What Learning Looks Like From Here

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They stoop low at the ocean’s edge inspecting a Florida horse conch. The sun has just begun to peak out from beneath the clouds and warm the final January day in Florida.

I snap their picture and think, this is what learning looks like from here.

Bent low, searching, seeking the knowledge and adventure that await in a moment of exploration. God’s sea creatures each tell a story, and the seemingly peaceful shore mocks the real truth that life in the sea is fierce and tumultuous even as the soothing, rhythmic sounds of the ocean lull me into a peaceful state.

There is always this tension just beneath the surface of life.

There is no escaping the forces of good and evil when we live on this side of eternity.

There is a constant need to bend low and search out the still, small voice of God that can also boom like approaching thunder.

At the supposed age of Christ during his final year in earthly ministry, I feel what most people feel as they steadily grow older: wisdom comes with age and it is harder not to be blinded by the cares of this world nor the skepticism reality brings with each passing year. I am learning that I can no more hold on to the present than it becomes the past. I must enjoy each moment for what it is, for it only comes once and then a memory.

Is it any wonder that God asks us to approach Him with the faith of a child? The child that is oblivious to the cares and demands of life. The child that sees not distractions, but opportunities to explore and learn. The child that sees now even as she anticipates the future. The older they grow the faster they desire to grow up and shed the contentment of their age at present.

Life, like the tide, is in a constant state of give and take, come and go. Even this week, we celebrate the seventh birthday of our daughter and only three weeks ago the fifth of our son; we join with the throngs who utter, “Where did the time go?”.  But hidden with the jewels of the sea, there are lessons to be learned, discoveries to be made that utter even of the passing of time. Anne Morrow Lindbergh captures a few of these lessons in her book, Gift from the Sea:

One learns to accept the fact that no permanent return is possible to an old form of relationship; and, more deeply still, that there is no holding of a relationship to a single form. This is not tragedy but part of the ever-recurrent miracle of life and growth. All living relationships are in process of change, of expansion, and must perpetually be building themselves new forms.

~Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift from the Sea

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The jewels of the sea grow larger with age–their age brings constant rebuilding of their present forms. So do we, don’t you agree? We shouldn’t look the same at fifty as we did at five, nor should we come to the same hobbies void of new knowledge and understanding.

I have always loved the shore. The splash of waves and the picking up of shells. However, now I enjoy it with specificity. That is, I see it more like God sees it. Crying forth its message of creation, fall, redemption, life, death, catastrophe, and rebuilding. I can name the shells I once only admired. Isn’t that grand, that learning from here continues, but looks different than nearly three decades ago?

I can only imagine the discoveries I will make and the view-point I will take in one, two, or perhaps three decades time. Then, maybe I will stoop with my grandchildren and ponder, So this is what learning looks like from here.

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Same Song, Second Verse

I grew up in a small Baptist church where hymn books were opened every Sunday morning and evening. When we were first dating, my husband often joked with me saying I knew every hymn by heart. Well, I may know the first and fourth stanzas, but the second and third ones are a little more of a reach.

Over the Christmas break, Ron and I attended my sister and brother-in-law’s church. During the singing of one particular hymn, the second verse caught me by most pleasant surprise. The second verse to How Great Thou Art is probably one of the most skipped verses in all my hymn-singing upbringing.

When through the woods and forest glades I wander

And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees,

When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur,

And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee:

How great thou art! How great thou art!

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee:

How great thou art! How great thou art!

~How Great Thou Art, by Carl C. Boberg adapted by Stuart K. Hine

My soul feels most at peace when I am in awe of God’s creation.

I have sat at the base of a waterfall and heard the mighty rushing waters never ceasing. I’ve hiked in some of the most beautiful rock formations in America. I have paddled a kayak in the waters of the gulf and sat in observation of countless sunsets. In each of these settings the thoughts that are provoked are ones of worship of the Lord.

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The last pictured mountain is part of the Carpathian Mountain Range in Ukraine; the same mountains that the writer Carl C. Boberg crossed while penning this famous hymn. Ron and I traveled there in 2006.

Rediscovering this second verse of the beloved hymn, How Great Thou Art, is important to me for two reasons. First, this is a song–in particular a verse–which resonates with the Holy Spirit within me. This reflects the sentiments of many Christ followers; we feel closest to God when we are divulged in creation. Secondly, the memories that this verse provokes remind me of the thoughts I was thinking during each adventure. Some thoughts were pure, peaceful, and filled with worship. Others were full of discontent, complaining, or comparison.

