What Are The Chances?

 

Today is Good Friday.  The day that Christians all around the world stop and contemplate the sacrifice by Jesus on the cross to bridge the gap between God and humankind.  I have been asked by a close friend in the past "You aren't one of those Christians are you?  One that takes the Bible literally, are you?"  I've been scolded by a Christian friend not to take the Bible as literal because it isn't trustworthy like a history book.  I've been made fun of by atheists who say I'm unintelligent because I take my faith blindly, without logic or reason.  I respectfully disagree with them all. 

In an exercise of building my own faith,  I have asked myself, "What are the chances?"  Well, come to find out, I'm not the only one that has wondered about that very question. Mathematicians and statistical scholars have asked too, and they have even calculated the odds.  So, here they are:

There are over 700 prophecies written to help us identify the Messiah throughout the Bible.  Prophecies foretelling how, when, where of his birth, death and resurrection.  And don't forget, also his return.

Dr Peter Stoner (Science Speaks, 1958)  calculated the probability  that the chance of one man accidentally fulfilling just 8 of these prophecies is one in 10 ¹⁷ It is a number that is hard to wrap the mind around.  Here is an illustration by Dr. Stoner to help us visualize it:

If you mark one of ten tickets, and place all the tickets in a hat, and thoroughly stir them, and then ask a blindfolded man to draw one, his chance of getting the right ticket is one in ten. Suppose that we take 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They'll cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would've had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man, from their day to the present time, providing they wrote them in their own wisdom.

Now, what are the odds that only 48 of the more than 700  prophecies of Jesus were fulfilled?  Dr. Stoner estimated the odds against that to be 1 in 10 to the power 157. [1]  A number that would fill a  blank page with zeros.  Here is an illustration to help us visualize this number:

How large is the number one in 10¹⁵⁷? Well, it contains 157 zeros! Stoner gives an illustration of this number using electrons.

Electrons are very small objects. They're smaller than atoms. It would take 2.5 TIMES 10¹⁵ of them, laid side by side, to make one inch. Even if we counted 250 of these electrons each minute, and counted day and night, it would still take 19 million years just to count a line of electrons one-inch long.

Statistically, any odds beyond 1 in 10⁵⁰ have a zero probability of ever happening by random chance. This is Borel's law in action which was derived by mathematician Emil Borel.

Dr. Stoner concludes,''Any man who rejects Christ as the Son of God is rejecting a fact, proved perhaps more absolutely than any other fact in the world."

Those are the odds.  If you take blind faith out of the equation and insert mathematical probability and logic, you get a zero probability that Jesus was accidentally or mistakenly the prophesied Messiah. 

That means Jesus came just as God promised. He lived among us just as God promised, He died for you just as God promised.  He rose from the dead just as God promised.  And He will come again in glory just as God promised.  It is a Good Friday, indeed!

Revelation 19:10,

“The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

*If you are interested in studying some of the prophecies Jesus fulfilled check out the Bible Study link on the top right of the blog.  I will add it as soon as Resurrection Sunday is over, but for now I am going to go celebrate with my family!

Determining your Worth....

Value...what do you value?  What are your valuables?  Do you have certain 'values' you live by. Maybe you value a sense of community, your children, home, or relationships.  Value as defined by dictionary.com is this:

VALUE (noun)-
1.relative worth, merit, or importance.

2. monetary or material worth, as in commerce or trade.

3. the worth of something in terms of the amount of other things it can be exchanged for.

4. estimated or assigned worth.

I was meditating on this concept yesterday.  Thoughts of times I have tried to assign my own value or worth as well of times I have allowed others to define my sense of value came springing to my mind.  How easily we can go from being confident and feeling valuable to a feeling of worthlessness by hearing a harsh or critical word.  Everyone has some desire to feel valuable.  No one wants to be alone or unimportant.  On some level we all desire to feel needed, smart, or like our lives have made some difference in the world around us.  This deep rooted drive to have value assigned to us can make us needy people-pleasers as we seek our value from human relationships.  We can also be on the other side of the spectrum in a flash assigning a value or worth on another person, fetus, drug addict......you see where this is going. 

I have heard countless times the saying, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."  Value is the same way.  Just look on an EBAY auction and watch people try to assign worth to something.  The seller wants to get all they can, the buyer wants to get it for the least possible.  They are at odds with each other, both sides looking at it from their vantage point.  I do not think people can be unbiased judges of worth.  We need an outside perspective and who better than the One who created you in the first place?

Worth or value of a soul is not determined by a person, unless that person is Christ.  Defining value with our definition above and through the eyes of God gives you the relative worth of your life, merit or importance, assigned worth of your soul in terms of an amount exchanged for you....you were so valuable to God that He sent His only Son to die for you and pay the ultimate price, the maximum amount- all of it -to restore you to Him.  That makes you very valuable, a person created with much worth and importance to the Creator of the Universe.  

