In the beginning...
We always start talking about our lives "from the beginning." When we started this sport or this pastime. When we first thought we liked him/her. When we began...everything. That's why I think it's wierd that we've forgotten the importance of the disagreement of the beginning of time. We always start our conversations, our stories, from the beginning. That's what God did. He said...
"In the beginning..."
It's laid out for us like a "once upon a time" start and we never seem to be able to pay attention. It's okay that the world teaches us that the beginning was formed from nothing and that WE formed from nothing and that God was never there...in the beginning, or at all. I guess we always skip to the Jesus part. It's always easier to teach about the love of Christ and his sacrifice then to unravel that story from "the beginning." The whole Bible is one big story. A big story full of little stories that don't really seem to fit until later and so we skip them. God, who is infinite in wisdom decides to start from the beginning..."They'll want to know what happened. Why WE did what WE did. Where they came from. WHO made them. WHY." So He told us. Piece by piece, once upon a time by once upon a time, in lands far far away, until the ultimate sacrifice and promising future was laid out on the table. Don't get me wrong, all of the stories are real. Real people and real events all leading to the One who give His life to save those who were drifting.
Anyway, I guess we've just been battered down by the teachings of the world. We've been taught that Christianity is no longer ligit and is only practiced by those mindless fools who refuse to believe in "scientific evidence." Carbon dating, dinosaurs, and monkeymen are proof that we formed from nothing...that we are big nothings that just kind of happened. AND, the worst part is that we have tried to fit these insults into our beliefs as if they fit somehow. God made the world in six days...crap, carbon dating sets us back another like billion. Well, God works on His own time so He really could have made the world in millions of years and millions of years are just days to Him. Well yeah, that makes sense but it can't be.
And He made them both male and female...Day Six...He made them in the beginning.
If we discount our creator's words, then we discount the creator. If He lies in the beginning then who can follow Him to the end? We are but mere men and cannot try to out-think our creator. If He is brilliant enough to make us, with all of our intricacies, then He must know what was there in the beginning. He must know that we didn't evolve from a speck of nothing. That we are made in HIS image and cannot be greater than He. How can we evolve into greater beings without doing that? Only time can tell of our mistakes. Only in the end will we see ourselves for what fools we have become. In this anti-christian world, we have but one hope...to read the Maker's words from the beginning and believe with all of our hearts that His words are true, holy, and just to the end.
On a side note... for me, at least, it seems easier to believe that God, divine being, created us; then to believe that a whole bunch of nothing exploded and years later, bam!, here I am!
Try that again...a whole bunch of nothing...just sitting there...and bam...the universe! I don't know...it seems to me that it takes more faith to believe in that then the "foolish" faith it takes to believe that I was made for a purpose.
I was talking to Greg about stuff last night. We talked about the beginning. We talked about life.
I think that conversations like that are specifically placed there by God. Last night didn't hit hard and deep. I believe one of the quotes was..."Beka?...What is your position on dinosaurs?" I must say I've never been asked that before...but anyway, we talked about truth and confusion and science. We talked about humans and thier limited minds that seem so big because of their pride. We talked about how the world praises the creation rather than the creator. But after it was all said and done...i felt a passion again. A fire that I have felt roar and a fire htat I have felt dwindle away. But it was back and all because of a conversation about dinosaurs and monkeymen.
God put a desire in our hearts to know more. He made us to yearn for truth and answers to life's deepest inquiries. How did all of this get here? When does space stop? Why am I here? Where do I go after life is over? For some, these questions bring peace when they lead to the One who not only knows the answers, but gave birth to the questions as well.
I think we all bury these inconsistancies of science and christianity into a closet somewhere, hoping that we can look past the problems and pretend that they aren't there. Hoping that no one will bring it up because it's such a delicate subject! The world has backed us into a corner and shouted that we should be ashamed of who we are and what we believe. That Christianity is humane and isn't accepting. That we are wrong for believing what we do. That it isn't American, it isn't right, it isn't freedom at it's finest. They speak as if they know love. As if their fight for rights has the main goal of peace. The problem is that they don't know love and they don't know peace. Love isn't always pretty. It isn't safe. It isn't sorry for it's actions. Love is telling the truth, even though it hurts. Sometimes, love requires a fight. It requires justice and discipline.
