On Creating the Universe, Your Own Life, and Earning Your Salvation

If someone claimed to have created the universe, he would be considered a nut case. Same way for anyone maintaining that they gave life to themselves. Had they described how they went to their parents and asked to be conceived, then asked their mother to give birth to them, they would be laughed to scorn.

But on the basis of the philosophy that one out of three isn't too bad, there is a final option for them. They would get a huge following if they said we all must choose our heavenly Father, using a free will that was not impaired in the Fall.

In Xavier University, I heard a priest describe the difference between his order and that of another on this point. "We maintain that when mankind fell, every part of us fell, except our free will." This is often referred to as the "partial fall" theory.

Imogine Coca and Sid Caesar did a take-off on a spy movie that ended with a bomb blast. Everyone was lying on the floor. The hero and his lady companion got to their feet, uninjured.

"How come everybody but us got killed?" the hero asked.

She answered, "That's the kind of bomb it was. It only kills the bad guys."

So the Fall in Eden corrupted all of us, except our free wills. Now it is up to us to use these unimpaired free wills. God waits for us to choose Him. He wants to save every one of us, but His hands are tied. "The Great Monarch of the Universe stands helpless before the free will of puny man," I heard a preacher say.

When he finished I expected a few words from Santa Claus.

Your Grandmother Lois and Your Mother Eunice

I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded now lives in you also. 2 Timothy 1:5, NIV

Your grandmother and your mother. Don't you love how Paul mentions the names of otherwise obscure people? Surely Lois and Eunice never imagined that their names would be recorded in God's Word.

In her family, my grandmother stood alone in her faith and her love of the Bible. Her only son was an athiest who married an atheist. Her two daughters were very unsure in their faith. Grandma would listen to her radio. M. R. DeHaan and his books were her guides, and a very good choice. But she studied alone, with no one to share her devotion to God. If there was ever an example for me to follow, she was it.

There was no strong male image in my life. My father, a staunch believer, was dominated by a denomination that kept people ignorant, and used them for the aquisition of money and real estate. If you were to go to a pool to drink, they were the ones who would stir up its mud with a stick before you drank.

I had many miles to travel before I could join her, or read her precious books. Soon we will go to heaven together. Then there will be no need for her books. Their author will be there with us.

Agonizing Over the Hypostatic Union

For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. Colossians 2:9

When I was a member of a super intellectual church, a leading light--one with access to the elite--told me that he was having trouble over the Hypostatic Union. Of course, he had no problem with this doctrine, but he was trying to convince the choir director over it. Imagine that titanic struggle!

People who study the Bible, more than they rehearse cantatas, have no problems with God's teaching on this point. Jesus is both God and man. Simple as that. Even people who don't use Latin phrases understand this. But in the regions of the elite, it is more important to debate on what they consider imponderable theological problems with one another, than to talk to the people who pay their salaries.

Do these people know about the wonderful love of God, who became a man and died for them, so they would be forgiven of all sin, and inherit eternal life? Do they even know the so called little people--you know, the laity?

They say they do, but how could these minute people understand such deep things that are best conveyed in Latin, better yet in Greek. Those with heads so large they can hardly support them, prefer to debate with one another, while the non-elite are left to wonder over basic Bible doctrine.

Super Intellectual comes home after a hard day trying to make three times the average person's income. He has had a really rough time at lunch with the choir director. His wife, who can only guess how tough a time he has had, says, "Poor baby. Put your feet up and tell me all about it. Only first explain why you men didn't read Colossians 2:9, or even Hebrews 1:3."

Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person,... Hebrews 1:3, KJV

The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being,... Hebrews 1:3, NIV

The High Flyer Pigeon

Many years ago I read Carl Naether's book on pigeons. I found his stories and information on types fascinating. He described those having a flock that was not up to par in their flying ability. Their birds needed a "fitness trainer". They would get an American High Flier pigeon. Different countries have their own types.

When the birds were released this bird would take the lead and give them a real workout. It would fly higher, faster, and longer than the others were used to. Soon the whole flock gained strength and endurance.