The world tries to devalue life, get you to devalue yourself, or take what is valuable in God's sight and make it depreciate.  We cannot not afford to believe the lies. 

A person's value is not determined on another person's appraisal. 

A person's value is determined by the price Jesus was willing to pay....

and He paid it ALL for YOU!!!! 

John 3:16,  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

1 John 3:16, "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers."

Deuteronomy 6:7, "For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession."

Matthew 6:21, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

1 Peter 3:3-4, "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes.  Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight."

 Amos 4:13, "He who forms the mountains, creates the wind, and reveals his thoughts to man, he who turns dawn to darkness, and treads the high places of the earth— the LORD God Almighty is his name."

Psalm 139:13-18a, "For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,  I know that full well.
 My frame was not hidden from youwhen I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

 How precious to O God!  How vast is the sum of them!

 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand."

How to Shine like a STAR....

Homeschooling provides us with so many teachable moments.  I think that is what I love most about it.  I often ask God what virtue, trait or concept I should focus on or teach the children.  I try to stay sensitive to what is going on in our home and I diligently look for opportunities to reinforce important truths to them. God has never failed to amaze me.   Today we are learning about how to stay pure and shine for the Lord. 

I found a great free website for printing out handwriting pages:  http://www.handwritingworksheets.com/flash/printdots/paragraph/ .  You can put in your text and it will print out a custom handwriting sheet. This made it possible for my youngest writer to be able to write out the Bible verse we were focusing on with ease. 

We studied Philippians 2:14-15, "Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe."  

I had each of them write out the Bible verse and as they did I explained to them just what exactly that means. 

- We talked about how it is important to do EVERYTHING without complaining!  Boy is that a lesson we can all take to heart.  I think it is more accurate to say we do everything WITH complaining lately!!!

- Without arguing!!!!  The kids were challenged with this one as soon as they climbed out of bed and their feet hit the floor.  I think this is a biggy, especially for those of us who are together 24/7!

-We talked about the importance of not complaining or arguing and how that helps us to lead blameless and pure lives. 

-Then we discussed how there are people in the world that do not believe, acknowledge or live their lives according to God's laws.  They are crooked and depraved.  I explained to them how we can stray or get lost if we are crooked and that God desires for us to keep our eyes on Him to stay on the straight path.

-I printed out this picture for them and had them color it in.  (http://www.thecoloringbarn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/star-1.jpg) .  When they were finished we talked about things that make us shine like stars....praying, sharing, helping, serving, forgiving, etc., and as we said each thing we added some glitter glue to the main star.  I told them that everyone has the ability to shine and we added some glitter glue to the top stars representing others in the world. 

-Then we talked about sin and how it gets us dirty.  I had a small cup of potting soil ready and we talked about things that would get us 'dirty' or cause us to not be pure and blameless.  Much to their horror I sprinkled a little bit of dirt on to one of the sections of the wet glitter glue on their star.  They were pretty upset that their picture now had a little dirt on it.  Shelby even tried to cover her dirt up with more glitter, but you could still see it.  This gave me the opportunity to share with them that we can try to cover up our sin, but it is still visible to God.

-Next we talked about what Jesus came to do.  I had them each bring me a baby wipe and we wiped off the dirt just as Jesus wipes away our sin when we ask Him for forgiveness.  It was a powerful moment.  Then we added more glitter glue in that spot so that it could be restored and shine again for the Lord!

-Finally we talked about how everyone has sin, everyone of us.  We added some dirt to the other stars to remember that.  They asked me how to help get those stars clean and I shared with them that they will need someone to tell them what Jesus did for them, too.  They each picked a star to 'tell' about Jesus and we then we wiped them clean and added more glitter to represent a new life choosing to shine for the Lord. 

It was such a powerful lesson.  I am so thankful to the God of Heaven who looks upon us and meets us right where we are to show us the way to shine like stars in the universe.  The kids got it.  They understood on a whole deeper level the power sin has to make us unclean and that only by the power of the blood of Jesus we can be pure again. 

Now, I would be lying if I said my children were perfect little angels the rest of the day!  I wish!  But, I will say that the only correction I have had to give today is, "Be careful and STAY CLEAN!!!!"

Cleaning Toilets Builds Character....

I have been trying hard to teach Gabe (almost 6) and Shelby (almost 4) to play nicely.  When other kids are over they do just fine, but when the two of them are alone they are constantly hitting each other on the head with a matchbox car.  I have tried everything to get them to stop.  I sit next to them as they play and as soon as I leave the room.....WHACK!!!  Well, today it happened again, this time it was Gabe and I had just warned him NOT TO HIT HIS SISTER!  

