Questions That Drive Me Crazy In a Good Way

I never know what will come into my head when I turn off the lights. This will amuse some people. Some will find it shocking. Some will be curious. I don't need to know into which category you fall. 

> When were Heaven and Earth created? (Everyone is gonna miss this one. )

>  How long was it from the creation of the heavens and the earth until the creation of time?

You can find the answers in Genesis 1. But don't cheat. And there is no rush. Time, after all, doesn't matter.

My brain operates like an earth mover. It digs down into the core. I love it when it happens, but I sure wish it didn't happen when I'm short of sleep. 

Thirty years ago, I'd sit up all night playing with this stuff. Now? I have to write it down if I can remember it in the morning. I remembered these, and I know if I remember them, they were important. Perhaps not important to you. You may believe they're frivolous questions. I'm so glad God doesn't mind my questions. I'm glad he gives me the hard ones, too!

So, if you want to play along, write your answers. Opinions will vary and some are incorrect. However, there is no grade. If you'd rather see what other answers are, that's OK. 

We're all learning, and we learn at different rates. Sometimes I think I have the answer and I go skipping along, secure in that knowledge. Then, I trip over a boulder and realize that my original understanding was faulty. Now, here's this big old rock in the middle of the road that exposes my error. I like that rock. It has character and I can examine it in depth, every crack, crevice, and hole. I can climb all over that thing, wearing safety gear, of course.

I don't expect anyone to share my views. I am content to treasure them to myself, discussing them with the Lord, sharing only when called upon. Because some people get ugly when you share your views. When questions challenge the concepts we've adopted, our genuine nature reveals itself. As if by attempting to see, hear, and understand from a different perspective, we'll catch some dread disease. God forbid we ask God for the blueprints. How dare we! And who do I think I am to pose such questions?

I'm not afraid to ask the hard questions. I'm not afraid of answers that challenge my views. I'm not afraid to disagree, nor am I afraid to concede.Rocks are cool. They tell a story. I examine every rock placed on the path. I think God liked rocks, too. 

Why? Well....

Deut 32:4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he. 

2 Samuel 22:1-7 And David spake unto the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul: 

2 And he said, The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;

3 The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence.

4 I will call on the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.

 1 Corinthians 10:4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.

I'm sure someone far more educated than I will have answers. 🙄

Never Again

As I read my morning devotional about a week ago, I ran across a scripture that made me pause. 

I like it when that happens because it is a sign that God is calling my attention to something important. 

I have to tell you, for a while, I've been struggling spiritually and emotionally. You have only to read the blogs, my Facebook page, or have longer than a 2 minute conversation with me to know. On average, people don't talk to me much. 

Really. No one. 

Those who do talk to me, like me. Those who don't get a little intimidated. I probably needed braces when I was a child, because my smile just terrifies them. That or I smell bad. 

I digress.

When I paused over the verse, I made a mental note to come back to that scripture and read more of the text so I understood the context. Of course, as often happens, I moved on and forgot. Mostly because I didn't make a written note. 

The verse in question is in Genesis 8: 20-22. Verse 22 is the verse that got my attention. In these verses, God is repenting the destruction of the world by flood. We've all heard that talked about in Sunday School. This was this was the first time I noticed he also repents for cursing the ground when Adam and Eve sinned! Do you remember anyone preaching on that? 

He harmed the earth, his beautiful creation, and he regrets it. He doesn't reverse the curse because he can't. His Word stands. It's already done and the effects of that curse are already working. Verse 21 is one of the most heartbreaking verses I've ever read. 

 Gen 8:20  Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

Gen 8:21  And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. 

The creator is sorrowing because he cursed the earth and destroyed every living thing. He realizes how horribly corrupted his children have become, and it's tearing his heart apart. Their actions caused his response. He can't fix what they did or change his response to their actions. And it's so excruciating for him. We've all been there as parents, in some fashion or other. Haven't we? We've all hated the teacher who punished the entire class for one student's actions. 

In this verse, he expresses his grief and his regret. And he issues a codicil to his will. He adds a promise to the curse to atone for what he did to his lovely planet and the flora and fauna living there. He promises never again will he destroy everything because of human actions. 

Did you get that? He won't ever destroy the earth and all life because humans are evil from birth. In fact, he promises the natural order will continue as long as there's a planet. 

Gen 8:22  While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” 

The state of the planet has been worrisome for many of us. I look around at what is left and think how beautiful it is now, but imagine it in its perfect state. It breaks my heart, too. 

I don't care what science touts about greenhouse gases, global warming, glacial melting, or anything else. Nature will do what it was designed to do. It is a promise to this planet. Not people, to the earth. This earth will continue the natural processes until God sends a fire and purges it of the corruption that runs rampant. We're living in the beginning stages of this now.