When I was a little boy, still learning to read, a teacher asked us if we read newspapers. I was amazed at the question. Newspapers were for adults! Yet one of my friends held up his hand. That afternoon I spread the daily paper on the rug and tried to read it. You can imagine how little I could read or understand.

Later in high school we had a new student in our class, a real brain. I found that he knew the symbols for the chemical elements. This really sparked my interest. How dare he show me up like that! I was a real egomaniac. So I began to learn the symbols too.

Little did I realize then that people were shaping me up with their superior abilities. I learned not to resent them, but to learn from them.

The new student introduced me to H.G. Wells and The Time Machine, still one of my all-time favorite stories. I was into Poe, so we swapped, I guess. I remember Wells saying, "There is no instantaneous cube" to prove that time is a dimension. My brain tingled with that one.

Years later I read a volume of Pater Mundi that helped turn my life around. The old timers were like bloodhounds that kept after you until you had no place to hide. The author's proofs of God were relentless and inescapable.

These were some of my "High Flyers" that helped me to learn to fly.

Mr. Smarty Pants on Wanting to Dispose of Bombs

Dear Smarty Pants,
You occasionally mention your time in the army. Just what was your job, and did it relate to your religious beliefs in any way?

S.M. I was only a Guardsman and was trained to climb poles, install telephone lines, and run radios and a switchboard--commo as we called it. Had I made a career of it (fat chance) I would have opted for bomb-disposal.

Q. What is the connection, if any?

S.P. I am not a pacifist, but like wire stringing, bomb disposal hurts no one. It only saves lives.

Q. You still haven't told me of a connection.

S.P. In the church and in Bible teaching we are dealing with a lot of "mines". Detecting them and disarming them hurts no one, except for their feelings, and in some cases, their incomes. Much of the Bible deals with error. Finding it and seeking to correct it is like an MOS, Military Occupation Specialty.

Taking the Gloss Off of Glossalia - Tathakata thackata daba doo boo

Just found out that there is a name for one of the things I believe in. It is called "cessationism". Simply put it is that gifts such as speaking in tongues ceased after the apostles died.

My friend Joy studied tongues for seven years. A lady came into her Bible store and asked, "Do you have any books on tongues?" She had a whole shelf of them. The lady selected two. Later, Joy received an angry phone call from this customer. "I bought two of your books on tongues and they're against tongues!"

Like all of us, Joy had a few gaps in her Biblical knowledge, but she did know about this doctrine. You could almost feel sorry for the tongues lady, for if she had pursued it, Joy might have trimmed her wing feathers a little. Joy and I were both "cessationists".

I am a very poor ecstatic-experiential person--just about the worst I suppose. To tell me of your wonderful religious experience is probably wasting your time.

Speaking in an unknown tongue is not just the realm of Christians, but of many different kinds of people, including witches. Paul said, "Tongues will cease."

To try to counteract this a man wrote, "Paul also said 'knowledge will cease'. (1 Corinthians 13:8) Has knowledge ceased?" Yes, special revelations have ceased. This is what Paul was referring to.

In the time before the Bible was written, the Spirit communicated in this way. An example is the prophet Agabus, foretelling of a coming famine and the manner of Paul's death ( Acts 11:28 and Acts 21:10).

I believe that today special knowledge is confined to knowing which television programs have been cancelled without referring to the TV Guide.

Hockey Announcers Need Not Apply

And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. 1 Kings 19:12

"He shoots! He SCORES!"

Very exciting I am sure, especially for a sport so fast it is hard for me to follow. But I prefer the hushed voice of someone covering golf.

Recently I heard a fine inspirational-type preacher, with a good message (of that sort), trying to impress his listeners by raising his voice in both pitch and volume. Wow, if I wasn't paying attention before, I sure was now.

A preacher I knew tried speaking in a normal voice. This was before he learned that the people he was assigned to wanted to be addressed in the "key of G whiz", as he described it. To them, it was a sign that he was "in the Spirit".

We all have our preferences, but need someone speaking the Word of God yell like a used car salesman? I feel so grouchy today! But I do wish that the truth could be given in a normal tone of voice. Wisdom, not volume, is what impresses me.