Why Worship?

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There is a line that is heard in many church services – “Praise God from Whom all blessing flow.” Like many other recitations we may use in a church service, we probably recite this line without giving any thought to the significance of the words.

Praise God? Really? Does God have an ego that needs constant adoration and acknowledgment? Does He really need to be worshipped?

It’s a pretty good bet that the Creator of the universe doesn’t need our adoration to feel good about Himself. So, what is the purpose of worship?

When we apply logic to the question, we may recognize that it is we who need to worship. We need to engage in that activity that builds and strengthens our connection to the Creator.

To worship is to acknowledge the source of our being, the source of our world and all that it provides. It is a response of appreciation and recognition of all that we are unable to provide on our own.

Most importantly, worship is an expression of love, God’s native language.

Each of us, in our human existence, has experienced love. For most of us, we have experienced a love so powerful that we would sacrifice our life for another. It might be a spouse. It might be our child. But at some point, we probably experience love in the extreme.

Now, imagine a love so powerful that it builds worlds, builds stars and galaxies. Now imagine a love so powerful that it creates anything and everything that a human being could need to survive. Imagine a love so powerful that it enables free will.

“For God so loved the world…”

Imagine a love, so powerful that it would allow the ultimate sacrifice.

Why worship?

Perhaps to build and strengthen the bond to our creator, perhaps to taste a hint of that love that we might share with others.

 

Star Count

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On a dark, moonless night, look at the night sky. The stars are too many to count.  Chances are that each of these stars has one or more planets orbiting it. It is estimated that there are 250 billion stars in our own Milky Way galaxy alone. It is further estimated that there are 10 billion galaxies in the observable universe.  That’s a lot of real estate scattered about what appears to be an endless universe.

The universal question about all this real estate is – does life exist on other planets? More importantly, how does this impact our belief in God?

The Bible does not acknowledge extraterrestrial life forms, or even other planets. Those bright spots in the night sky were just thought to be particularly brilliant stars. But neither does the Bible deny the possibility of outer world life forms. The Bible also fails to mention dinosaurs, armadillos or kangaroos, but we know that they exist.

The Bible does state that God created the heavens and the earth, which pretty much covers any and all possibilities. So, let’s narrow it down.

Considering the enormous variety of life forms on planet earth, it is almost a certainty that some type of life form could develop on another planet. This thinking doesn’t even take into consideration the possibility of life forms that are based on another mineral or chemical combination that doesn’t exist on earth.

The true question – the question that is most important is whether “intelligent” life forms exist in the cosmos. If God created humans in His image – having self-awareness, free will, and a soul, could He have done the same for another life form?

If intelligent extraterrestrial life forms exist on other planets, and if those life forms have similar traits to humans, it is possible that among those traits are the territorial and warring urges that have plagued the human race for eons.

That might explain the reason that star systems and galaxies are separated by such vast distances, making it impossible for inter-world conflict to arise.

Today’s technology, as advanced as we believe it to be, still has not solved the dilemma of travel over such long distances. Those distances prevent us from conflict with beings of another world.

Perhaps more advanced extraterrestrial civilizations have learned to live in harmony in conjunction with their own advances in technology. Perhaps we too can reach that stage of wisdom.

Perhaps the vast separation was God’s plan all along.

 

 

The Forever Factor

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The basic premise of the term “forever” is that there is no end time. When it comes to our own existence, we embrace that term because we cannot wrap our heads around the idea that our self-awareness, all the knowledge and experience we have accumulated, and all the potential inherent in days to come could cease to exist.

And perhaps this is one of God’s greatest gifts to us.

Logically, we acknowledge that we have a limited lifespan. We also know that circumstances can snuff us out at any age, without warning. Yet, we routinely plan for our future. We plan weddings, vacations, and family gatherings with little regard for the fact that we might not live long enough to see our plans through.

We close our eyes each night, fully expecting to see the dawn. With the exception of those with serious medical conditions, we seldom give thought to our mortality.

Perhaps this is where God’s gift comes into play.

The combination of self-awareness and the capacity to accept (but ignore) our mortality gives us the ability to live lives of purpose and promise.

Yet the companion gift is even more meaningful.

Ultimately, we do match up the logic of our mortality with the emotion of fear. We fear the loss of our awareness. We fear the loss of our being. The thought of our consciousness being permanently shut off like a burned-out lightbulb is incomprehensible.

