New Year, Same Questions

 Hey yall, so we just started the new year (2022 woot woot) and we had our first Summit of the year last night. As I expected, attendance was low. Omicron is running rampant through our area (my wife and I both had it through Christmas break and now the rest of my family has it) and I even advised yall that if you weren't feeling well you shouldn't come. This is okay. We missed you and we pray that God restores your health and well-being, if it be His will.

So, since we had such a small group, I decided to change up the message. Rather than sharing the message I had prepared (which was an awesome message I think and you'll get to hear it next week) I decided to engage in an interactive discussion. I opened it up to those who were there to ask the questions they had related to faith and the Bible. Of course, there were some jokes, we laughed, we had fun with it. Some of the questions asked were:

1. Are there aliens and would their existence debunk the Bible? We talked about this and concluded that it is totally within God's power to have created aliens. The Bible makes no mention of extra-terrestrial life, and we run into some theological problems if there is intelligent life out there. For example, that would mean they are stuck in a sin-filled and decaying universe because of Adam and Eve's sin, even though they have absolutely no connection to or knowledge of our planet. On top of this, part of what makes Jesus Christ's sacrifice on the cross work for us is that He was a man. If there are aliens, they would not be able to find salvation through Jesus Christ. All of this being said, I think it is entirely possible that there could be life out there in the universe, but I do not believe there is intelligent life. If I'm wrong, and there are intelligent aliens out there, that doesn't mean the Bible is wrong, it just means there are things we didn't know before and things that God did not reveal to us through the Bible. Don't let aliens shake your faith. =)

2. How tall was Jesus? Apparently, the average height of Jews 2,000 years ago was around 5'5". We don't know exactly what Jesus looked like, and its really not important, but He isn't described as being particularly taller or shorter than others, so He was probably between 5'3" and 5'7". Again, we don't know so don't let that shake your faith.

3. Are there animals in Heaven (and specifically pets)? This actually got asked a couple of months ago, but we talked through it again. The short answer is, we don't know. God doesn't take the time to lay out exactly how everything is going to be when we are with Him for eternity, so we can only speculate. In Revelation John describes the creation of a new heaven and a new earth. We think this will probably be a restored and perfected version of the original creation, and since that one included animals, it would make sense that there would be animals in the new earth. However, I agree with something Dr. Jason Lisle talked about, which is that it won't be the same animals that we have today. The reason for this is that the animals we see today are all part of the decaying world we live in (just like us). Since we, who are made in the image of God, will be resurrected with new glorified bodies, it would make sense that the animals in the new earth would be restored to a perfect state. To make that simpler, I believe there will be animals in the new earth, but I don't believe any of our pets will be there. Now, Dr. Lisle also shared that he believes it is within God's power to bring our pets to the new earth, so if you asked God to bring your pet back, He could do that. At the end of the day, we don't know, so as I have been saying - don't let this shake your faith.

4. The last question was one that I asked: what is the purpose of church? I was amazed and extremely encouraged to hear some of you recall what we had talked almost two years ago from Acts 2:42-47.

"42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."

These were the practices of the early church. The main part of our discussion was about what would happen if a Christian became separated from the church. They would be more easily tempted away from their faith, they would be more easily discouraged and overwhelmed by the world, and they would find it much harder to keep following Jesus. Being a part of a local church allows us to have community with fellow believers, to learn more about our faith, the Bible, and God, and to be encouraged in our walk and in obedience to God. It is easier and more fulfilling to live the Christian life in community with other Christians than it is to try to go it alone. So, if you are reading this and you are not a part of a local church, please please please go and be a part of one. Our church is open to you.

The Road So Far

 Last night we took some much needed time to stop and reflect on what we have learned so far this year. Volleyball was the name of the game for the evening and I don't know about everyone else, but I had a really good time.

As we moved into the "message" time, I opened with a brief overview of everything we had covered up to this point. Below you will see a simple illustration (drawn by yours truly) of the foundation for all of our messages this year.

You would not believe how long it took me to produce that simple image... Anyway, the heart above represents your life. It represents you. Everything we are talking about this year centers around how to live the Christian life in a non-Christian world. The cross represents Jesus Christ being at the center of your life and the book represents the Word of God (the Bible) as your basis for truth. You see, if we want to live the Christian life, we first must be sure that we are of the faith and that we are in submission to the Bible as our authority in life. If you don't believe in Jesus, or you don't trust the Bible as a reliable source of truth, then you will fail to live out the Christian life in this world. Everything else that we have talked about or will talk about this year is founded on the understanding that Jesus is Lord and the Bible is our authority. That means we look to Jesus and we trust His Word to teach us what is right and good.