It is clear, even in the most ideal surroundings we have choices to make. On what will we focus? Will we choose contentment? Will we choose to approach the Father with gratitude, or grumbling? Will we look at things as they are and see the good, or will we look at situations as we want them to be and see only what is missing?

By far, the fondest memories for me are those in which my inner worship matched the outer grandeur. I revel in the ones in which my thoughts were pure, prayer was on my spirit’s lips, my worship was vibrant, I was enjoying my companions or my solitude, and my thoughts were set on things above.

Certainly, my more favorable memories were when I was acting in the will of God.

This year, we will sing many of the same verses we have sung in years past. The difference in our singing lies with the heart and mind with which we approach the song. There are lessons to be learned and paths to be traveled. May we worship God in His greatness in the forests, by the brook, and in mountain grandeur.

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A Day is Like A Thousand Years?

A Look at the DayAge Theory

 

Within the Christian community, there are many differing theories concerning the origin of man and the age of the earth. One such theory is the Day/Age Theory. George Stanley Faber, an Anglican theologian first promoted the Day/Age view. Here is a brief description of the beliefs behind this theory:

  • Each of the Creation days was a long period of indefinite time.
  • God created certain animals millions of years ago and then they died out.
  • Thereafter, God created more animals and eventually He decided to create humans.
  • Acceptance of millions of years of death, disease, and suffering before Adam and Eve’s sin and the subsequent curse on the earth.

Some problems with this theory are as follows:

  • The Hebrew word for day is yom. In order for yom to be a 24 hour period it must have qualifiers with it. These qualifiers include: morning, evening, number and/or day. The Creation account documented in Genesis 1 specifically lists each day as follows: And there was evening, and there was morning, the first day…second day… and so forth. All qualifiers are included…almost redundantly.
  • Another point that must be considered is the death and decay prior to Adam and Eve’s sin that would have cast judgment on the earth.
  • This would not have been the “very good” creation that God declared it to be in Genesis 1 and 2. (See also Romans 8:20-22)

Often Day/Age proponents will refer to the verse in 2 Peter 3:8:

One day is with the Lord as a thousand years.

First, we must consider the context the verse is located within. The third chapter of 2 Peter is specifically speaking about the second coming of Christ. Peter is conveying the patience of the Lord in Christ’s second coming so that more people will be led to repentance and salvation. Next, Peter is conveying that the Lord is outside of time. He specifically uses a comparative article—as or like—which is not found in Genesis 1. This verse reiterates that God is outside of time or that time is nothing to God.  It is not referring to the creation of time, space, and matter as Genesis 1 and 2 are.

On Friday we will take a look at the theories of Theistic Evolution and the Gap Theory.

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Creation, Dinosaurs, and the Flood

To those of you new here to This Temporary Home from this morning’s apologetics class, welcome! I have compiled a brief list of resources that I would recommend you utilize to aid in your search for the truth of man’s origins, dinosaurs, creation, and the flood. I look forward to sharing more posts with you in the future.

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. (Matthew 7:7, ESV)

If you are seeking in depth teaching and scientific data this is a textbook by Dr. Walt Brown which can also be accessed free on his website at www.creationscience.com (here).

The New Answers Book series is reader friendly and packed full of answers to today’s questions in the field of creation science. Highly recommended for its ease of reading and information-packed content.

If you are curious about the implications of dismissing the first eleven chapters of the book of Genesis, Six Days, by Ken Ham is a wonderful resource for consideration. Ken Ham presents a comprehensive look at the church’s departure from reading Genesis 1-3 as a historical record and hammers home the mission and message behind the ministry of Answers in Genesis (here). Additionally, I highly recommend subscribing to the Answers Magazine.

For a comprehensive look at the different worldviews prevalent today, as well as a defense for creation, and an overview of the shift from loving God with our heart, soul, strength, and minds to the heart only in church history, you will be hard pressed to find a better resource than Nancy Pearcey’s book, Total Truth.

This is a wonderful picture book packed with quick facts on creation topics for the whole family to enjoy from Institute for Creation Research (ICR) (here). ICR also produces a magazine that you can receive via e-mail or automatically after purchasing one of their products from the website. iPhone apps are available from ICR as well that have a daily devotional.

Here are links to the news articles that I referenced during class this morning. Please consider the worldview that these articles are written from and try to discern the facts from the desired truths. Remember having the childlike faith doesn’t mean we don’t ask questions; but that we have faith there are answers to our questions. 