The thought of forever suddenly has real meaning. The thought of existing forever is the promise of continuing experiences and learning. The thought of being erased from existence forever, or being denied those spiritual gifts is beyond understanding. The emotion of fear is a turning point.

It is that emotional aspect of our personality that is the key to re-connecting with our Creator.

It is that emotional tool that enables us to engage with our God. Our other senses are unable to see, hear or sense God’s presence. Emotion, which is the native language of love, opens the door to the spiritual realm that God inhabits.

Once we surrender our fear in exchange for God’s love, we are on the right path to complete joy.

Forever.

 

 

 

 

The Air That We Breathe

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In an earlier post, we looked at the function of our lungs in providing the oxygen we need to survive. What we didn’t address is the nature of the air that fills our lungs.

The air that we breathe is composed of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen. The carbon dioxide that we exhale is only .03% of the atmosphere. The thin envelope of gases that surrounds the earth might be compared to the skin of an onion. The densest portion is at the surface as a result of the earth’s gravity. At greater altitude, the air becomes so thin that breathing normally cannot collect enough oxygen to survive.

Our atmosphere protects us from harmful solar radiation and burns up incoming space debris that otherwise might create havoc. Clouds of water vapor hover at just the right height to transport life-giving water that sustains plant growth in otherwise dry areas. That plant growth returns the favor by creating oxygen and food. The movement of air over the planet’s surface provides the weather fluctuations that maintain a temperate climate that allow us to survive.

The density of air near the earth’s surface allows aircraft to transport us across vast distances at incredible speeds.

As we seek proof of the existence of a Creator, some of that evidence fuels our thoughts with every breath we take. Certainly, there is speculation and evidence that our atmosphere was produced and refined as the earth cooled and matured over billions of years, but that does not exclude the intentional work of God. With unlimited power and unlimited time, God could choose any tools He desired to design our home.

The cycle and combination of miracles related to our atmosphere is so complex and interconnected that it becomes impossible to deny that the hand of God directs these elements. Subtract any one of the miracles of the air that we breathe, and the entire process would unravel.

Remember that the next time you feel “out of breath.”

Bible Language

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“Suffer the children to come unto me.” – Matthew 19:14

What?

How accurate are the statements and directives found in the Bible?

It’s safe to say that most of the familiar Bible quotes come from the King James version of the Bible. Printed in 1611, this edition of the Bible is written in the contemporary English of the time. The language is archaic and almost poetic.

It is probably the most successful version in history, but certainly not immune to criticism.

The history of the Holy Bible is complex. Multiple versions were created over the centuries, and the changing political climate contributed to the mix. The King James version, in particular, was an undertaking of 47 scholars of the Church of England, at the direction of King James using multiple earlier versions as well as Greek, Aramaic, Hebrew, and Latin texts.

Considering that printing was still a new technology and the earliest texts were copied by hand, it was a massive undertaking to revise and distribute the new version.

But the greater challenges, that continues to this day, were the elements of translation, and the inevitable changes in the meanings of words in the past 400 years.

Any of us, older than the internet, has witnessed the swift change in our language. Terms we routinely use today had a completely different meaning just a few years ago. Imagine then, the possible changes in language over a period of several hundred years. Add to that, the confusion that could result in translating from one language to another and then to another.

Thankfully, newer translations of the Bible, based on advanced understanding of ancient languages and archaic English have become available. So, “Suffer the children to come unto me” becomes “Allow the children to come to me.” That is a simple and easily understood variance in translation.

Unfortunately, there is another element that has come into play to further confuse us. That element is interpretation, and the various denominations of the Christian community have joined the debate, and political views have tainted those interpretations.

So, what do we believe? Which denomination is true to the message of Christianity?

Perhaps we need to step back a bit from the debate and recognize the true meaning of those messages. It is the deeper meaning of the message that is important. The minor deviations of the message, and the debate is of human making. If we tune into God’s language – the language of emotion and love – we will be on the right path, even if some of the human language confuses us.

Perhaps “listen to your heart” is the best interpretation.

With Every Breath

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If we look for evidence of creation by God rather than chance events, we must acknowledge the “engineering” of the human body that allows us to exist. And every breath we take is an example.