 At the end of that conflagration, there will be a new earth. I suspect the fire will sanitize the earth. The seeds in the ground and animal life will return robust and free of the scourge of corrupt mankind. How wonderful it would be to see that. Yet, without redemption, we're doomed as human beings. Never to see the sun rise on a pure green sea or over a blooming meadow. 

Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and Darkness

I am very interested in science. I actually like reading articles relating to astronomy and the creation of the universe. Yes, I am a Christian who believes in science! God is a lot smarter than we give him credit. He actually understands the theory of relativity far better than Einstein did when HE told it to Einstein! And since time was created as a plaything for man and means absolutely nothing to God, he isn’t all tied up in controversy about how long it took to create the universe. I like that about him. We can talk.

Today, I ran across this article on my MSN home page New Cosmic Theory Unites Dark Forces. It drew me in and I am glad it did.  “A new theory says that dark matter and dark energy could arise from a single dark fluid that permeates the whole universe.” © 2007 Space.com. All rights reserved. More from Space.com.

I ended up reading several articles on the topic. It is fascinating reading if you understand basic astronomy and a general idea of the dark matter theories.  If you don’t, by the time you read them you probably will have a fair grasp of the subject. It gave me quite a lot of food for thought that, since I am a Southern woman whose culture says food should be shared, I thought I’d share.

A lady once told me that we can find truth anywhere. You just have to look for it. I learned this to be true. If you don’t search, you won’t find. Searching requires that you question everything and everyone. Science is all about questions but Christians are discouraged from asking questions. To us, questions signify doubt. To question God would be doubt and doubt is sin. I know, we're nuts a lot of the time. I lost my fear of asking God questions when he started answering them.

Sadly, there is such enmity between scientist and Christians that I doubt it will ever be resolved but both camps are right about some things. You notice I didn’t say between science and Christianity? It’s people who have the problem. The biggest problem is they both want to be right about everything. That’s impossible.

So, I read, I study, I ponder things not many women my age and background study. I allow myself to question and let those questions percolate. Then I ask God, “What about this? Is this possible?” He usually grins and says, “Anything is possible.”

I’ve spent the last couple of hours reading these articles and formulating questions and tossing out a few of my own. The conclusion I arrived at is surprising. . . to me, anyway. I’ve provided several excerpts from three articles that will reveal my discovery. The links will take you to the articles themselves.

The above article describes dark matter and dark energy: “Dark matter, as originally hypothesized, is extra hidden mass that astrophysicists calculate is necessary for holding together fast-turning galaxies. . . . seems to be everywhere, acting as a scaffolding for galaxy clusters and the whole structure of the universe.” In other words, everything that exists is suspended from this structure.

“On the other hand, dark energy is needed to explain the more recently-discovered acceleration of the universe's expansion. . . . It supposedly exists all throughout space, delivering a pressure that counteracts gravity.”Gravity, remember, pushes against things. As I understand this, dark energy acts as a restraint on the effect of gravity. It sounded like cement to me. And what do you know, in the next article I found my confirmation.

In Dark Matter May Lurk Between Galaxies the scientist says, “Dark matter acts as gravitational glue, holding millions or billions of stars together in galactic globs or disks. Without it, "our own galaxy should have fallen apart by now," said Frederic Bournaud, an astrophysicist with the French Atomic Energy Commission. "So dark matter — this unseen force — is somewhere keeping it glued together.” © 2007 Space.com. All rights reserved. More from Space.com.

So how do they know this stuff exists? Who says it is even real? Can you see it? Can you feel it?

Well, in Dark Matter Mapped in 3-D Detail the scientist says: “Decades' worth of observations have found that all the matter we can see in surrounding galaxies doesn't account for the gravitational effects of those galaxies. In fact, there appears to be six times more dark matter out there than the ordinary matter we can see. . . . there is no picture of it and there's no known way to detect it directly.”

“Even though the matter itself couldn't be seen, astronomers detected its effect by analyzing the gravitational effect of that matter on light rays from more distant light sources.” © 2008 MSNBC Interactive

This had become positively religious! There is something out there, holding it all together that no one can see. I’ll insert a long pregnant pause here while you digest the ramifications of this.  It also means that while they can’t see it, they know it exists because they can see the effects of it on other visible things, like light.

Wow, a substance they can’t see but they believe MUST be there . . . something that holds the universe together.

Do you see it, too?

The final statement in this last article is brilliant and so powerful I am amazed. "Frankly speaking, these are just fancy words we use to name something we do not understand," he said. “If a simpler model (with a single word) can explain all the data, then cosmologists will gladly accept it,” Boehmer said.

A single word?

Uh. . . God?

And Boehmer was wrong. They never accept it.