is now enjoying eternity in the presence of Almighty God.
As the Lord Jesus hung on the Cross, bearing the sins of all mankind, a criminal who was being crucified next to him spoke the following words to him;
"Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom"
Jesus, seeing that man's repentant heart, replied with the following;
"Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise"
(Luke 23:42-43)
References:
‘ETERNITY at the Olympics' by Nigel A Chapman, http://www.wesleymission.org.au/publications/eternity/eternity.htm
Friday 18 July, 2008 - 23:56 by Arj in Default
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Sunday 22 June, 2008 01:26
Having laid the foundation on how we came to exist in this world, we can now begin to explore the spiritual dimension of life in greater depth.
I mentioned in an earlier blog entry that the supernatural and the natural are closely coupled together. This is particularly true for us. You and I do not merely consist of flesh and bone – there is much more to us than meets the eye!
In my last blog entry I presented a passage from the Bible which described how men and women are created in the image of God. As we continue to read on from there, we are given more insight -
“And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Genesis 2:7
Here we discover an incredible series of events. God creates our physical body (skin, bones, organs, brain, vascular system, reproductive system etc) out of the dust of the earth and then breaths the breath of life (i.e. spirit) into us, thus creating a living soul!
The soul, also known as the heart, is supernatural. It is our very identity. It consists of our will, mind and emotions. Our soul has the ability to engage with the natural world (through our body) and with the spirit world (through our spirit). There are limitations however to what we can engage with based on our physical state and spiritual state1, respectively.
Engineer and Bible teacher Chuck Missler likened the spirit/soul to computer software. They both play an essential role in the system they reside in, but neither have any mass. For example, a blank CD and a CD containing a computer operating system both have the same weight!
Let's take that a little further. Picture your soul as a piece of software. This software has the ability to publish and subscribe to other pieces of software (i.e. engage in the spiritual). It also has the ability to interact with the hardware that it's running on, for example, it can listen for keystrokes and respond by writing a message to the screen (i.e. engage in the natural).
Unlike a piece of software however, each person's soul is unique and does not have a fixed algorithm. God has given each person a 'freewill' to choose how he or she responds to His word and to the world around them.
Also, when the CD is broken the software is destroyed. Not so with us!
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1 A person must be 'born again' through salvation in order to commune with God. Certain abilities like for example the discerning between spirits, word of knowledge, prophecy etc, are spiritual gifts given by God to certain people for the work of the ministry. (References: John 3:5-7, 1 Corinthians 2:14, 12:1-11)
Friday 18 July, 2008 - 23:54 by Arj in Default
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Sunday 18 May, 2008 17:51
In my previous blog entry I discussed the supernatural origin of the Universe. Let's now consider where you and I came from.
Most likely you were taught while growing up that you came to exist on this Earth through a process of evolution. That the extremely complex human body that you now have once began as a cellular organism (i.e. a prokaryote) similar to that of bacteria.
Supporters of the Darwinian theory of evolution claim that given enough time, evolution of this scale is possible.
There are several problems with the Darwinian theory of evolution. For example, the time factor, the avian lung example, no scientific evidence (i.e. observations) exists to support the theory. But there is one particular and fundamental problem with the theory of evolution which acts as a nail in its coffin -
Where does the additional genetic information required to move from a less complex organism to a more complex organism come from?
Evolutionists claim that the additional genetic information comes from the accumulation of genetic mutations.
At this point I would like to quote some experts in the field.
"All the mutations that have been examined on a molecular level show that the organism has lost information and not gained it." - Dr. Lee Spetner, biophysicist.
"The information required for large scale evolution can really not come from random mutations. The Darwinian model says that it does. But nobody has ever made a calculation to show that it does. I have made a calculation that shows that it doesn't." - Dr. Lee Spetner, biophysicist.
Dr. Lee Spetner is a biophysicist and researcher of signal/noise relationship in DNA as a Johns Hopkins University Fellow.
"The flightless Cormorants are really degenerate mutants with a loss of information for making wings. All examples of mutations are actually loss of information, even the favourable ones. There is no new genetic information. Claimed examples of evolution in action are actually examples of variation within a kind. Antibiotic resistance, insecticide resistance, peppered moths - all these are examples of rearrangement of existing genetic information or loss of genetic information. There is no new genetic information." - Dr. Don Batten, Biologist.
