Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. (Matthew 7:7-8, NIV)
One of the questions that often confronts us as Christians is, "What about (fill in the blank) who never even heard of Jesus Christ? Will that person simply be condemned to Hell?" The short answer is no, God will not unjustly condemn anyone to Hell. The long answer is, well, longer.
Salvation comes through the person of Jesus Christ, period. There is no other path through which one can enter into the presence of God. Jesus clearly stated this fact in John 14:6 when he said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (NIV) So what about someone who has never heard about Jesus of Nazareth?
In the first chapter of Romans, verse 20, the Apostle Paul makes the statement, "For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." (NIV) The idea Paul is expressing here is that God is so evident within His creation, His existence is irrefutable. Therefore anyone who has experienced God's creation understands God's existence. Since everyone knows and understands God's existence, there is no excuse for not seeking God.
A sparrow does not fall to the ground that God does not know it. The scriptures declare that God has even numbered the hairs on our heads. (And for some of us it is getting easier every year for God to count that number, but that's the subject of another posting.) If God is that aware of His creation, then God knows the heart that is truly seeking him.
I think in part what Jesus was telling us in the seventh chapter of Matthew is that God will find a way to fully reveal Himself to anyone who is truly seeking Him. How God reaches that person with the message of the gospel, I do not know, but I do know He will.
Even in our fallen condition, we are still created in the image and likeness of God. Even in our fallen condition we still have a special place in God's heart. We know this because while we were yet sinners, Jesus died for us.
For that person who has never heard about Jesus of Nazareth? God will find a way to reach that person. After all, He found a way to reach me.
John
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
It's not my fault
Well actually it is, but isn't that what everyone usually says?
Here's the situation. Microsoft Outlook blew up today. Without going into a lot of boring details, most of which I really don't understand, the "outlook.pst" folder managed to get it self corrupted. It's there. I know it's there because all the emails I keep stored there are, well, there. But Outlook can't seem to find it so there is no place to post new (read incoming) emails.
I know what the problem is. It is too full. I have become very good at ignoring my emails over the past few months, and I decided today would be a good day to start cleaning them up. I managed to load almost 8,000 of those pesky little notes into the "Deleted Items" folder. I don't know this for certain, but I am guessing that the limit of emails that folder can safely hold is just under 7,500. I am also guessing that Microsoft estimated that no one in their right mind (a group that clearly includes me) would ever let their "Deleted Items" folder get that full. When it does, the "outlook.pst" folder blows up, and Outlook blows up, and I not longer have the ability to handle my email, which if I had been doing all along, I wouldn't be in this position.
That's the part that's my fault.
What upsets me is that I just got off the phone with one of those pay-as-you-go techincal support places, since my current computer is older than dirt. (In computer jargon that means it was purchased sometime prior to yesterday.) The fee for 30 minutes of world class technical support was $50.00, and guess what -- 30 minutes is the minimum you can purchase.
The technician spend most of the time reading from the same Microsoft webpages I had already read. He very competently told me to take all the steps I had already taken. And with a remarkable degree of self confidence he told me after none of those steps worked, I needed to remove Outlook and reload it, which I had already concluded. The reason I called an expert was to see if there was something I missed or some proceedure I didn't know about. Evidently there was not.
To his credit, he managed to run my 30 minutes in such a way that after about 45 minutes on the phone, I still had 15 minutes of support time left. He offered to let me call him back to use that 15 minutes so he could tell me to remove Outlook, insert the CD into my CD-ROM drive, and reinstall Outlook. But there is a problem. My CD-ROM drive is broken. So I guess I need to call him back to tell him that, so he can take some of my remaining minutes to tell me I need to replace my CD-ROM drive.
So the part that is not my fault is the fact that I never realized you could actually get people to pay to tell them something they already knew and to give you the money for that information before they get it.
Did I mention I was learning how to use Outlook Express?
