The Encourager

The Encourager

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God the Creator

Sunday, January 19, 2020

God the Creator

Jeff Curtis

     The book of Genesis provides a basis for faith by proclaiming God to be the Creator. It doesn’t begin with non-specific arguments for the existence of God, as do books on philosophy of religion. Neither does it present scientific data or experiments that one might use in order to prove that God exists of that He created the world and all life in it. The Bible doesn’t begin with a frontal attack on the fantastic world of mythology that was prevalent throughout the ancient Near East. It begins with a proclamation of faith in the one sovereign God who created the heavens, the earth, and all living things – man in particular – because He is a good God who only wants to bless His creation.

 

     Faith in God as the Creator is more reasonable than faith in blind chance. The statement in 1:1; “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” is obviously a statement of faith, without any proof. So, some scoff and say, “Your faith in God as the Creator is just a leap into the dark without any evidence; so I would rather put my confidence in science, namely that which can be demonstrated and proved.”

 

     However, if one rejects God as the Creator, then the only other possible statement is “In the beginning chance created the heavens and the earth.” Both are statements of faith, neither can be proven or disproven scientifically. So, it is not a matter of faith versus science; but instead, the question is “which kind of faith do you have?” What is more logical and reasonable to believe: that order accidentally came out of disorder, life came from non-life, and human consciousness came from unconscious matter – or that a Creator designed the universe and its life forms?

 

     The problem for the unbeliever is that no such life-origin event has ever been demonstrated of observed in nature, or can it be. Therefore, the one who puts his faith into the dark, trusting in a notion that is contrary to known scientific truth.

 

     What if an accidental explosion took place in a junk yard, and when the dust settled, behold, instead of a lot of miscellaneous bits and part of junk we were to find a perfect computer and monitor? When we take a closer look, what if we discover that it had a huge amount of memory, plus an operating system and several complex programs? If we ask the owner of the junk yard, “Where did this computer come from? Who made it? How did it get here?” Would we believe the owner if he answered, “I don’t know how it got here, I don’t see any evidence of anyone who made it, it probably just happened as the result of the explosion.”?

 

     Once again, no rational person would believe that such a thing could happen, even if explosions occurred all the times. Sophisticated order never comes out of uncontrolled chaos. Rather, it comes from intelligent design and careful construction. This is true whether in reference to a computer and its programs of the heavens and the earth, with all of its variety of life.

 

     The Psalmist wrote; “I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14), but no one could really fully imagine how true this statement is until the later 1990’s, when scientists were finally able to map the three billion codes of the human genome. A human life begins with one fertilized cell in the womb of the mother. The complexity of the cell and unfathomable amount of information in each one led Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, to say, “DNA is like a software program, only much more complex than anything we’ve ever devised.” (DNA vs Evolution: The Little Code that Confirms the End of Evolution; 2009).

 

     No one, of course, would suggest that a complicated computer program could just happen by accident without the intelligent design of a skilled programmer. And yet, those who believe that the complex structure of the cell just happened by chance are unable to offer any explanation as to how it all occurred. In fact, scientist have been looking for five decades for a naturalistic cause that can explain the existence of life and the complexities of DNA in the cell. So far, they haven’t produced any evidence to support any such origin of life theory. (Lee Strobel, The Case for a Creator; 2004). 

 

    They continue to have hope against hope that one day it will be proven that “In the beginning Chance created the heavens and the earth.” Their unbelief in a Creator is not for lack of evidence as to the nature of life and its origin, but instead, it seems to illustrate the old adage, “None are so blind as those who will not see.”

 

     The inspired Hebrew writer tells those who believe that God created the heavens and the earth by speaking them into existence, Hebrews 11:1 English Standard Version (ESV)Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” That writer goes on to say just a few later that; Hebrews 11:6 English Standard Version (ESV) And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

An Unwanted Baby

Sunday, January 12, 2020

An Unwanted Baby

by Jeff Curtis

Many years ago, in a small village, a child was born. He was born to a mother who had become pregnant out of wedlock. In her culture, that could have resulted in a death sentence. Her fiancé, who loved her in spite of her predicament, went ahead with his plans and married her. Today, some would have counseled this young woman not to go through the shame and embarrassment of an unplanned pregnancy. They would have encouraged her to keep her secret, even from the child’s father, and to have an abortion. No one would ever have to know.

 

Every single day, a silent horror kills more Americans than were killed on 9/11.  Every single year, this silent horror kills about as many Americans as have been killed on all the battlefields in all of the wars in U.S. history combined.  This silent horror is called abortion, and it is a national disgrace.  Overall, more than 50 million babies have been slaughtered since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973.  We have become a nation with so little regard for human life that nobody even really talks that much about this issue anymore.  But the truth is that it is at the very core of what is wrong with America.

The following are a few facts about abortion in America that should make you very sick….

#1 There have been more than 53 million abortions performed in the United States since Roe v. Wade was decided back in 1973.

#2 When you total up all forms of abortion, including those caused by the abortion drug RU 486, the grand total comes to more than a million abortions performed in the United States every single year.

#3 The number of American babies killed by abortion each year is roughly equal to the number of U.S. military deaths that have occurred in all of the wars that the United States has ever been involved in combined.

#4 Approximately 3,000 Americans lost their lives as a result of the destruction of the World Trade Center towers on 9/11Every single day, more than 3,000 American babies are killed by abortion.

#5 It has been reported that a staggering 41 percent of all New York City pregnancies end in abortion.

#7 One very shocking study found that 86 percent of all abortions are done for the sake of convenience.

#8 According to the Guttmacher Institute, the average cost of a first trimester abortion at the ten week mark is $451.

(Let me add here that the average cost for an adoption in the United States in 2019 was $40,000.

The devil wants to make sin as enticing as possible. Even in the price you pay here and now.)

(19 Facts About Abortion In America That Should Make You Very Sick; February 10, 2012 by Michael Snyder; endoftheamericandream.com). (This is not his complete list, just the first 4; JC)

 

The mother in the story at the beginning of our article is Mary, the mother of Jesus. Abortion has been around for a long time. It may have been available to Mary then. What if she had chosen to abort her child? What if Jesus had never been born? Was He any less the Son of God and the Savior of the world in Mary’s womb? Of course, Mary knew who Jesus was (Matthew 1:20-23; Luke 1:26-38), and she would never have aborted her baby; but suppose she had.

Unwanted babies are not a new phenomenon. When Jesus was born, He was unwanted, except by His parents and perhaps a few others.

Herod the Great did not want Him. He was fearful of someone trying to take his throne. When Herod heard about the birth of this baby who was born to be “the King of the Jews,” he sought to kill Him (Matt. 2:7-18).

When He was grown, many in Jesus’ own family rejected Him at the beginning of His ministry (Jn. 7:5). None of His brothers were believers until after His resurrection (Jn. 7:5; Acts 1:14; 1Cor. 15:7).

The Jewish religious leaders did not want Him. John wrote, “He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him” (Jn.1:11; Isa. 53:3-9).

We should cherish life as a gift from God. This should be evident in the way we treat our children, both in and out of the womb. We should take a firm stance against abortion – the destruction of innocent and indefensible unborn children. In addition, we should show compassion toward those children who have been neglected or abused

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