That first gasp for air at birth is the beginning of a process that can continue, uninterrupted, for a lifetime. It occurs without conscious thought, adapting as needed for sleep, physical exertion, and any number of changing conditions.

The fact that a human being can exist and function for up to 100 years (or more) is a miracle in itself. When we break it down, we can recognize that our existence is a combination of miracles that defy explanation.

Oxygen is critical to the continuing function of the human body, and the lungs are the mechanism that provides that supply of oxygen. Each breath triggers an exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide, a process that effortlessly swaps the waste product (carbon dioxide) for the fuel (oxygen) that keeps the life engine humming.

Science has been able to identify most of the mechanics of the gas exchange we call breathing. Science tells us the framework of the lungs and the point at which the bloodstream gives up the carbon dioxide and absorbs the oxygen. The end of the journey for each breath are the alveoli, microscopic sacs surrounded by the finest mesh of blood capillaries where the gas exchange takes place.

While science may be capable of describing the structure and mechanics of breathing, what may be more difficult to explain is the “why.”

Once again, we are confronted with the issue that the complexity of the functioning of the human body seems to be far beyond what we could expect from a chance combination of elements. Even if we accept the probability of evolution, it becomes extremely difficult to believe that such a complex system would come into existence without some intelligent coordination.

It becomes even more miraculous when we realize that the blueprints for the amazing human body are somehow contained in that zygote that is created at the moment of conception.

Perhaps every breath we take is a silent praise of the Creator.

Is Chance – God’s Plan?

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If we stand back and view life objectively, it sometimes seems like life events are completely random. Who lives to a ripe old age? Who dies young? Why does one person abuse their body and live to an advanced age while another lives a clean, healthy existence but still develops a fatal disease?

Why does a person who treats others with love and respect suffer tragedy after tragedy while a selfish individual wins the lottery?

It’s easy to see how a non-believer can use these examples to support their belief that God does not exist, and that all of life is just a series of chance events.

So, how can we apply logic to these questions? How can we justify a belief in a loving, caring God when these injustices occur?

Perhaps this is another case where we need to step back from our earthly viewpoint and concede that there is still too much about our existence that we don’t understand.

We need to recognize that our judgment and understanding is always tainted by the limits of our five senses and earthly human experiences. Likewise, what we judge to be fair or unfair, what we judge to be right or wrong is based on our personal education and experiences.

We cover the gaps in our understanding by claiming “everything happens for a reason.” In that sense, we are assuming that God has a plan, and orchestrates all events according to his plan. It never occurs to us that “random” just might be part of His plan.

That’s not to say that God doesn’t influence or orchestrate certain events, but perhaps He employs the element of chance to determine who will be the tool He uses.

This idea goes against our understanding of what is “fair” or what is just. It is in conflict with our view of what a loving God would allow.

Once again, we are handicapped by our earthly view. Once again we are judging by earthly, human standards.

Perhaps the cure for our doubts and questions is to accept that our spiritual existence lies so far removed from our human experience that our earthly existence and all the trials of that existence are insignificant in the realm of eternity. And in that, we do have a reference point to anchor our understanding.

In our lifetime, each of us has had some type of pain. Whether it would be a severe cut, a broken bone or a painful illness, we all have a memory of such an event. For most of us, the memory of such an event fades over time. We may remember the event, but we are incapable of re-experiencing the actual pain. And, the more time that passes, the less impact an event has on us. It becomes less and less significant in comparison to the totality of our life.

Now, we may be able to consider that “random” may be a part of God’s plan. With a full understanding of spiritual existence in eternity, God would know what we don’t.

Any and all of our life’s experiences, up to and including physical death are of little consequence in our eternal existence.

 

 

 

God’s Tiny Workers

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One of the most common human failings is the tendency to lose sight of daily miracles that surround us. At the top of the list is taking for granted the way our own bodies work.

Each time we sit down to a meal, we give little or no thought to the miracle that turns the food we consume into the nutrients that allows our body to function. We give even less thought to the colony of bacteria that resides in our digestive system and helps with that process.

With all the antibacterial soaps and antibiotics developed to keep us healthy, we have come to see bacteria as the villains in our environment, and no doubt this is the case in many instances. What we overlook and what science is still struggling to understand is the fact that many types of bacteria are essential to our digestive system.

