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September 20 What About Gays?This question dates back a while but I thought that I would take the time to answer it because in truth: What about gays? Why is it that these certain people seem to have no control about their future? In Leviticus 18:22 it says: "Do not lie with man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable." So we all know for a fact that the Bible teaches against homosexuality. Now let's look at why homosexuality is a problem for people: Although I have no scientific knowledge about homosexuality, we can all agree that the underlying force that makes it apparent is "love". Homosexuality is the "love" of a man for another man (or women for other women). We can also agree that "love" is not an emotion that we as humans can easily control. If you love somebody then it's somewhat hard to force yourself not to love. Love is like any other emotion. If you're sad then you may cry. Some people can't refrain from crying when they're sad. When you're happy most of the time you can't stop yourself from expressing that happiness, like through laughing or smiling. The difference between sadness and happiness is that we tend to try and hide our sadness and yet we freely express our happiness. Well isn't love also considered a "positive" emotion? We, too, will also freely express express our love for someone. It's not like we're going to try and hide it or force it away. Love is a positive emotion. Having said that, it means that for people who are gay, it becomes difficult for them to not show it because after all love is the underlying emotion behind homosexuality; it's just being directed at the "wrong" people. So what can gay people do about it? If in truth being homosexual is a sin (and death results from sin), then it would appear that gay people are destined to die. That is the view of someone who questioned the future of gay people in God's plan. And in this view it would seem that gay people are going to "go to hell" because it is difficult to control love. How do people become gay?I read somewhere that homosexuality is genetic. Fair enough, we always need a scientific explanation for everything in life. So for now let's assume that homosexuality is hereditary. Now most of us high school students should have by now learned how genetics work. Two genes (one from each parent) mix together and then determine one of the characteristics of the child. Now I don't know what the "gay" gene is but obviously at least one parent must carry it and it must mix in with another gene to make the child gay (whether recessive or dominant). So what is the chance that someone is going to turn out gay from their genes? 10%? 25%? 50%? Well the percentage doesn't matter. All we know is that there is a chance that the child can be gay. So what constitutes chance then? Let me use an example: You have a dice in your hand and you want to roll a certain number. Just a regular dice, no tricks. Mathematically speaking you have a 1 in 6 chance of getting that particular number. But there are other factors that influence the number you roll out: 1. Gravity - Gravity plays a roll doesn't it. Greater gravity will make the dice fall harder and bounce on the surface harder etc. Some other physics-related principles. Well apart from those things there are other factors that influence what number comes out. You can control a few of the above but ultimately you won't know what number is going to come out. You don't know whether or not rolling faster or slower will increase the chance of your number coming out. Even if you control a few aspects, you can't 100% control the outcome. There is another force at work behind what you roll out with a dice. People call this force "luck" or "chance" and things simply "happen" because "they do". There is no explanation to why it happens. But like I said in an older blog, these factors which we can't discern give evidence to God and so systematically it is God behind the scenes who is influencing the outcomes in things in life. But hang on why would God have time to influence what you roll with a dice? Like in a game or something? It's not important so why would God bother making sure you roll (or not roll) a certain number? Although God is everything and in everything, he passively controls some of the minor things in life I believe. God created gravity right? And all the other factors that affect what you roll with a dice yes? So therefore I believe He would be "passively" influencing the outcomes of minor things. So in the same way God is also influencing the genetic characteristics of people. But we have to remember that God does this directly, not passively, because creating a human being (in His image) is a lot complex than simply rolling a dice: the outcome is much more significant. So why would God "choose" people to be gay?There is no doubt about it. No matter what science has to say we know in the end that genetics are ultimately more influenced by God than anything else. He has the last say in what features each person has. So when God "makes" gay people, does that mean He is like giving them a death sentence? After all, since leads to death and being gay is a sin; so being gay means death? That doesn't sound fair does it? People have no control over whether they are gay or