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The Spread of Sin

8/22/2012

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Hugh Ross in his discussion of Noah's day and the wickedness of the people of the earth then, talks about how sin spreads. This is in his book, "Hidden Treasures in the Book of Job". It is more serious than many of us would like to admit, but we need to be honest and truthful about it, as honest as the Bible is.
He speaks of sin as a cancer which the surgeon needs to remove and he needs to be aware of all the tissues that the cancer infects.  He gathers his truths about sin from both Old and New Testaments.
"Piecing together Old and New Testament passages on sin's defiling effects, we see that reprobation's impact begins and spreads in the following order:

1. to the sinners first (Romans 7:8-11)
But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of desire. For without the law sin was dead.  For I was alive without the law once; but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.  For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
2. to their progeny (next) (Exodus 20:5)
You shall not bow down yourself to them (idols) nor serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me...
3. to their domesticated animals (Joshua 6:21)
Even Joshua 6:17 speaks of it- And the city shall be accursed, even it and all that are in it...And they utterly destroued all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, sheep ann ass, with the edge of the sword.
4. to their material goods (Numbers 16:23-33)
Depart I pray you from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of their's lest you be consumed in all their sins.  If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited by the common fate of all men then the LORD has not sent me. But if the LORD make a new thing and the earth open her mouth and swallow them up with all that appertain unto them and they go down quick into the pit; then you shall understand these men have provoked the LORD.  ...swallowed them up and their houses and all the men that appertained unto Korah and all their goods.
5. to their inhabited land (Leviticus 18:24-28)
Defile not you yourselves in any of these things; for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you.

So even though it may be hard for us to believe that the land and houses and pets can be contaminated by the evil influence of sin, it is true.  We should stretch our faith to incorporate that which scripture tells us is true and search out our ways and see if we are subtly being swept into a sin which is influencing our house, our pets, our land.  Ask the Lord about it.  I can see it in pets when people train them to do mean things, but the homes and the land influence must be less easy to see a manifestation of. 
What do you think- keeping your ideas in line with what scripture teaches us

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Scientific and Faith Implications in the Book of Job

8/22/2012

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Hugh Ross, in his book, "Hidden Treasures in the Book of Job" gathered a collection of the most recent astronomical discoveries about the fine-tuning needed and done to generate life and sustain it in our universe.  He then compared that list of recent discoveries in the field with the list of scientific and creation facts revealed in the Book of Job.  This is what he said about the comparison and the conclusions he then drew.

"The list almost entireley overlapped...How can this overlap be explained?  One explanation is that four thousand years ago God anticipated and prepared for three significant developments: (1) movement of most of the world's population to cities, away from meaningul contact with nature; (2) a degree of research specialization that imparis recognition of the full extent of God's handiwork in nature; and (3) spiritual blindness and confusion that requires stunning new revelations and reminders of God's existence and calls to worship him alone."
Think about this for a minute...God in his all-knowing goodness said something like this to himself..." Ok, people are going to start looking at technology and not at my educational nature, they are going to move away from the beautiful natural countryside I made to help them draw near to me and move closer to the city for work etc and spiritual times are going to be harder as the enemy tries to lure them away with more and more distractions, so I have arranged for the astronomers to be making new discoveries about the universe in rapid succession to tell the people in the cities about me as the Creator."  Our beloved God is so carefully watching over our technological society advancing so rapidly that He is making sure that we still have avenues to hear about his great love, great power and sovereignty.  I needed my worldview expanded in this area.  I think I had begun to exclude God from the realm of a highly technological society, thinking that only the people were in control.  So this is a good wake up call to correct that wrong thinking, God is sovereign in country and in the city, over old fashioned lives and highly advanced scientific and technological arenas as well.  How does this view of God's watching over our world and society in this way impact you today?  What will you take away with you as a comfort or wake-up call?
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Inventory List of What is In the Universe

8/22/2012

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Scientists spurred on by astronomer James Peebles focused on researching what the universe was made of after they realized that just cold gas could not account for all of the material in the universe between the planets and the stars.  What they found is worth pondering and opening our mind to think of spiritual parallels that suggest themselves- as we seek to learn what the universe and nature may be telling us or teaching us about deeper matters beyond.

Cosmic Components:                                                Percentage of Total Cosmic Density (Mass):
Dark Energy (Self-Stretching property of surface of space)                  72.1
(What does this suggest to you?  Evil, Invisible forces?)
(How about the self-stretching- pride? maturity?)
Exotic Dark Matter  (particles that weakly interact with                      23.3
ordinary matter particles and light)
Ordinary Dark Matter (particles that strongly interact with light)         4.35
(Humans reflecting Gdo's light and image?  What do you think?)
Ordinary Bright Matter (Stars and star remnants)                                   0.27
(Jesus and angels? what does this suggest to you?)
Planets (Subset of Ordinary Dark Matter)                                            0.0001
Astronomers now realize that both the matter and the nonmatter must be at their specified level for life to exist.  So dark matter cannot be at any greater quantity or life would not exist, makes me think of God controlling the forces of evil to maintain life on earth- too much evil would wipe it out and so He must have his sovereign will watching over it all to keep it under control so as not to do damage to the plan.