"The biggest problem in evolution is the origin of information. Where is the information coming from? It is impossible to come from a simple living being to an elephant or a human being. It needs very much more information and information cannot come in by a random process." - Prof. Werner Gitt.
"It is impossible that new information is coming in from a random process. If you see a computer programme, it needs a programmer. If you see a car, it needs a designer. If you see the biological information in the cells, then you must say that it is the right conclusion - it needs a creator. Who has made the programmes, the genes to create the proteins to create the organs? It is necessary that you have this. So we can say evolution is an impossible process." - Prof. Werner Gitt.
Prof. Werner Gitt is a specialist of Information Theory and director of the Federal Institute of Physics and Technology, Brunswick Germany.
Like the creation of the Universe, life on Earth was also created supernaturally. Man and woman were created with particular significance, in that we bear the image of our Creator.
Let's go back to the book of Genesis -
And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." And there was evening, and there was morning - the fifth day. Genesis 1:20-23
And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:24-25
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." Genesis 1:26-27
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." Genesis 1:28
Let me close with this final quote regarding the Darwinian theory of evolution -
"The great cosmological or cosmogenic myth of the 20th century" - Dr. Michael Denton, Molecular Biologist (Otago University, New Zealand).
References:
‘From a FROG to a PRINCE' - produced and written by Gillian Brown, Answers in Genesis. Produced by Keziah.
Friday 18 July, 2008 - 23:43 by Arj in Default
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Monday 28 April, 2008 19:49
You and I need to know that we are special. We have a meaning and a purpose. I don’t say this to sound warm and fuzzy. Rather, it is meant to be taken seriously. It is crucial that we understand who we are and where we came from, in order to gain more insight into the ‘bigger picture’.
The universe that we live in has cause and purpose. We can analyse our physical world by breaking it down into fundamental particles (e.g. quarks, leptons, photons, etc). We can even demonstrate how energy can be used to create matter, by smashing photons together. But when it comes to explaining how it all came about, we are at a loss. The popular ‘Big Bang’ theory suggests that the source of the universe once existed at a single point of infinite density (i.e. a singularity). But that simply shifts the problem to ‘where did all that energy come from?’ Some suggest that a collapsed universe gave birth to our present universe. But now we’re just going around in circles!
The fact is we do not have a scientific answer to this question because the origin of the universe is not natural, but supernatural.
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1)
This is the first line of the Bible. The Bible is regarded by many (including myself) to be a supernatural revelation from God, yeh-ho-vaw'.
“The great discovery is that the Bible is a message system: it's not simply 66 books penned by 40 authors over thousands of years, the Bible is an integrated whole which bears evidence of supernatural engineering in every detail!” Chuck Missler www.khouse.org/pages/mcat/khouse/about_the_misslers/
I hold the Bible as an authoritative source on life because it not only addresses spiritual matters, but also provides unwavering statements pertaining to our natural existence that have stood the test of time.
Friday 18 July, 2008 - 23:39 by Arj in Default
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Monday 28 April, 2008 19:46
In order to understand the spiritual things, we must first have an understanding of the natural things.
The Lord Jesus (when speaking to Nicodemus) said, "I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?"
The natural realm is probably what you and I are more familiar with. It consists of objects that we can see and touch, smell and taste, measure and quantify etc. But I’m sure that many of you would agree that this is only half the picture; that beyond the natural realm lies the supernatural. In fact, both the natural and supernatural realms are closely coupled (connected, related) together.
Before we can discuss spiritual matters however, we must first have a basic understanding of our physical environment and existence.
Friday 18 July, 2008 - 23:29 by Arj in Default
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Monday 28 April, 2008 19:45
The main reason for starting this blog was to share my thoughts and views on certain life issues, which people could then ponder.
Life passes by so quickly. It's easy to get caught up in our daily routine (i.e. work/study -> eat -> sleep) and miss the bigger picture. The danger with that is the bigger picture directly affects us. Hopefully this blog will encourage you to stop and look around, and see life from a different perspective.
Friday 18 July, 2008 - 23:17 by Arj in Default
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