not and then boom! God says a person is gay and they are destined to die. When someone tells you that you are going to die, it's not a good feeling because you know that there is nothing you can do. All you can do is simply wait till you die. That's not fair is it? So why would God make people gay if He wants to save everyone? Isn't He killing them before they were even born? That doesn't sound like the God that we follow. My first point against this claim is by asking the question: "What constitutes sin?" Isn't sin anything that is unrighteous in God's eyes? Isn't being gay just ONE sinful thing? There are many other sinful things in the world that cause death, being gay is not the only thing. But yes alright being gay adds one more sinful thing on and sometimes it only takes one more to tip the balance. But in our lives we sin heaps and heaps. We sin countless times. It says in the bible (someone please help find the exact location) that if a person breaks one law (of the ten commandments) then he is convicted of breaking the other ones. No matter how big or small sin is, it is still sin in God's eyes FULL STOP. There are no "but"s no "however"s, just simply sin. If people are convicted of being gay then fair enough. But remember that we are in no better position. We might not be gay but we are also convicted of other sins. And who's to say that gay people have sinned more than us non-gay people? Just because we aren't convicted of being gay, we might be convicted of sins that gay people haven't committed. Some gay people have never killed people before so what are they going to say to murderers? "Oh I feel sorry for that person because that guy has murdered before; I'm much cleaner than he/she is." "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." - Romans 3:23. Regardless of what we are, gay or not, we have still sinned anyway. Neither group of people are better or worse, we are all equal. My second point is that gay people can still change their ways. When we love others, that love can break if we get hurt enough and stuff. Most of us are probably not those stubborn people who are only ever going to love one person in our life and then just cling on to that person even if they don't love us back; that is unheard of. Gay people too have a chance to change. Giving up sexual desires for people of the same gender may be hard but then God has his ways of dealing with them. Now I'm not saying that God WILL change gay people. I'm saying that IF God wanted to save gay people THIS WAY, then He will do it. Who can say that a gay person can't change? It may be hereditary but it's not like a physical condition that you can't shake yourself of. Homosexuality is a psychological thing; it's like mental trauma and stuff like that. The world has rehabilitation centers for people with all sorts of psychological problems; aka nut houses. Gays CAN be rehabilitated to be straight, and usually it helps IF the gay person wants to be straight. The biggest help in ANY change is being committed to it. This is just like conversion. People become Christians because they WANT to believe. My third point is that homosexuality is just another form of sickness. What about other hereditary diseases? What about other psychological traumas? There are diseases that give people a hard time in life. I myself have a VSD (Ventricular "Something" Defect). This is essentially a hole in the heart which allows blood being pumped out of the heart back into the chamber bringing the de-oxygenated blood. This means that my heart has to pump extra blood in order to bring enough to the rest of my body because some of it backflows. Now you tell me what I'm meant to do with that? In my early stages as a child, I had serious asthma and stuff and I was really sick as a little boy. I couldn't do many physical activities due to my heart condition and even up to now doctors say my hole will never close up. Luckily for me, and praise to the Lord, my hole has closed up over the years and at this stage it's small enough to not have any major impact on me. I can do any physical activities that everyone does. I'm pretty sure I don't have asthmatic attacks anymore. Haven't had one for 10+ years I think. But perhaps no-one understands the seriousness of my problem. I could've died at a young age had my hole gotten larger. Now you tell me if that is fair or not? Having to die at a young age and not being able to control it? My situation shows that God can change bad things back to good if He wants to; and He did for me. He can also do the same things for gay people. But alright mine is a physical sickness, and as I said before being gay is psychological. Well there are people who start off fine and then pick up psychological sicknesses over time. It can happen both ways: start sick and end healthy, or start healthy and end up sick. But the thing is that there are people who become traumatized against God that they simply stop believing and then go against God. I have heard of people who started off Christians but then because of some incident, they were psychologically changed and then they rejected God. At the rate they are going, they will probably die rejecting God. Now is that fair? So start on the right path but then at the end die a rebel? They can say: "Hey God I started of good but then stuff happened and