(Again, the scientific numbers come from Hugh Ross's book "
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What A Human Mind Perceives as Too Big, Appears to Be Just Right

8/22/2012

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From our human standpoint the universe seems illogically oversized for the number of humans residing on just one planet.  But now scientists are finding out that if the density (mass) of protons and neutrons was only 1% smaller, nuclear fusion would not work efficiently and  it would never be able to generate heavy elements like carbon, nitrogen, ovxygen, phosphorus, sodium or potassium.  So what difference does that make you ask- those are exactly the elements we need to stay alive!  If it was changed by just that 1% reduction we would only have light elements like helium and no earth, no people, no plants, no water! 

Hmmm!  Just a tiny bit smaller and poof! no human, plant, animal life!  Touchy, touchy universe, needs to be watched over carefully doesn't it?  Might bisbehave and eradicate everything, no life could exist!  

If you examine the situation the other way and consider adjusting the universe 1% larger or more massive so that the protons and neutrons were a wee bit denser, heftier, then what?  Surely we would be ok and it would not matter that much?
  If the stuff of the universe was only 1% more massive than it is now, there would be too much nuclear fusion, and all the hydrogen would fuse into iron and again- no human life, no animal life and no plant life would exist. Same dilemma- no oxygen, no carbon, hydrogen, potassium, no sodium.  So the universe needs to be monitored not only in one direction but in two directions to ensure that life is formed/created and sustained.  Hmmm.  Who could tackle such a huge job?
(Scientific facts about the recent discoveries about the universe's size from "Why the Universe is the Way It Is" by Hugh Ross). 
Another interesting parallel to how sensitive the universe's nuclear fusion of the light and heavy elements one way being inefficient and not producing enough and the other way being overproductive makes one think of human beings balancing rest and work.  Can you think of other lessons that can be learned from this?
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Does It Matter that Scientists can see so far into Space?

8/22/2012

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Our Universe has lots of features that prohibit visibility.  There are stars and suns which cause lots of glare, so much so that if you had a telescope anywhere near them you would not be able to see much of space near them or beyond them.  This would cut down on clarity, so scientists would not be able to make accurate measurements or predictions near those stars, suns or reflective planets or beyond them.  Having humans looking through telescopes located near these obstructions would cut off their ability to explore and prove or disprove their predictions and there would be no further understanding of the universe that they live in.  Scientists and humans would be limited in their ability to grow and mature in natural learning from their environment, because the universe includes such giant light giving bodies and so many bodies that reflect the light given by the others.

Why does this matter?  Why is it worth talking about?  This truth about our universe's layout functions as a blessing to scientists- it gives them what their hearts desire- things to measure, things to develop hypotheses for proving and disproving other human hypotheses.  This feature of our universe is a blessing to those who day dream or desire to stretch their imaginations beyond the confines of the small world they occupy in their jobs and their homes.  It offers to them vision and a picture of "the future" and of "unlimited possibility and opportunity", just like the view of an ocean does for others.  A view into distanct space, unthwarted by the great lights included in it, gives human beings aid and practice in looking beyond themselves to soemthing or someone bigger and better than themselves and than those they deal with in their culture/society.  This exercise of the brain, of the imagination and of the scientist's thirst to explore and discover is more than a mere fact, it is a gift and it is a gift aimed at stretching human minds, not the minds of fish or parrots, or mosquitos or palm trees, but the human mind which had greater capacities.

Take a moment to relish this gift in our universe.  No matter what a scientist believes about religion and creation, he or she should be thankful for having the unviverse such as it is - just right for their work.
For those of us who are weary of the way things go from day to day, take a breather and restore your soul by looking at a scientific magazine or online looking at some pictures of outerspace and let your mind marvel at the wonders we are able to see, because we are not hindered by the great lights and reflectors everywhere in it.

An interesting parallel to this is that we are given light of another kind which also gives us clarity about things of the invisible realm?  Can you guess what I am referring to?

(The facts about the universe are taken from "Why the Universe is the Way It Is" by Hugh Ross.)
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    Tamera Brockman

    Member of FTPC currently aware of the greatness of the adventure in faith with Christ.  She hopes to share some of the adventure with you through this blog. Her views are not necessarily held by FTPC.

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