A report by Arizona State University suggests that our digestive system is home to millions of species of bacteria and, just like other aspects of our existence, there are beneficial players and there are the bad guys. Part of maintaining good health is ensuring that the good bacteria outnumbers and overwhelms the destructive variety.

The continuous miracle that exists without our notice is the relationship between our host bodies and the bacterial residents within us. It is a symbiotic system that our science is just recently beginning to understand. It is something that our science cannot duplicate.

When we begin to use our logic to judge the existence of a higher power, perhaps we need look no further than within ourselves. Then we need to consider the possibility that such a mutually beneficial system comes into being purely by accident.

When we begin to recognize the incredibly complex combination of elements that result in our existence, the odds favor intelligent design.

God’s tiny workers labor behind the scenes to keep us alive.

Mustard Seed of Faith

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“ I tell all of you with certainty, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you. ” – Jesus of Nazareth

This may be one of the most profound and meaningful statements found in the Bible, both in terms of the power of faith and as the perfect example of the weakness of human understanding.

The concept of mind over matter still confounds science today. There are numerous examples of efforts to manipulate physical objects by the power of the mind. Even the CIA and military researchers have devoted considerable effort to harnessing the power of the human mind toward this goal. Those efforts exist as a testament to the belief that there exists a power that we are unable to measure or control.

The mustard seed example that Jesus used is foremost, an illustration of a power that is beyond human understanding. It is also a visual representation that humans can understand. It gives us a benchmark that we can use to understand the power of faith. Only in recent history have we discovered a contemporary example that helps us grasp that power.

The development of the atomic bomb during world war II was based on the incredible power contained in a single atom. Like the mustard seed which can produce an enormous plant, an atom of a radioactive substance can yield power dramatically greater than the size of the atom would suggest.

So, how does this fit into our search for faith?

The example of the mustard seed, provided by Jesus, was a representation that could be understood by the people of His time, yet would continue to be understood in our own time. If Jesus had spoken instead about the power of the atom, its meaning would have been lost to the people of 2,000 years ago. Only today, with our understanding of contemporary science, can we fully appreciate the concept of so much power being present in such a minute form.

As we search for a logical foundation for faith, we must ask ourselves, “Who but an emissary from God would have understood and had the insight to present the power of faith to the masses in a form they would understand?”

The fact that such potential exists in a seed or an atom is hard evidence that there are forces of nature that are beyond our ability to understand or duplicate. It is also hard evidence, even for those who use logic to doubt, that our existence, and the existence of our universe is no accident.

Just as humans existed for generations before harnessing the power of the atom, we have yet to learn to harness the power of faith. Perhaps, if we open our minds, we will recognize those miracles that occur when we tap into the slightest measure of the power of faith.

Perhaps only then will we glimpse the true power of faith.

 

God’s Favorite Church

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It almost seems like a competition.

Which church is “right?” Which church is most pleasing to God?

There is probably no topic more divisive than religion. Even within the family of Christian churches, there is an on-going debate over what is the “right” interpretation, which is the right denomination.

Each denomination has its own twist. Each seems to have its own element of scripture that determines the structure and focus of its rites and central message. Each has its own path to be followed. The spectrum ranges from the most humble mission in rural Africa to the prosperity preaching of today’s television congregations.

Perhaps most famously is the split between the Catholic Chuch and what became known as Lutheran. Each convinced that the other is on the wrong path. Yet, there are many others. The number of Protestant variations seems to be endless.

From another perspective, we see a vast variety of architectural styles in church buildings. Some of the most beautiful buildings in the world are dedicated to the Glory of God. Many of these structures are unparalleled works of art and stand as testaments to the dedication and sincere worship of the builders.

Or do they?

It almost appears that churches were in competition to see who could build the greater tribute to the Almighty – particularly in ancient Europe.

Whether it be architecture or interpretation, the question might be, is it praise, pride or profit that defines a Christian church today?  Do we, as flawed humans, distort the original message? Have we become so distracted by showmanship and feel-good messages that we have lost sight of the foundational message? Is the more ornate church structure favored by God?

Once we recognize that a “church” is not a structure or a particular philosophy, we can clear our vision a bit and understand that a “church” is actually a group of people who accept and act upon the core message of Christianity.

In that respect, the most ornate structure and ritual-filled church is no more pleasing to God than the most humble storefront worship center.

Perhaps God’s favorite church is just down the street from where you live.