I ended up bad." But isn't God just going to go: "Nope, sorry. In the end you disobeyed me." There are clearly worse situations than being gay and just because people are gay it doesn't mean that they are already lost. There is always a way to redeem people to God, regardless of the situation. So people who are gay are not in the worse position in front of God; we all stand at the same level. Being gay isn't the worst sickness, they are many others that yield a much worse result. Gay people CAN be saved, there are many ways that it can happen, plus many more from God. So don't ever go: "What about gays?" because in truth: What about them? September 14 Praying for the PastI am sure that most of you have had moments in life where you prayed for something at a particular time. Later you find out that you got what you prayed for. The only strange thing is that the incident you prayed for occurred before you actually prayed. So hang on, what's the point of praying then? I mean, you can't like change the past from a prayer can you? If something has already happened then there's no point praying for it since it won't change the outcome. An example would be praying for a friend who is like having an outside-school exam. You pray that the person does well, the next time you see the person they tell you that they did really well on the exam. And then they tell you that they did the exam on a day before you prayed for the person. And then you think: "Wait, how is it that my prayer was answered before I actually prayed? Was my prayer even answered at all?" This is exactly what makes the mind of Christ so hard to perceive. We can prayer for something and then have that prayer answered in the past. This can happen. Like for instance when we pray for things and we don't see an answer, sometimes the answer is already there, even before we asked for it. We simply needed Christ to reveal to us that we already have it. It's called having the answer right before your nose all along. That is one way that God answers our prayers. Another example of these type of prayers is like praying that you did well for an exam just before you get handed back the test results. Why bother praying for the test? I mean, it's not going to change your marks is it? God isn't going to come down from heaven, snatch your paper and give you the mark you prayed for. Nevertheless when you get your paper back you find that your prayer was answered. How is that? There is no doubt that we always seem to pray for things that have already occurred and that our prayer would seem to have no effect on, but God still answers it...in the past. But that is probably not the best way to interpret it. Rather, God gives us what we need because He knows we are going to pray for it. God gives your friend a good mark in an outer-school exam because you will pray for that person in the future. When you do a test and three weeks later get the result back and you pray just before you receive the results, God gives you a good mark as soon as you do the test because He knows you are going to pray for a good mark (even though you should be praying for it before the exam). So what does this all mean for us? Surely we can't tell what is going to happen in the future and we also cannot tell whether or not everything that happens is a result of prayer from the future, whether by yourself or by others. But what we do know is that God has laid down every little detail on our path. We might not see it from say several years away, nor several days away, nor even when we pass that moment. But we do know that in the end the answer to our prayers will be revealed to us. What makes the idea of having our prayers answered before we even pray so special is that God has designed everything in such an ingenious way which makes us stare in awe. There is no doubt no man could ever design and lay out every aspect in one person's life (everything they've done, are doing and will do), let alone everyone in the world. It's a good reassuring thought to know that God slowly reveals His divine majesty to us through our prayers, so we should never take prayer for granted. So if anyone ever feels like God hasn't shown them any signs of His existence or that He hasn't spoken with someone, then it's simply a matter of that person not yet asking for what God has already done. Of course we can't see which prayers have been answered before we actually pray it. It's like receiving a present you have yet to ask for (or have yet to need). This is why we always need to keep a keen eye on the things that happen in our lives. Everything that God does and gives to us has a reason and although we may not find that reason immediately, there is bound to be a time when the answer is revealed in the future. So thus this is the concept of praying for the past, or can also be viewed as "Answering for the Future". September 01 Origin-Less ConceptsThis is simply more information about the world that suggests God. I won't use the word "prove" since no physical evidence can do that. But there are things in this world that could not have occurred "naturally", whatever "naturally" actually means. Take for example the concept of mathematics, in fact that is probably the only thing I'll be talking aobut, except there are many branches under mathematics that really stumps the world.
