"Why does God let bad things happen?"

I've heard critics use that argument, asking why a loving, benevolent and forgiving Creator would let tragedies happen ... as if therefore, God must not exist.

If God exists and if God is supposed to love us, then why did He allow that tragedy to happen?

In other words if God doesn't answer their inquiries or fulfill their expectations, these critics will eagerly deny God's existence and then optimistically place their faith (and salvation) in whatever god they can bend and conform to conveniently suit their expectations.

That's why the world is filled with gods like intellectualism, rationalism, money, fame, material success, sex, drugs, religion ... or anything else that happens to suit.

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The next time the news headlines are splashed with the lurid details of another flood, another famine or any other tragedy, I wonder how many of the same critics who deny God's existence will step forward and argue

"Rationalism/money/sex/career success must not exist, because rational thought/money/sex/career success didn't prevent that bad thing from happening."

"My Sins don't matter"

So let's talk about you, your faults and your sins.

In other words since I was born without sin and since I helped Jesus climb up on the cross and since God never asked me to sacrifice what I love

... And since I helped Roman soldiers drive spikes through Jesus's hands and feet so Jesus could prove who He said He was

Let me tell you why I think you're a sinner:

Here's what's wrong with your life.

In your prayers, please remember Jean and Scott Adam

Jean and Scott Adam are the Bible-distributing missionaries captured by Somali pirates on February 18.

"The Adams were unhappy being "dirt dwellers" so they took to the sea on their yacht, distributing Bibles around the world, their website said. Photos show a smiling couple who delivered Bibles to remote villages "fromNew Zealand to Alaska to Central America -- and now from Panama, through French Polynesia, the Cooks, Samoa, Tonga and back to New Zealand."

"We seek fertile ground for the Word and homes for our Bibles," the website said. "Often, the ultimate homes are best found by people who are already living locally and seeking and cultivating that fertile ground. AND even more extraordinary are the times when people have been praying for Bibles for their group or their schools and when we arrive we are often greeted by the attitude of, 'We were expecting you.'" - source

Read the full story here.

Read more about SVQuest here.

Update

Four Americans Killed on Yacht Hijacked by Somali Pirates

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/02/22/americans-aboard-yacht-captured-pirates-reportedly-killed/#ixzz1EiwHTkJQ

Feel compelled

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

- 2 Corinthians 5:14-21

Which way should we go?

Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.

Proverbs 3:5-6

no lines, no driving, no waiting, no hassles

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.

- Luke 2:11

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

- Matthew 11:28-30

The 10,000 Hour Principle

Several years ago I watched a TV interview with a world-famous jazz trumpet player who remarked that "People are always coming up to me and saying 'I'd give anything to play like you do!'

"And so I ask them, are you willing to practice five hours a day?" Would-be trumpet players start frowning and making faces and shaking their heads No, and that's when he points out "Practicing five hours a day is what I have to do."

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In the early 1990s a study of violinists at a Berlin music academy was undertaken to determine what specific factors separated virtuoso students from their peers ... the students considered either "good" or "average."

The students were divided into three groups according to their level of playing skill. The first group consisted of students with the potential to become virtuosos; the second group was considered good enough to become professional musicians and the third group of students was rated sufficiently proficient to become music teachers.

The study found that between the ages of 8 and 20, virtuoso-potential students had logged more than 10,000 total hours of practicing. The students good enough to become professional musicians had 8000 hours and the third-tier students had accumulated 4000 lifetime hours or less.

That means potential virtuosos averaged practicing 30 hours per week ... over 4 hours per day ... for 12 years. The professional-level students averaged 23 hours per week while the third group averaged 15 hours per week, which translates to just over two hours of practicing per day over 12 years.

The study also determined that unquantifiable variables like "natural talent," "perfect pitch" and "a willingness to work harder than anybody else" made absolutely no difference whatsoever. Read that sentence again.

The students' level of performance only depended on how much time they'd put into practicing. Period.

Lots of folks claiming they's give anything to be world class trumpet players, violinists or guitarists simply aren't willing to log the 10,000 lifetime hours it takes to get there.

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In more than 36 years of service and with over 1550 daily flights, SkyWest Airlines has never been cited in a fatal accident.

The average newly-hired airline pilot has 4000 hours of flight experience and flies 75 hours per month. Many SkyWest pilots have over 10,000 hours of flight time.

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I started thinking about why people sometimes complain "God isn't listening" as if that proves "Prayer doesn't work." But if prayer is a dialog with God (and not just an opportunity to tell God our wish lists), have we stopped to consider what God thinks of our prayers and our answers?

"He/She isn't listening, and that proves prayer doesn't work."

Why do we think prayer's just a one-way street?

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I also started thinking about how much time I've spent praying and reading Scripture over the course of my life and realized that if praying was like learning to play a musical instrument, I wouldn't come anywhere near close to being included in the group considered sufficiently proficient to become a prayer teacher.