First I sent him to his room so I could decide the punishment.  As I was walking through his bathroom a light bulb went off in my head.  I brought him into the bathroom, handed him a rag and spray bottle and showed him the dirty toilet. 

I explained to him that when we disobey or hurt someone it is sin.  Sin makes us dirty just like his toilet.  I had him clean off the lid, under the lid, and around the seat....YUCK!!!  He was quite disgusted.   I explained to him that that is how God feels about our sin and wants us to be clean. 

 After we had a sparkling clean toilet I took Gabe to Shelby to say "Sorry."  Then we returned to his room to pray. 

It went like this, "Sorry God for hitting my sister.  Please forgive me.  Thank You for forgiving me.  Thank You for making me clean again."  I gave Gabe a great big hug and wiped away his tears.  Then as I left I reminded him to STAY CLEAN!!!!  I hope it doesn't happen again, but if it does I have 3 more toilets.....come to think of it this example would work with dishes, laundry, trash, etc.

"Have mercy on me, O God,

according to your unfailing love;

according to your great compassion

blot out my transgressions.

Wash away all my iniquity

and cleanse me from my sin."

Psalm 51:1-2

(Oh and by the way, the pictures on this blog are NOT mine.  Our toilet wasn't THAT bad!  And I put some funny and clean potty humor pics below.  Enjoy!)



The End of the World as We Know it?

I am watching the posts on the "End of the World", along with millions of others around the world, and have been asked by several people what I think of it.   So here it is.......I think that Harold Camping of Family Radio isn't helping but hurting.  I have read that he has spent $4 million dollars in this campaign funded by followers and supporters to reach lost souls, calling them to repent.  That tells me Harold and many others believe fully in his prediction, but it also tells me they are misguided. 

Matthew 24:26 clearly states that "NO ONE (emphasis mine) knows about the day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."

One would reason that if any being would know about the hour it would at be Jesus, the One coming back.  Mr. Camping isn't the first to try and figure out the day.  Here is a rundown of a few famous other date setters (of the 200+ recorded):

*400 A.D.- Hippolytus "calculated that 5,500 years separated Adam and Christ and that the life of the world was 6,000 six full 'days' of years until the seventh the day of rest." His calculations in 234 indicted there were still two centuries left. (from A History of the End of the World, Rubinsky and Wiseman, 1982).

*500 A.D.-A Roman priest and theologian in the second and third centuries, predicted Christ would return in A.D. 500, based on the dimensions of Noah's ark.



*950 A.D.- Adso of Montier-en-Der wrote a "Treatise on the Antichrist" which was a response to a number of mid-century crises that had provoked widespread alarm and fear of an end-time apocalypse. Five years later, Abbo of Fleury heard a preacher in Paris who announced that the Antichrist would be unleashed in the year 1000 and that the Last Judgment would soon follow.   
 
*968 A.D.-Panic in Otto's army at an eclipse the soldiers took to portend the end of the world (Gesta episcoporum Leodensium, MGH SS IX, p.202)  And when the last Carolingian dynasty fell with the death of King Louis V in 987, many saw this event as a precursor to the arrival of the Antichrist. King Otto II of Germany had Charlemagne's body exhumed on Pentecost in the year 1000 supposedly in order to forestall the apocalypse.
 
*1000 A.D.-This year goes down as one of the most pronounced states of hysteria over the return of Christ. All members of society seemed affected by the prediction that Jesus was coming back on Jan 1, 1000. There really weren't any of the events required by the Bible transpiring at that time. The magical number 1000 was primarily the sole reason for the expectation. During December 999 AD, everyone was on their best behavior; worldly goods were sold and given to the poor, swarms of pilgrims headed east to meet the Lord at Jerusalem, buildings went unrepaired, crops were left unplanted, and criminals were set free from jails. The year 999 AD turned into 1000 AD and nothing happened.




*Both Halley's comet in A.D. 989 and a super nova in A.D. 1006 were interpreted as signs of the end. About the same time, the Moslim caliph, Al Hakim, destroyed the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem prompting apocalyptic fear in the west as well as violent anti-Jewish outbursts.
 
*Pope Innocent III predicted the end would come in 1284

*16th century Mother Shipton declared "...The world to an end shall come; in eighteen hundred and eighty-one."

*A 17th Century Baptist preacher named Benjamin Keach predicted it would be in 1689.

*1715 A.D.-Christ's coming; Isaac Newton, a note in his research on the Law of Gravity (Luther Martin, Date Setters, Guardian of Truth, Sept. 15, 1994)

*1809 A.D.-Mary Bateman, who specialized in fortune telling, had a magic chicken that laid eggs with end time messages on them. One message said that Christ was coming. The uproar she created ended when she was caught forcing an egg into the hen's oviduct by an unannounced visitor. Mary later was hanged for poisoning a wealthy client.