Love isn't a man in an intimate relationship with another man. It's killing a person humanely because they commited murder. It's not always staying away from wars. Love is not always pretty. It isn't giving the rights to women to kill their unborn children. It isn't letting people get away with things because your always worried about peace. Love is patient and kind and forgiving...but never has it been a floor mat. Your parents love you but they cannot let you get away with things that hurt you, cause you harm. In the same way their love disciplines, God has justice for those He loves.
What greater love is this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now, these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
All these stories from "the beginning" til the stone was rolled away, tell of a love like no other. A disciplining Love that teaches those who love Him to surrender themselves to the Teacher and follow in His steps.
In the end, it will all pass away. It will stop. No more. And in that moment, I hope that you are not caught up in your own distruction. I hope that you have found the Answer to all the questions He designed us to have. I hope that you aren't set up for a destiny of hopelessness. I hope that you have found the Love that surpasses all understanding. I hope you have found that you will never have the chance, on this Earth, to understand why things are the way that they are. Sometimes, things just happen. Sometimes, we have to admit that we are only human. That this great wisdom we think we have stems from the pride in our hearts. That we are no greater than our creator, we don't even come close. I hope you find yourself, realizing you were lost in a heap of lies poured ontop of you year after year resulting in thoughts you thought were your own.
I think we give ourselves too much credit. We think we can do it on our own. That's when we get ourselves to where we are now. An anti-truth world that pictures love as a man and man. Or a woman choosing to kill her own children. Or as out-of-marriage and adulterous sex. We glamorize it all. We act like its all frilly and beautiful until we see what problems it brings. How many children's minds will we destroy because a man lusts a man and wants to raise children. How many unborn children must die before it seems as if it's not love. How many diseases, suicides, murders, and shattered lives must result from out-of-marriage sex before we realize that it's not so glamorous after all. Who are we to take a perfect thing like love and spin it around to be the excuse for our unwarranted desires and lusts? Who are we to believe we know better than the Perfect One who created us? Who are we? What have we become? We rant and rave about prisoners not having cable television while our children are murdered in silence. After all, a child is not a child until it breathes and cries.
He formed us in our mother's whombs. He knows us by name.
I'm here again...confused and hurt. Some of my closest friends believe in these lies. A series of excuses that label horrible things as common, as love. Deep down, I can't believe that they truely believe these things.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. Then light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
I'm here again...wishing things were different. Wondering how I can change the world? We were told when we were little that it only takes one voice to make a difference. That one voice can change the world. If you've seen the movie 300, this quote makes sense. 300 has a few unnecessary parts. The whole sex part is skipped when i watch it but anyway, gore and all, the Spartans stood their ground. They knew that the tyrant must be stopped. They knew that one little piece of an army could stand up against that tyrant and change the world. I wonder if one such as myself would yield the same fate?
Have you ever felt confused at who'd you become? How did I become this person? I was so different years ago? I can't make sense of who I am. I'm in pieces. I think this happens to people when they start getting comfortable with a life that God hasn't chosen for them. All of the lives that people of the world live, bring pain and distruction. They are in constant worry. Broken pieces of who they once were.
See, it's hard either way, with or without God. In one hand, we have with God. Life is hard trying to live the life God chose for you. Trying to keep close to Him. Living in opposition of the world. BUT, in the end you get to be with Him in paradise. On the other hand, you have living without God. Life will be hard at times but you won't have that extra opposition. You can live life how you want and try not to worry about it. BUT, in the end you are judged for those acts. These sins, without repentence, come with a terrible debt. That's where the decision lies. That's how it is and you'll see how it's true. Maybe years from now, maybe days, maybe while you read these words. You can tell Him. You can tell Him how hard you tried on your own. You can tell Him it made sense but everybody has a choice. It's yours, freely choose. THIS...is freedom.
I'm here again
A thousand miles away from you
A broken mess, just scattered pieces of who I am
I tried so hard
Thought I could do this on my own
I've lost so much along the way
Then I'll see your face
I know I'm finally yours
I find everything I thought I lost before
You call my name
I come to you in pieces
So you can make me whole
I've come undon
But you make sense of who I am
Like puzzle pices in your eye
Then I'll see your face
I know I'm finally yours
I find everything I thought I lost before
You call my name
I come to you in pieces
So you can make me whole
I tried so hard. So hard.
I tried so hard.
Then I'll see your face
I know I'm finally yours
I find everything I thought I lost before
You call my name
I come to you in pieces
So you can make me whole
So you can make me whole.