  • China’s Dinosaur Hunter: The Ground Breaker  (here)
  • Warm or Cold? Dinosaurs Had In Between Blood (here)
  • Tannin article from Answers in Genesis (here)
  • Birds Did Not Evolve from Dinosaurs, Say Evolutionists (here)
  • No Animals Were Harmed in the Making of This Fossil (here)

Thanks again for stopping by!

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*The links are Amazon Affiliate links meaning that I can receive a portion of the proceeds from any purchases you make. However, this service primarily provides me an easy and aesthetically pleasing way to provide you with a list of resources. I encourage you to check Amazon in addition to your local library or favorite used book store to obtain these resources. Thrifted books are my favorite. Happy studying!

 

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Why Question Evolution?

 Why Question Evolution

On Monday, I outlined a set of questions to critically consider the naturalistic worldview. Today, we will consider the importance of highlighting worldviews for ourselves and our spheres of influence, in addition to the implications if we neglect to do so.

My mom was my first grade public school teacher. Interestingly, only my closest friends in her classroom knew that she was my mom until after Christmas break when I said, “Mom, please come here.” My classmates looked at me and said, “You called her mom!” Laughably, my mom didn’t ask me to keep our relationship a secret, it was simply the practice that I utilized myself.

In my mom’s first grade classroom, we had themed bins of items to play with. One such bin was a large Tupperware container of rice. Mixed inside the rice were plastic toys, some of which were dinosaurs when we were studying about prehistoric life. 

I was raised in a southern baptist church where creation was taught but dinosaurs hardly, if ever,  mentioned in conjunction with creation. As a first grader I played with plastic dinosaurs taught to have lived millions of years before man in every textbook and science-based factual account yet simultaneously I learned in Sunday School that God created the heavens, earth, animals, and man, in six days and rested on the seventh.

There was a divide between the rice bin filled with dinosaurs in my elementary classrooms and the pictured creation accounts of Sunday School. I recognized the conflicting information provided in the two settings. One explanation provided to me was that a day was like a thousand days to God and vice versa. I didn’t question further. I simply accepted what I was being taught as facts.  I trusted my teachers, my parents, and God’s Word. Further, I trusted that the information aligned in some manner unbeknownst to me. I didn’t question the divide between Genesis and Science as taught by secular society to a great extent. I am in the minority for my generation and those after mine because my questions (or lack thereof) didn’t drive me away from my faith.

It doesn’t take much more than a quick Google search, a walk down the isle at a Christian book store, or simply a look at church demographics to know that young people are leaving the church in droves. Simple explanations or expectations for “faith” to sustain their questions will not suffice. 

What are a few reasons for the exodus of teens and young adults from the church? One of them is the faith/ intellect split which a secular-based culture has created. Faith and reason parted ways in the public arena around the 16th and 17th centuries with the  scientific revolution followed by the Enlightenment. Man declared himself as the ultimate intellectual authority that can determine, by reason and intellect, what to believe and how to act. It was a giant shift away from a biblical worldview and the recognized authority of God.

The faith/intellect split will go unquestioned, unnoticed perhaps, apart from intentional teachings against it. We must recognize the worldview behind the music we listen to, the shows and movies we watch, and the literature we read in order to determine truth from lies. We must enable children and students to  recognize and question the thought processes behind the information they are obtaining in order for them to wrestle with the teachings of the world, the truth of the Bible, and the doubts that internally arise while in middle and high school and prior to entering the college classroom. We must reclaim and pass on the biblical truths and scientific discoveries which make the connection between loving God with all of our mind not simply our souls, strength, and hearts. The consequences of neglecting this call to action are everlasting.

…one of the most important steps in recovering a Christian worldview is simply to recognize it, reclaim it, and reconnect it to its biblical roots. (Nancy Pearcey, Saving Leaonardo)

You may be asking, “So where do I begin?” Listed on my library page (click here) are a few apologetic resources which I have found helpful. A call to live cognizant of  worldviews is important to grasp for our faith and for the people God has placed within our spheres of influence. We are to pass on the knowledge of God to those who believe and to witness to those who have yet to believe. (2 Corinthians 2:14) God and science are not at odds; worldviews and interpretations of scientific data are.

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Here By Design

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 Create…design…

These are terms that most all people would throw about when talking of crafts, woodworking, interior decorating, or art. However, insert the terms created and designed into a conversation about the earth and its beginning, and we will immediately bring a battle of worldviews into the discussion.

