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| Our Solar System |
Time with Jesus - Sunday, 26 May 2013
Hi all,
Sorry about the delay with
today’s meditation. Jo’burg City Power decided to carry out some maintenance
and the electricity went off at 08h00. When it will be back is anyone’s guess.
Our universe; when did it start?
What made it start or has it always been “there”? We are told it is expanding.
What is it expanding into? Is the “space” it occupies a fixed size, or is it
also expanding? Will there ever come a time when the expansion will stop? Will it
then begin contracting? Has this expanding and contracting been on going like
some great “yo-yo”? What about the physical laws like gravity, rotation and
speed? How did they get “there”? Will these “laws” ever be different? Why do we
love? Where did anger originate? What about art and music? What about pain? Is
it possible that all this could have come about by random chance?
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| The Big Bang? |
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| Another Big Bang? |
If it all
started with a “big bang”, what preceded the bang and brought the bits together
so that they could go “bang”? Why does the earth rotate? Why do some planets
and moons not rotate in the same direction as ours? Surely, if it all started
with a big bang, the products of the explosion would rotate in the same
direction? Why does ice float on water? If ice is water, why doesn’t it sink
when it freezes?
I’m so glad I follow theology
rather than science. Science is wonderful. It can explain precisely how things
happen. Please don’t ask science why. It has no answer. Why do I enjoy singing?
Why do we have emotions? Science cannot explain love! Science cannot explain
why we die. What happens in us that at an undefined time in our lives, our
excellent “earth suit” starts to wear out, run down and die! Sure, science can
explain the process. But science cannot tell us why it happens. “It just does”,
is all that science can say. Another comment is, “It has always been like
that”! OK, I agree. But why does it happen?
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| Divinity or Diversity? |
Perhaps we can sum it up by saying, Divinity or Diversity? Of
course Divinity means repeatability. Two bears will not produce a goldfish. A
whale cannot mate with a squid. You can’t cross a dog with a cactus. If you
try, the dog will get very irritated! It also means that our offspring will be
the same species as we are. A woman will never give birth to a zebra.
You
cannot cross a rock with a hard place!
Does all this intimidate you? I
hope not. There has to be something superior to the human race. What could it
be? Christians reply that the Triune God is infinitely superior to His
creation. Those who have no problem with this concept believe in the existence
of God. We may not be able to “isolate” and “define” God in a test tube. If we
could, that which we have isolated or defined would not be God. Those who
cannot believe that there is anything superior to humanity are stuck with
science and scientific answers. What a shame. They have become locked into
trying to come up with the impossible; a theory which will contradict the
reality of God! |
| Cactog or Dogtus? |
Our meditation today considers
Jesus Christ. He is the “Son-light of Divinity”. Understood or not, He is God.
Shalom,
Jim & Phyllida Strickland
Matt
10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
Time with Jesus – Sunday, 26 May 2013
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Matt
10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
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©
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These
devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright
protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it
is for non-commercial Christian purposes
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©
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INTRODUCTION
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DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES
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JESUS, THE CREATOR
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How
old is our planet? Some say it’s hundreds of billions of years old. Mostly
they are those who believe in the hypothesis of Darwinian evolution. I’ve
deliberately used the word “hypothesis” because 150 years later, it still has
not been proved scientifically.
Others
believe in a young earth. One created by God. How long ago was that? I once
asked that question and was told, “as long as a piece of string”. “How long
is that” I asked. The reply was, “How long do you want it to be? I was then
told that such various opinions were possible because many of the basic,
underlying assumptions, could not be verified. The comment was that if you wanted to
believe it was hundreds of billions of years old no one could gainsay you.
Likewise if you wanted to believe the young earth theory, your opinion could
not be contradicted. So it seems that the planet is as old as you want it to
be.
There
are two questions we should ask about our planet, as it follows its course
around the sun. The first is, “Why is it rotating?”. We know that it is. But
what caused it? Random chance or design? Rotation gives us night and day. No
rotation and we couldn’t be here in our present life form. Which brings us to
the next question? Why is the angle of rotation such that we have four
seasons per year? Did it occur purely on the basis of random actions? No?
Then there must have been a designer somewhere. The designer is God.