In the beginning...was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God...in the beginnning.
"In the beginning..."
It's laid out for us like a "once upon a time" start and we never seem to be able to pay attention. It's okay that the world teaches us that the beginning was formed from nothing and that WE formed from nothing and that God was never there...in the beginning, or at all. I guess we always skip to the Jesus part. It's always easier to teach about the love of Christ and his sacrifice then to unravel that story from "the beginning." The whole Bible is one big story. A big story full of little stories that don't really seem to fit until later and so we skip them. God, who is infinite in wisdom decides to start from the beginning..."They'll want to know what happened. Why WE did what WE did. Where they came from. WHO made them. WHY." So He told us. Piece by piece, once upon a time by once upon a time, in lands far far away, until the ultimate sacrifice and promising future was laid out on the table. Don't get me wrong, all of the stories are real. Real people and real events all leading to the One who give His life to save those who were drifting.
Anyway, I guess we've just been battered down by the teachings of the world. We've been taught that Christianity is no longer ligit and is only practiced by those mindless fools who refuse to believe in "scientific evidence." Carbon dating, dinosaurs, and monkeymen are proof that we formed from nothing...that we are big nothings that just kind of happened. AND, the worst part is that we have tried to fit these insults into our beliefs as if they fit somehow. God made the world in six days...crap, carbon dating sets us back another like billion. Well, God works on His own time so He really could have made the world in millions of years and millions of years are just days to Him. Well yeah, that makes sense but it can't be.
And He made them both male and female...Day Six...He made them in the beginning.
If we discount our creator's words, then we discount the creator. If He lies in the beginning then who can follow Him to the end? We are but mere men and cannot try to out-think our creator. If He is brilliant enough to make us, with all of our intricacies, then He must know what was there in the beginning. He must know that we didn't evolve from a speck of nothing. That we are made in HIS image and cannot be greater than He. How can we evolve into greater beings without doing that? Only time can tell of our mistakes. Only in the end will we see ourselves for what fools we have become. In this anti-christian world, we have but one hope...to read the Maker's words from the beginning and believe with all of our hearts that His words are true, holy, and just to the end.
On a side note... for me, at least, it seems easier to believe that God, divine being, created us; then to believe that a whole bunch of nothing exploded and years later, bam!, here I am!
Try that again...a whole bunch of nothing...just sitting there...and bam...the universe! I don't know...it seems to me that it takes more faith to believe in that then the "foolish" faith it takes to believe that I was made for a purpose.
I was talking to Greg about stuff last night. We talked about the beginning. We talked about life.
I think that conversations like that are specifically placed there by God. Last night didn't hit hard and deep. I believe one of the quotes was..."Beka?...What is your position on dinosaurs?" I must say I've never been asked that before...but anyway, we talked about truth and confusion and science. We talked about humans and thier limited minds that seem so big because of their pride. We talked about how the world praises the creation rather than the creator. But after it was all said and done...i felt a passion again. A fire that I have felt roar and a fire htat I have felt dwindle away. But it was back and all because of a conversation about dinosaurs and monkeymen.
God put a desire in our hearts to know more. He made us to yearn for truth and answers to life's deepest inquiries. How did all of this get here? When does space stop? Why am I here? Where do I go after life is over? For some, these questions bring peace when they lead to the One who not only knows the answers, but gave birth to the questions as well.
I think we all bury these inconsistancies of science and christianity into a closet somewhere, hoping that we can look past the problems and pretend that they aren't there. Hoping that no one will bring it up because it's such a delicate subject! The world has backed us into a corner and shouted that we should be ashamed of who we are and what we believe. That Christianity is humane and isn't accepting. That we are wrong for believing what we do. That it isn't American, it isn't right, it isn't freedom at it's finest. They speak as if they know love. As if their fight for rights has the main goal of peace. The problem is that they don't know love and they don't know peace. Love isn't always pretty. It isn't safe. It isn't sorry for it's actions. Love is telling the truth, even though it hurts. Sometimes, love requires a fight. It requires justice and discipline.
Love isn't a man in an intimate relationship with another man. It's killing a person humanely because they commited murder. It's not always staying away from wars. Love is not always pretty. It isn't giving the rights to women to kill their unborn children. It isn't letting people get away with things because your always worried about peace. Love is patient and kind and forgiving...but never has it been a floor mat. Your parents love you but they cannot let you get away with things that hurt you, cause you harm. In the same way their love disciplines, God has justice for those He loves.