First off, where did "time" come from? Or more precise, "where did our ability to measure time come from?" If you were asked to measure a minute you'd pull out your watch or a nearby clock and simply count away 60 seconds until the minute has been reached. If you were asked to time 1 second you'd simply point to that clock/watch again and time the 1 second. But how would you calculate time exactly (to th second) without using a clock? You can always count time like by mouth and human timing but then at some stage perhaps after a few minutes or so you will begin to be less accurate with time and you can't be expected to subconsciously track time. Back in the earlier times people have sundials to at least work out hours, that's fair enough the fact that they can measure an hour. Today our technology allows us to measure even smaller particles of time. But where did it all come from? Certainly there must be an origin to "timing". But is there really?
The bible's first teaching of time came from Genesis, where God creates the world in 7 days. Time was measured in days then. But what is a "day"? We call it 24 hours, or 1440 minutes, or 86400 seconds. But what is the most raw unit for measuring time? There is none. Why is a second "that" specific amount of time? We can't even describe time physically. Why couldn't the day consist of say 100 hours so then metrically we can tell how much % of the day has passed? The way we measure time today is because of how God has made the world. He has set for us the unit for time. On our own it is impossible to measure time, what would you measure it with? I mean like if you started with just the one day and you timed it and all, how would you get an hour? You can't "halve" a day because the sun is always in different positions everyday, and it's not guaranteed to ever be in the same spot ever in a million years. It is impossible to work out smaller units of time on our own but God has set us ways to measure it and so we acept it, but fail to acknowledge that it was He who gave us the ability to measure time.
Or consider physical measurement. Where did "metres" and "kilometres" and "centimetres" come from? We can see that it is partially possible to convert to inches but then where did "inches" come from? The origin for measure of distance is also unknown. THe first biblical account for physical measurement is when Noah built the ark. God gave him specific lengths for the sides of the ark and the hieght of doors etc. But just how did Noah measure these lengths. They didn't have rulers back then. So like in today's context, if you were acsked to measure out a metre without anything, what can you use? Nothing. Without a ruler or another device you can't work out a length. But then how did Noah do it? How did Noah measure length? He didn't because God was the one who set out specific measurements. He "showed" it to Noah and hance also "showed" us what a metre is, or what an inch is. No-one has invented measurements and no-one intends to create another system because they can't. THe source for measuring distance comes from God as well.
And then consider volume. What constitues a "litre"? what constitues a "cup", or a "teaspoon"?Once again you can't be expected to measure any specific amount without the aid of a measuring device. Man is not going to design a new method of measurement and even if they did it would be based off what we already have. But where did it all come from? There is no way that man could've "invented" the litre or any other form of capacity measurement because it's already impossible to produce any specific amount without using a device. Someone else must've brought upon the units for volume and that greater being has to be God, there is no other way to explain the origins of volume.
How about the whole concept of counting? Does anyone remember the first time they learnt to count. I partially remember. I was three and I counted up to 3 and then I also realized that I was that age as well. But why do we call things "one" and "two" and "fifty million"? Where did the unit for 1 come from? And how is it that the world has accepted the figure "1" to represent "one"? What is "one"? Again it is impossible to express because it is a basic concept in life, we cannot explain its origin but that doesn't mean there isn't one. The whole concept of "mathematics" originates from God. He has laid down the basic fundamentals of it all. God is the origin for these concepts. He created them. That is why we cannot pinpoint how they came into existence because they came in a "divine" way. And even if we can try to trace back to the origins of such units, we find that we have to stop because at the point of creation we can't go back any further since it wasn't there. There is no gradual development of these things, they just came into existence. And besides, there is a lot of doubt in whether history can tell us information close to the origin, we'd still probably be several thousand years off at least.
Ok, now I'll just end on another small concept. But it happens to be the most complex one of all.