A
great number of people today don’t believe in God. They are perfectly
entitled to do so. May I say that it is a God-given right, with which I don’t
want to try and meddle. They prefer to believe in the slow process of
evolution. If this took billions of
years, to go from a big bang of some sort, to the complexity of the life
forms we see all around, so be it. This is what they sincerely believe. They
have a lot more faith than I do. To think that all this developed from
nothing of its own accord is much harder to believe, than to put it all down
to intelligent design. I’ve heard it described in simple terms. Let’s assume
that you have a big stack of logs outside in the back yard. Now put a big
stick of explosives – your choice – under the logs. Then, as they used to
say, “Light the blue touch paper and stand well back”. What are the chances
that the logs will all come down and fall into place like a log cabin,
complete with doors and windows? Do you think this could happen? I think the
log cabin is more likely than everything coming from nothing. You have a
start with logs and explosives! They don’t even have that!
What
did “kick off” creation? God spoke and it happened. Interestingly, He
commenced with the creation of a time/space continuum. This happened when He
said, “Light be!” Since He is light, it was not difficult. God’s light still
shines on our planet. A living testimony to His greatness.
Jim &
Phyllida Strickland
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23 The city does not need the sun or moon to
shine on it. God's glory is its light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24
The nations will walk by the light of the city. The kings of the world will
bring their glory into it.
Revelation 21:23-24 NIrV
13 At midday, O king, I saw on the way a
light from heaven, brighter than the sun that shone around me and
those who journeyed with me. 14 And when we had all fallen to the
ground, I heard a voice saying to me in Hebrew, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting
me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.' 15 And I said, 'Who are you, Lord?' And the Lord said, 'I
am Jesus whom you are persecuting.
Acts 26:13-15 ESV
1 Six days later Jesus took Peter and the
two brothers, James and John, and led them up a high mountain to be alone.
2 As the men watched, Jesus'
appearance was transformed so that His face shone like the sun, and
His clothes became as white as light.
Matthew 17:1-2 NLT
19 "No longer will you need the sun to
shine by day, nor the moon to give its light by night, for the LORD your God
will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. 20
Your sun will never set; your moon will not go
down. For the LORD will be your everlasting light. Your days of mourning will
come to an end. 21 All your people will be righteous. They
will possess their land forever, for I will plant them there with My own
hands in order to bring Myself glory.
Isaiah 60:19-21 NLT
10 And the God of all grace, who called you
to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little
while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
1 Peter 5:10 TNIV
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Our planet is rotating. They say it’s slowing down.
So far it’s just a little bit, so this won’t make us frown.
But someday in the future, perhaps ten billion years,
It’s going to stop its turning, unless the Lord appears.
I do not know the science, so cannot really say,
How this will change the period of night-time and of day.
I guess that on the “light side”, things shrivel up and fry;
And where it’s all in darkness, life forms will freeze and die.
I think this brief prognosis, the scientists agree,
Consists our little planet’s final destiny!
I cannot argue with them. I’m told they know the best.
But when I think of Jesus Christ, I think they merely jest!
It seems a bit unlikely, that things will last that long.
And when He takes things over, they’ll see they have it wrong.
You won’t hear me complaining that day and night are done.
Neither will be needed in the brightness of God’s Son!
I hear that Jesus’ brightness, will make the sun seem pale.
So bright the New Jerusalem’s electric lights can fail.
Instead there will be brightness without the need for shade.
All that really matters is that Christ has been obeyed.
I know that John has seen it, with Peter, James and Paul.
Moses at the burning bush; He was the first of all.
They saw a transformation a place of burning light.
When Paul got just a sample, it burned away his sight.
I cannot speak of others. I cannot say for sure,
If someone else has seen Him? Can any man endure,
A light that is so radiant it turns the night to day?
I’m told that the atomic bomb explodes and looks that way.
But Jesus and His brilliance will never wax nor wane.
His light will fill that city. We will not need again,
The sunlight in the morning or moonlight in the night.
They’ll fade to insignificance when Jesus shines His light.
That great big massive city that could fit into the moon,
Is what we are expecting; for He is coming soon.
The God of grace has called us and we will always be,
Rejoicing in the “Son-light” of His Divinity.
Though we will face some problems before that special day.
We know He is victorious; We’ll be with Him to stay.
Jim Strickland –
Written 26th May 2012
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