What greater love is this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now, these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
All these stories from "the beginning" til the stone was rolled away, tell of a love like no other. A disciplining Love that teaches those who love Him to surrender themselves to the Teacher and follow in His steps.
In the end, it will all pass away. It will stop. No more. And in that moment, I hope that you are not caught up in your own distruction. I hope that you have found the Answer to all the questions He designed us to have. I hope that you aren't set up for a destiny of hopelessness. I hope that you have found the Love that surpasses all understanding. I hope you have found that you will never have the chance, on this Earth, to understand why things are the way that they are. Sometimes, things just happen. Sometimes, we have to admit that we are only human. That this great wisdom we think we have stems from the pride in our hearts. That we are no greater than our creator, we don't even come close. I hope you find yourself, realizing you were lost in a heap of lies poured ontop of you year after year resulting in thoughts you thought were your own.
I think we give ourselves too much credit. We think we can do it on our own. That's when we get ourselves to where we are now. An anti-truth world that pictures love as a man and man. Or a woman choosing to kill her own children. Or as out-of-marriage and adulterous sex. We glamorize it all. We act like its all frilly and beautiful until we see what problems it brings. How many children's minds will we destroy because a man lusts a man and wants to raise children. How many unborn children must die before it seems as if it's not love. How many diseases, suicides, murders, and shattered lives must result from out-of-marriage sex before we realize that it's not so glamorous after all. Who are we to take a perfect thing like love and spin it around to be the excuse for our unwarranted desires and lusts? Who are we to believe we know better than the Perfect One who created us? Who are we? What have we become? We rant and rave about prisoners not having cable television while our children are murdered in silence. After all, a child is not a child until it breathes and cries.
He formed us in our mother's whombs. He knows us by name.
I'm here again...confused and hurt. Some of my closest friends believe in these lies. A series of excuses that label horrible things as common, as love. Deep down, I can't believe that they truely believe these things.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. Then light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
I'm here again...wishing things were different. Wondering how I can change the world? We were told when we were little that it only takes one voice to make a difference. That one voice can change the world. If you've seen the movie 300, this quote makes sense. 300 has a few unnecessary parts. The whole sex part is skipped when i watch it but anyway, gore and all, the Spartans stood their ground. They knew that the tyrant must be stopped. They knew that one little piece of an army could stand up against that tyrant and change the world. I wonder if one such as myself would yield the same fate?
Have you ever felt confused at who'd you become? How did I become this person? I was so different years ago? I can't make sense of who I am. I'm in pieces. I think this happens to people when they start getting comfortable with a life that God hasn't chosen for them. All of the lives that people of the world live, bring pain and distruction. They are in constant worry. Broken pieces of who they once were.
See, it's hard either way, with or without God. In one hand, we have with God. Life is hard trying to live the life God chose for you. Trying to keep close to Him. Living in opposition of the world. BUT, in the end you get to be with Him in paradise. On the other hand, you have living without God. Life will be hard at times but you won't have that extra opposition. You can live life how you want and try not to worry about it. BUT, in the end you are judged for those acts. These sins, without repentence, come with a terrible debt. That's where the decision lies. That's how it is and you'll see how it's true. Maybe years from now, maybe days, maybe while you read these words. You can tell Him. You can tell Him how hard you tried on your own. You can tell Him it made sense but everybody has a choice. It's yours, freely choose. THIS...is freedom.
I'm here again
A thousand miles away from you
A broken mess, just scattered pieces of who I am
I tried so hard
Thought I could do this on my own
I've lost so much along the way
Then I'll see your face
I know I'm finally yours
I find everything I thought I lost before
You call my name
I come to you in pieces
So you can make me whole
I've come undon
But you make sense of who I am
Like puzzle pices in your eye
Then I'll see your face
I know I'm finally yours
I find everything I thought I lost before
You call my name
I come to you in pieces
So you can make me whole
I tried so hard. So hard.
I tried so hard.
Then I'll see your face
I know I'm finally yours
I find everything I thought I lost before
You call my name
I come to you in pieces
So you can make me whole
So you can make me whole.
In the beginning...was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God...in the beginnning.
posted by Lillian | 9:04 AM
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1 comments
