Israel, the Promised Land

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Panorama of Jerusalem, Israel

Israel is the only nation in the world that is living under the same name, speaking the same language, observing the same religion and located in the same place that they were 4000 years ago.

After a lapse of nearly 2000 years during which the Israeli people were scattered and often persecuted in the various places to which they were dispersed, the UN declared the reestablishment of the nation of Israel on May 5, 1948. The nation of Israel was ousted from their native land in 70 AD when the Romans destroyed the temple in Jerusalem, 1878 years earlier. That UN decree brought 3.6 million Jews back to the historic land of Jews from over 90 nations in 1948, an unprecedented event.

This history is as remarkable as it is unprecedented.  Continue reading “Israel, the Promised Land” →

Whatever We Fix Our Eyes On We Reflect

I have found myself recently caught up in the torrent, reacting and re-reacting to the various comments, news clips and videos, like waves of offensives and sieges…

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Flagstaff Mountain Flowers Philippians 4 8 by Chris Fraley jpeg

The world seems to be coming unglued! Militant, radical Muslims in Iraq are killing Christians, minority religious groups and even other Muslims. Hamas bombards Israel, and Israel responds with shelling that is killing women and children. At home, police decked out in military gear in a Missouri town are confronting an angry mob looting in the street and threatening to kill policemen.

Daily posts on Facebook and other social media demonize Barack Obama and “liberal Democrats”, or greedy corporations and capitalists, or Israelis or Hamas. The air is filled with ranting on both sides and all sides decrying every conceivable evil in the world. The cacophony seems to be reaching new heights. The many forms of social media make ranting as easy as shouting out the window to a world that is right within earshot.

I have found myself caught up in the torrent, reacting and re-reacting to the various comments, news clips and videos, like waves of offensives and sieges, until I began to realize something was happening to me…. Continue reading “Whatever We Fix Our Eyes On We Reflect” →

The Genesis Project

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I highly recommend the Genesis Project to you. They have started “in the beginning”; meaning, they have started with Genesis. These guys have broken Genesis down into an easily understood story with a narrative and graphics.

It is presented in a very simple and clear way, but do not think that the simplicity and clarity means that the presentation is simplistic. It is not. The presentation has substance and insight. Check it out!

The first part of Genesis

The second part of Genesis

If you agree that these presentations are well done and insightful, you might consider a donation to this non-profit project.

Donate here.

Belief in God is not Blind Faith; Encounters with God

Faith is not blind or irrational. It is evidence based, but it does take some risk to act in hope and confidence on the evidence.

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Ryan Sun

Paul said that he is not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes. (Romans 1:16) Belief (faith), therefore, is obviously central to spiritual life in Christ.

What is meant by faith, though? Is faith “blind”, as some describe it? Is faith is antithetical to science? Does science discount faith? Does faith require the suspension of intellect? Does faith require us to abandon obvious evidence to the contrary?

I have not found any of these things to be the case. Faith does require a “leap”, but faith is not like jumping out over a yawning chasm. The gap is much shorter, and the landing is much more sure than one might suppose.

Continue reading “Belief in God is not Blind Faith; Encounters with God” →

Read the Bible Yourself and then Decide

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In the Bible by Leland Francisco

Believers and unbelievers alike make mistakes in reading the Bible. People rely on certain passages and certain viewpoints to the exclusion of others. People miss the forest for the trees, as they say.

Within the “Church”, the number of denominations is partially a result of different emphases on different aspects of God, the Bible and other things. When this proclivity tends to the extreme, it results in things like witch hunts and cults. Many of the dark periods of church history are, in part, examples of an inflexible adherence to specific certain truths, doctrinal, political or other views of Christianity to the exclusion of others.

Any overemphasis on specific passages or positions or facts can lead to an unbalanced view of God and error. Continue reading “Read the Bible Yourself and then Decide” →