All of us want to pray like virtuosos when an emergency arises and we feel it's time for God to sit up and pay attention. But unless we make time and create a daily habit, it just seems like too much trouble and aggravation to put in all those hours of practicing .

When choice comes to town

"The greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion, which is war against the child. The mother doesn't learn to love, but kills to solve her own problems. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want.

"Abortion, which often follows from contraception, brings a people to be spiritually poor, and that is the worst poverty and the most difficult to overcome." - Mother Teresa

Maryland to become the late-term abortion capital of America:

Activists protest doctor performing late-term abortions at Md. clinic

By Lena H. Sun

Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 6, 2010; 1:08 PM

About 200 to 300 antiabortion activists gathered near the Germantown clinic Monday where Nebraska doctor LeRoy Carhart has started performing late-term abortions.

Carhart is one of the few doctors in the United States to perform the controversial procedure. He will be working at Germantown Reproductive Health Services, where physicians performs abortions earlier in a pregnancy. Only a handful of doctors publicly acknowledge that they perform abortions late in a pregnancy, and Carhart has been the target of protests.

"We don't want Maryland to become the late-term abortion capital of America," said the Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition.

- source

In the Late-Term abortion procedure, the preborn baby is rotated and delivered feet first, except for the head. The back of the neck is punctured with scissors and suction is used to suck out the brain and collapse the skull. The dead baby is then fully delivered.

I was there when they crucified my Lord
I held the scabbard when the soldier drew his sword

I threw the dice when they pierced his side
But I've seen love conquer the great divide.

When love comes to town I'm gonna catch that train
When love comes to town I'm gonna catch that flame

"When Love Comes to Town"

- lyrics by U2

For today

On that day
they will say to Jerusalem,
“Do not fear, Zion;
do not let your hands hang limp.
The LORD your God is with you,
the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
but will rejoice over you with singing.”

- Zephaniah 3:16-17

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving's just around the corner, and it seems like a good time to remember all we have to be thankful for.

Food

Income

Friends

Family

Health

Most of all give thanks to God, for a Savior willing to take our place on the cross.

But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:57

The Calvinist Salvation Show: a life of re-runs [Part 2]

Here's an (imperfect) analogy to refute Calvinist tenets:

It's estimated that approximately 160 billion human beings have lived on the earth since Creation. So let's say each one of those people is represented by a single DVD movie ... which amounts to about a 1.8 million years of constant movie-watching time in your private collection.

Let's also say every one of your 160 billion DVDs is a copy of the same movie, so you know beforehand all the action, all the dialog and exactly how each movie ends.

The problem is that only a small minority of those 160 billion DVDs play according to your expectations, while the vast majority will not ... so you decide to throw out all the skipping, scratched, blemished and flawed discs.

Now let's assume you already know which DVDs are scratched and which ones you'll select to keep, so here's the kicker:

Does it make sense to spend the next two million years watching re-runs ... copies of scratched, flawed and skipping copies of a movie you already know backward and forward to decide which ones to throw out ... when you already know before turning on the DVD player which discs you've chosen to keep?

I suppose to Calvinists, it makes a perfectly select sense.

The Calvinist Salvation Show: Notes on Being Born Lucky [Part 1]

Yesterday my friend Ken M. sent me this article about young Christians turning to Calvinism, which I found to be especially troubling.

The logic behind Calvinism is that since God is all-powerful and all-knowing, then God must know in advance who'll be saved and who will not. Which means every one of us is essentially "pre-destined" to a place in Heaven or in Hell ... which leaves Free Will entirely out of the question ... and there's not one thing we can do to alter our pre-ordained eternal destination.

The 'But It Makes Sense to Me' Argument

In previous posts I've written that what makes logical, ordered sense to Calvinists doesn't necessarily make sense or apply to God the Creator. God exists outside of human concepts of Space and Time, and Scripture doesn't assign we fallen beings the task of understanding the mind of God or permit us to second-guess His will.

Not that either of those obstacles has ever kept Calvinists from creating a theology that, at least from my perspective, subjugates God's grace and mercy and substitutes an automated assembly line salvation system in its place.

Could be because Calvinists enjoy identifying themselves as among "The Elect" so much.

Yes I'm Lucky, and Proud to Say So

The irony for Calvinists is that according to their own theology, no personal faith or works was required to achieve their favored position among the chosen ... because belonging to "The Elect" was pre-ordained before the Universe was created.

Excuse me, but if it's all about being born Lucky then why did Christ did on the cross to save us from our sins if Salvation was preordained for some, but eternally out of reach for others?

Starts sounding to me as though Calvinist theology has more to do with being born lucky than it does with personal faith in God's mercy and accepting Christ's sacrifice on the cross.