*1836 A.D.-John Wesley wrote that "the time, times and half a time" of Revelation 12:14 were 1058­1836, "when Christ should come" (apud A. M. Morris, The Prophecies Unveiled, p. 361)

*Jehovah Witnesses have predicted the end numerous times, most notably in 1914, 1915, 1918, 1920, 1925, 1941, 1975 and 1994.
*1953 A.D.-David Davidson wrote a book titled "The Great Pyramid, Its Divine Message". In it, he predicted that the world would end in 1953-AUG.



*1970 A.D.-The late Moses David (formerly David Berg) was the founder of the Christian religious group, The Children of God. He predicted that a comet would hit the earth, probably in the mid 1970's and destroy all life in the United States.   Also, The True Light Church of Christ made its claim to fame by incorrectly forecasting the return of Jesus. A number of church members had quit their livelihoods ahead of the promised advent.
 
*1986 A.D.-(He's back) Moses David of The Children of God faith group predicted that the Battle of Armageddon would take place in 1986. Russia would defeat Israel and the United States. A worldwide Communist dictatorship would be established. In 1993, Christ would return to earth.
 
*The book "88 Reasons Why the Rapture is in 1988" came out only a few months before the event was to take place.  After the passing of the deadline in 88 Reason's, the author, Edgar Whisenaunt, came out with a new book called "89 Reasons why the Rapture is in 1989." This book sold only a fraction of his prior release.
 
*In 1992, David Koresh of the Branch Davidian group in Waco Texas changed the name of their commune from Mt. Carmel to Ranch Apocalypse, because of his belief that the final all-encompassing battle of Armageddon mentioned in the Bible would start at the Branch Davidian compound. They had calculated that the end would occur in 1995. After a 51-day standoff, on 1993-APR-10, 76 members died as a result of a deliberately set fire.
 
*Harold Camping in his book "Are You Ready?" predicted the Lord's return in Sept 1994. The book was full of methods that added up Bible numbers up to 1994 as the date of Christ's return. Sept. 15, 1994: Last Day and Return of Christ; Harold Camping; Book: 1994? (pub in 1992) "Last Day and return of Christ sometime on or between September 15, 1994...and September 27, 1994." (p. 531) "I will be surprised if we reach October 1, 1994" (p. 533) Camping hedged his bets though, by offering a back up date of 2011 if 1994 was wrong.
 
*TOMORROW* Harold Camping's back up date of May 21, 2011, 6pm
 
So here we sit....watching another prediction come and go.  Much time and energy is wasted on books, predictions, false teachings, and advertising.  Money that could go to really help the lost, hurting, or poor is squandered.  Precious time is thrown away that could be spent sharing the Good News that sins are forgiven for those who accept and Jesus really is coming back, someday.  Unbelievers stop and stare at it like a train wreck; reaffirming the lie that Christians are crack pots.  This further attacks the reputation and believability of the Bible and believers everywhere as if Judgement Day Predictors like Harold Camping actually represent the TRUTH at all.

There is one thing that Harold Camping is helping to prove...the BIBLE is trustworthy.  If his predictions of Judgement Day were right the Bible wouldn't be; for NO ONE knows the hour, thus sayith the Lord!!!!
 
The Truth is that the end of the world is nearer today than yesterday.  Jesus died for the sin of the world and WILL return.  He doesn't know the hour and neither does anyone else, only God does.  We would be wise to be about the Father's Business until then.  (More on that in the next blog :)
 
  *Notes taken from: http://www.bible.ca/pre-date-setters.htm  and http://www.focusonlinecommunities.com/blogs/Finding_Home/2011/05/19/will-the-world-end-on-saturday)

Your back always faces something....

Yesterday was Resurrection Sunday.  Millions celebrated the freedom of the cross through Jesus Christ.  Churches everywhere preached the Good News and called for lost souls to turn to the cross.  So I was picturing it today in my mind and I saw it so clearly.  At all times your back is facing something!  It is an interesting posture.  To turn around you face your back as an action not just a state of being. Kind of like saying, "Talk to the hand!"....just talk to my back!   

When we stand before the cross of Christ and accept the free gift of salvation our back is turned against sin.  Every time we turn around to sin our back is on the cross.  There is no middle ground, no half way, no stopping point as you pivot.  You are either facing Jesus or facing your own selfishness.

Psalm 66:16-20
Come and hear, all you who fear God;
let me tell you what he has done for me.


I cried out to him with my mouth;
his praise was on my tongue.


If I had cherished sin in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened;
but God has surely listened
and has heard my prayer.


Praise be to God,
who has not rejected my prayer
or withheld his love from me!

As we consider Jesus' sacrifice on the cross let us see what we must put behind us to take in it's beauty.  If we feel distant or unheard, maybe we just need to turn around and face Him.  The cross is not just a time of acceptance but a time to turn your back on death and choose life.