Your worldview is the lens through which you view life. Your worldview is your paradigm, your philosophy, pertaining to the reason we are alive, how the human race was born, and the origin of time, space, and matter. Additionally, your worldview affects all decisions that you make and the value you place upon human life.

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People operating from a Christian worldview look at all of creation as a work of God Almighty as outlined in the Genesis account. First, we view man superior to the animals because he was created in the image of God. Next that man is now fallen, a sinner, as a result of his initial disobedience in the Garden of Eden. Finally, we preach the redemption of sinful man through Jesus Christ alone by the forgiveness of sins. Our sins are forgiven through the spilled blood of God’s sinless son, Jesus, on the cross of Calvary over 2000 years ago.

Creation, Fall, Redemption, the divine narrative of the Author of Life.

Let’s take a look at the predominant counter worldview I would propose is pursuing the minds and souls of people today, that of naturalism, or an evolutionary worldview.

An evolutionary worldview holds that man evolved over millions of years from a series of natural processes under the chance of macroevolution. This suggests a large scale change in kind with the change being progressive. Catie Frates, a biblical scientific creationist teacher refers to evolution as “the ultimate frog to prince fairy tale.”

Evolutionists preach macroevolution although it cannot be tested nor proved by the scientific method. It is neither repeatable nor observable. In fact, ask any evolutionist to point to a change in kind from one species to another and they will not be able to give you even one example on the level of macroevolution. Sure, they can provide various examples of microevolution; what we could call adaptations to environmental change, but no change in kind. Moreover, they cannot determine the origins of the first proposed amino acids that would have kicked off a form of living organism on earth in the first place.

Further disheartening to evolutionists is the fossil record supports only fully formed fully functional species with no transitional fossils. They don’t have a leg to stand on… pun intended.

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Dr. Henery Morris of Institute for Creation Research puts it this way:

Since there is no real scientific evidence that evolution is occurring at present or ever occurred in the past, it is reasonable to conclude that evolution is not a fact of science, as many claim. In fact, it is not even science at all, but an arbitrary system built upon faith in universal naturalism. (Henry M. Morris, 2013)

Dr. Morris continues to explain:

The fact is that evolutionists believe in evolution because they want to. It is their desire at all costs to explain the origin of everything without a Creator. Evolutionism is thus intrinsically an atheistic religion.

Did you catch that? Evolution is a religion…not a science but a religion.

Some may prefer to call it humanism, and “new age” evolutionists place it in the context of some form of pantheism, but they all amount to the same thing. Whether atheism or humanism (or even pantheism), the purpose is to eliminate a personal God from any active role in the origin of the universe and all its components, including man. (Henry M. Morris, 2013)

It is imperative for each of us to understand that evolutionists and creationists are faced with the same scientific data. The difference lies in our interpretation of the data and the causation of the earth that we see around us today.

Evolutionists need millions and billions of years, plus a good deal of imagination, to explain merely the topography of the earth today. Creationists explain the same data as a result of a catastrophic world-wide flood as the Genesis account teaches.

Study the Word, the world around you, and the scientific evidence to date, and decide for yourself. You might be surprised to find, we are here by design.

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How I Talk to Our Children About Evolution

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“Hey mom!” My children greeted my return after a few hours out. “We’re watching Dinosaur Train.” Let it be noted, we do not regularly watch Dinosaur Train. Having never seen the program before, I was skeptical about the science taught in the cartoon. I hypothesized the worldview of the producers of the show would be naturalistic and teach that dinosaurs lived millions of years ago.

As I greeted the babysitter and asked how the children behaved themselves, I heard the cartoon explain, “This dinosaur lived during the Mesozoic Period.” Ding, ding, ding, my guess was correct; this show was teaching evolution, likely from a naturalistic standpoint. At the very least this was communicating a worldview and philosophy in direct conflict with the Christian Theistic worldview I aim to instill and live out before my kids. With the same scientific data, creationist and evolutionist arrive at two different conclusions. It is my job as their mother to draw these differences to their attention.

Join me over atCrosswalk today to read the rest of this post. (Click here.)

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A Lovely Weekend Away

A few weeks ago three friends and I set off camping to a nearby beach location. It was such a wonderful time of fellowship and refreshment, as well as adventure. We all need a chance to step away from the everyday and venture into God’s creation to fellowship with Him void of the usual routines.  Wouldn’t you agree?

Pictured below are some highlights from that trip. This week it is Ron’s turn to venture out on his own. Can’t wait to see how his adventure goes! I will be back on Friday with a post. Until then, enjoy a smattering of past posts and the pictures from my travels.