Language. No doubt in our world there are many many languages. Some we know sort of came from others if we linked all those together we'd still be left with a vast number of "tongues". And again, where did languages come from? The first account for language occurrs again in Genesis, when God "spoke" to create the world and then He "spoke" to Adam and Eve. But in what language? What was the initial language that existed at creation? But no we're stepping too fast already. The real question here is: "How did Adam know how to speak?" When we're young our parents teach us how to speak in our native lanuage, or English since it's so global now. But the point is that you needed someone who knew how to speak it in order to teach you. And likewise your parents' parents taught them how to speak and it just keeps going back...all the way to Adam and Eve. So clearly the first langauge that came to be came from God. God taught Adam and Eve how to speak. God acted the role of the parent and gave man langugae.
If there is an origin to language then who "created" it? Did caveman grunting somehow evolve to specific words? That fact isn't even true, since when did early man "grunt"? It can't be proven, but only suggested. No-one can "invent" a language and if they did, it would be based off other languages so in truth you'd have to create an entirely different language. And even if it was created there are probably flaws top it as well since the ability for words to exist is very vast; there are many words and expressions in existence. But we cannot deny the fact that the origins of any language are impossible without a creator.
The same applies for writing. Since when did the letter "a" became known as the letter "a"? Why couldn't "b" be "a" and then we shift the alphabet one letter up? That was not how God made it obviously. Again how did these languages get put into certain "symbols" that become understandable by us? How is it that you can read these weird lines on the page? How did it come to be that these lines have meaning to you, that you can understand the message in it? There has to be a source for language; a starting point. But that's impossible because you can't develop a language unles you already have one to analyse it in. You can say: "Oh alright so we'll let a "square" mean "mouth" in Chinese. How did you get that point across? Didn't I just use English? You can't design anything unless you already have something similar. And that isthe point I was trying to say earlier but didn't know how to. It is imposible to invent anything new unless you have something similar to begin with. So how can anyone create something totally unrelated to anything when they have nothing to base it off.
It's like asking you to draw a picture of something without any stimulus. Of course you'd think a blank page. But then you can still draw something since you get pictures from memory. But ok suppose we got rid of memory altogether and you have absolutely nothing. Suppose then someone plays a sound of some sort and asks you to draw. What would you draw. What does a "line" look like? What does a "circle" look like. These are basic facts that came from a creator, no man can create them.
Ok now back to languages. How is it possible to have so many distinct languages and then also be able to translate from one to the other? How is it possible for man to break the language barrier? That is impossible. It's like in algebra: you cannot add unlike terms together because tey are totally different. So how are you going to convert from one language to another? It is impossible. The language barrier has been broken by God right? There is no other explanation. Remember the coming of the Holy Spirit, and the tongues of fire etc. Everyone was speaking in tongues they themselves didn't understand, let alone other people understanding. So how did it come to be that all the languages could relate to each other? There is no logical explanation that tells why one language can be translated to another. Like if you met a man who spoke a language you knew nothing about and vice versa, how would you communicate with him, provided it was only through words and words only? No hand gestures so facial expression, no tone of voice even. Just words of the language. It's impossible to break that language barrier isn't it. There must be a way therefore that is not "man-ly" that has allowed our world to translate from language to language.
All of these things point to something much greater that has laid down the rules for living, someone who has also predefined everything that we've come to know, after all, we couldn't do it ourselves. There has to be something greater that has brought forth the existence of abstract things that we cannot see, and this greater being we call God, because clearly if He can easily bring forth one system for counting, for measuring, for speaking, He can most certainly bring forth another, and yet another. There are infinite ways for Him to create things that we cannot and these things that are around us in everday life are evidence that point to God. Sometimes you need to take step back from the world and consider it. There are so many aspects of it that you cannot understand. There are so many that everytime you take a step back, you see a different concept that points to God because you cannot explain how it came to be.
Please post up anything that you find wrong in here. I was slightly tired when I wrote this so my points jumped here and there. |
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