The Bible tells us about the nature of mankind - that we are created in the image of God but are separated from Him because of our sin, which condemns us to death. Every person is born with a sin nature and is destined for death. On our own, there is nothing we can do bridge the gap and get to God. When we understand this about mankind, it helps us to see that apart from God we are all doomed. We are not basically good, we are not evolving into better or more perfect beings, and we are not all going to Heaven (apart from God, none of us are). This has HUGE implications for living the Christian life, because it means that if we are not going into the world and telling people about Jesus (as we are supposed to do) then they won't ever have access to God.

The Bible also tells us about our role in the world, and specifically how we are to relate to non-believers. In His famous "Sermon on the Mount" in Matthew 5-7, Jesus tells His disciples that they are to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. We broke that down to mean that we are to be blessings toward others (salt), doing good whenever and wherever we can. We are also to speak the truth whenever and wherever we can (light), shedding truth and light in an otherwise very dark world. Even if someone is in direct opposition to God and persecutes us as Christians, we are to speak the truth and demonstrate toward them the same kind of live and mercy that God showed us through Jesus Christ.

The Bible gives us a direct command when it comes to our relationship with our parents: "Honor your father and mother". We talked about the fact that "to honor" means "to obey". We are to obey our parents. And this is a serious command, as it sits right in the middle of the 10 Commandments. Its right up there alongside "Do not murder". And there is no caveat to this one either. There is no stated exception, like "obey them unless they are being quite unreasonable". We are to obey our parents, unless (yes, there is actually an exception) they tell us to do something that goes against the Bible. We obey God first, then parents. And if we do this, it will go a LONG way in helping us to have a good, healthy relationship with our parents.

The Bible completely obliterates any foundation for racism. In the beginning when God created Adam and Eve, He was starting the entirety of the human race from one set of parents. That means that all of us, no matter our skin tone, are able to trace our lineage back to the same common ancestors. We are ALL descendants of Adam and Eve, which means we are ALL one race - the human race. Therefore, skin tone should have absolutely no bearing on how we treat each other. No one is superior or better than anyone else, this is what the Bible teaches. We are equals in sin and separation from God, and those of us who have been saved are equals in the forgiveness and grace we have received in Jesus Christ.

The last two weeks we watched a YT video by Dr. Jason Lisle, in which he shared evidence from astronomy that supports the truth of the Bible. One of the benefits of seeing this evidence is that it encourages us in our faith, to know that what we believe to be true is supported by the world that God created. Knowing these evidences also helps us to have an answer for the hope that we have in Christ. When the people of the world come against us and accuse us of being crazy or stupid, we can show the rationality of our faith and stand our ground.

Most of our time last night was spent in a discussion, as I gave students the opportunity to voice any questions that had been raised but not answered in any of the previous messages. It started slow but it turned into a good discussion, and I am planning on having another one sometime in February of 2022. I hope you're able to be there and participate.

As we move forward this year, we will continue to tackle some of those big topics that the church is facing right now. We will discuss a biblical perspective on abortion, sexuality, social justice, and even politics. It is important for us, as Christians, to discuss these topics and come to a common understanding of how we should handle each of them from a biblical perspective. I fully expect there will be some hard conversations to come, but they will be necessary.

May the God of all peace be with you.

Astronomy and the Bible, Part 2

 HEYO! Last night we dove into the next section of Dr. Jason Lisle's talk on how astronomy reveals a 6,000 year-old Earth. You can look back at the "Part 1" post to see an overview of the discussion leading to this point, or you can jump on YouTube and watch the video for yourself! (If you are hesitant to click links, that's okay, you can go straight to YouTube and search for "Jason Lisle Astronomy Reveals 6,000 Year Old Earth" to find the video.)

In part 1 (from the start of the video to 22:34) Dr. Lisle covered two things: 1) How the study of astronomy has revealed the glory of God and 2) How the study of astronomy has revealed that the Bible has been 100% correct whenever it talks about the nature of the world and the stars. His main point in that was to show that even when the secular scientists of the day had it completely wrong, the Bible had it right - and what we have learned today confirms it. There is a huge implication for us in this: even in areas today where secular science claims the Bible has it wrong, we can trust that Bible has it right because its track record is undefeated. Science has been proven wrong in the past; the Bible has not.