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Wooing Our Minds To His Majesty

What woman doesn’t love flowers? I myself am enamored with them.

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On our honeymoon in North Carolina, Ron and I visited the Biltmore Estate. There are countless pictures of me with my nose in every rosebush and flowering shrub. Ron would laugh and tell me that I had pollen on my nose because I refused to enjoy the totality of the flowers’ aromas from afar. I literally insisted on putting my nose into the flowers and breathing them deeply.

In flowers we glimpse the intricacies of the handiwork of God.

Consider the variety of flowers, shrubs, and trees. God was not beholden to man that He should satisfy our desire for sight novelty and beauty. That man would desire a visual marking of the seasons was already known to God before we had yet experienced the cool refreshing autumn wind, replete with blazing leaves,  or savored the warming sun of spring birthing rainbow gardens.

Plants are good for food, medicinal purposes, and capturing the artist’s scope throughout the ages.

God gave plants both form and function for the enjoyment of mankind and as a tool to tell of His glory.

Our friends were over last night and gave an impromptu apologetic for creation based on plant species alone. In the course of our conversation Dr. Walp pointed out that the fully formed, fully functional plants, observed throughout all time, cannot be explained in any way by evolution. Nothing ties plants together in such a way that we would consider them to have evolved from each other. There are no fossil records to support such a claim (neither are there to support the evolution of man for that matter). Further, plants, animals, and humans enjoy symbiotic relationships. Symbiotic relationships are ones in which both parties need the other to survive (i.e. the bee to flowers and the upside down jelly fish to algae, or sea oats to sand).

In truth, there never have been millions of years of gradual, chance mutations and natural selections that produced the “intelligent” flowering plants that we see today. The intricate design of plants, as manifested by tiny proteins like AP1, testifies to the fact that an intelligent Designer created flowering plants. Plants “know” exactly when to bloom simply because, when God created them, He endowed them with the ability to perpetuate their kind. As Genesis 1:11 states: “Then God said, ‘Let all the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth’; and it was so”. (Evolution Can’t Explain “Smart” Plants, Kyle Butt, M.A., via Apologetics Press)

Read the full article here. Also another article on this topic here.

Today as you are walking, driving, or working in your yard, consider the flowers and the glory of God. His creation was formed in such a way as to point us to Him and provide us with a plethora of avenues to woo our minds to His majesty.

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On Idle

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“You can love these salt-dough cookies, but you can’t love them more than God. You can’t love anything more than God because then you would be worshiping idol’s.”

Emily ‘s quip while playing with salt-dough sounds ridiculous until you understand the heart behind it. The following Old Testament commandment has really taken root in her heart:

You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. ~Exodus 20:3-6

Sunday drives to church she will ask, “Do those people love God? Are they worshiping idols?” as we pass softball and soccer fields. On the way to Clearwater Beach we pass through the Scientology capitol of the world. One of their tallest buildings always provokes the question, “Is that where people worship idols?”

I wish that the avoidance of idol worship was on the forefront of every believer, myself included. While professing Christians would gawk at the idea of bowing to a carved or wooden image, we daily encounter a world full of idols of the heart and mind.

Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.~1 Corinthians 10:14 (read the full chapter here)

Take a moment to consider the possible idols that we are tempted to worship in our day:

  • image
  • wealth
  • popularity
  • esteem
  • sensual pleasures
  • entertainment
  • food
  • sports
  • leisure
  • science-emphasized here because the claims of Darwinism are based on philosophical assumptions/preferences rather than repeatable scientific facts, laws, or discoveries contrary to Bill Nye the Humanism Guy’s* rants (here).

What comprises our idle time in action and in thought likely exposes idols our hearts most naturally drift towards. What comprises most of our waking time? What or to whom do our thoughts turn while driving, daydreaming, the free time in our mind?

 I have felt in the last two weeks a need to read the Bible more. I am constantly reading, but reading about the teachings of the Bible and reading the life-giving words of the Bible are two separate things. Indeed, if the the Body no longer knows and teaches God’s word, we are no better than salt that has lost its taste.

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When our minds are full of God’s Word then we open the door for meditation on God’s Word: the thinking on verses throughout our day. We equip ourselves with the Truth we need to return to during idle moments so that we make the most of our time. We will see the world and its lies exposed.

What thoughts does your mind turn to when on idle? What changes do you need to make in order to love God with all your mind and glorify Him with your thoughts? I am asking these same questions of myself friend.

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Bill Nye the Humanism Guy is a perspective piece written in the Jan.-March 2013 Answers Magazine

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