This week we listened to Dr. Lisle's next two points: the age of the Earth and the uniqueness of the Earth itself in our universe.

In terms of age, he pointed to the existence of magnetic fields in all of the planets of our solar system. The analogy he used for this was to think of magnetic fields like batteries. They hold a charge, but as you use them the energy runs down until its gone. Based on the size of each of the planets, if the universe is truly billions of years old (like modern science believes), there should be no magnetic field left. It should have run out of energy billions of years ago. But our study of the planets shows that this is not the case. Each of the planets still has a relatively strong magnetic field, indicating that they are much younger than modern science believes. Dr. Lisle makes the point that the data supports the biblical account of the universe only being around 6,000 years old. He also points to the existence of blue stars, spiral galaxies, and the proximity of the moon, but you'll have to watch the video to hear those points. =)

As for the uniqueness of the Earth, according to the Bible the Earth is actually 3 days older than the rest of the universe. It was made on Day 1 of Creation whereas the rest of the cosmos was made on Day 4. Earth was specifically designed to support life while the rest of the planets and stars and galaxies were designed to light up our night sky and be viewed. The main point he makes in this section, however, is theological. He brings up the question that many of you might be asking: Is there life out in space? His basic answer is no, and his reasoning for saying no (at least for there being intelligent life) is that salvation wouldn't work for those "aliens". Jesus Christ was the perfect sacrifice for our sin not only because He lived a perfect life, but because He came to the Earth as a man. Being one of us allowed His sacrifice on the cross to cover our transgressions against God. When He was raised to life on the third day and came out of that tomb, He was raised in a new and glorious body, one which would not decay and could not die again. Based on this, if there were life out there they could not be saved. A counter-argument might be, "Well, maybe they never sinned so they don't need to be saved." But then we run into the issue of them being stuck in a universe corrupted by sin and death. If they never sinned, why are they stuck in a doomed universe with no way out? It just doesn't work. So, if we are approaching our study of the world and the cosmos from a biblical basis, then we should not expect to find intelligent life out in space. Could we find worlds suitable for us to live on? Maybe. But should we expect to find intelligent life already on those worlds? No.

His discussion is truly fascinating (at least for me) and really informative of a Creationist view of science. He offers some great arguments in support of a biblical view of the universe and pokes some holes in the arguments of what many of you get taught as fact in school. He points out a lot of the problems with an evolutionist, billions of years old universe belief system. The discoveries in astronomy don't support billions of years for the age of our universe - they support a 6,000 year old Earth. It amazes me how atheists can point at Christians and mock them for having faith in God when many of their own beliefs about the universe require so much more faith.

If you have any questions that came from the video or from my poor summary of Dr. Lisle's points, please ask them in the comments below and we can discuss. May God continue to bless you and your families.

Astronomy and the Bible, Part 1

 Hey yall. So last night, instead of a message from myself or another leader, we watched the first portion of a video by Dr. Jason Lisle - a Christian astronomer. You can watch the video on YouTube by clicking here, or by searching "Jason Lisle Astronomy". The video is an hour long, so we only watched the first 22 minutes, in which Dr. Lisle covered two things: the glory of God revealed in astronomy and the Bible's accuracy concerning the basics of astronomy.

The main point of the first section was to demonstrate the vastness and awesomeness of the universe, so far as we have been able to observe it. If you have the time to watch part of the video, he has some excellent illustrations that are just mind-blowing and magnificent. God's creation is truly wonderful.

The main point of the second section, on the "Basics", was to demonstrate how the Bible has been accurate when it comes to some of the basics of astronomy. Not only has it been accurate, but it was accurate way before the secular scientists caught up. Back when the secular world thought the world was flat, the Bible was already describing it as round (spherical). This means there were a lot of scientists back then that thought the Bible was wrong, only to be proven wrong later when science revealed "oh wait a minute, no, the Bible was right all along". This offers some encouragement to us Christians today as we deal with the scientific world making claims that go against what the Bible says is true and right. They've been wrong in the past, the Bible has not.

So, take some time to watch at least part of the video, and if you have extra time, go look into some of his other material. He has some great stuff to think about and look at as we find out more and more about our world and the universe.

If you have any questions or comments generated from the video, feel free to ask them below and we can discuss those together. God bless!