John
Here's the situation. Microsoft Outlook blew up today. Without going into a lot of boring details, most of which I really don't understand, the "outlook.pst" folder managed to get it self corrupted. It's there. I know it's there because all the emails I keep stored there are, well, there. But Outlook can't seem to find it so there is no place to post new (read incoming) emails.
I know what the problem is. It is too full. I have become very good at ignoring my emails over the past few months, and I decided today would be a good day to start cleaning them up. I managed to load almost 8,000 of those pesky little notes into the "Deleted Items" folder. I don't know this for certain, but I am guessing that the limit of emails that folder can safely hold is just under 7,500. I am also guessing that Microsoft estimated that no one in their right mind (a group that clearly includes me) would ever let their "Deleted Items" folder get that full. When it does, the "outlook.pst" folder blows up, and Outlook blows up, and I not longer have the ability to handle my email, which if I had been doing all along, I wouldn't be in this position.
That's the part that's my fault.
What upsets me is that I just got off the phone with one of those pay-as-you-go techincal support places, since my current computer is older than dirt. (In computer jargon that means it was purchased sometime prior to yesterday.) The fee for 30 minutes of world class technical support was $50.00, and guess what -- 30 minutes is the minimum you can purchase.
The technician spend most of the time reading from the same Microsoft webpages I had already read. He very competently told me to take all the steps I had already taken. And with a remarkable degree of self confidence he told me after none of those steps worked, I needed to remove Outlook and reload it, which I had already concluded. The reason I called an expert was to see if there was something I missed or some proceedure I didn't know about. Evidently there was not.
To his credit, he managed to run my 30 minutes in such a way that after about 45 minutes on the phone, I still had 15 minutes of support time left. He offered to let me call him back to use that 15 minutes so he could tell me to remove Outlook, insert the CD into my CD-ROM drive, and reinstall Outlook. But there is a problem. My CD-ROM drive is broken. So I guess I need to call him back to tell him that, so he can take some of my remaining minutes to tell me I need to replace my CD-ROM drive.
So the part that is not my fault is the fact that I never realized you could actually get people to pay to tell them something they already knew and to give you the money for that information before they get it.
Did I mention I was learning how to use Outlook Express?
John
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
What would Tom say?
I've recently seen the Democrat leadership, and by that I mean President Obama, Representative Pelosi, and Senator Reid, speak up about those Americans who are expressing opposition to proposed reforms to our health care system. These leaders are calling their fellow citizens evil, disruptive, and an anti-American mob. I find it curious that all of a sudden, expressing one's opinion in opposition to the government makes one unpatriotic, un-American, and evil. I also wonder what this group of stalwart Americans would think of another group of Americans who stood in opposition to a government that, in their opinion, had become intolerable.
Two-hundred-thirty-three years ago, a group of about 56 Americans sat assembled to debate what the future of this country would be. They had tasked five of their members to draft a declaration of independence from Great Britain. These five men, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston, asked Mr. Jefferson to draft a document that ultimately became known as The Declaration of Independence.
I wonder if Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid share the same opinion of those Americans then as they do of their fellow Americans today. After all, the country was divided over the issue of independence. There was even division within the Continental Congress over whether independence was the proper course for the future of this country.
My question to those who demean their fellow Americans for standing in opposition to what their government wants to do; who call those who oppose them evil, un-American, and unpatriotic; and who would try to silence their opponents by any means necessary is this: Were any of our founding fathers evil for opposing the British crown? Were they unpatriotic? Were they un-American? Or did they establish the ideal that when good men and women believe they see their government heading a wrong direction, they have the right to voice that opinion without fear of reprisal from their government leaders?
In 1776 the members of the Continental Congress -- the de facto leaders of the United States of America -- signed The Declaration of Independence. They knew that by so doing, if they failed, their lives would be forfeit, and they knew that failure was the most likely outcome. Yet in spite of that they boldly went forward to establish this country and to lay a foundation that has made this country the greatest country on earth.
In the 233 years since those men in the Continental Congress adopted The Declaration of Independence, untold numbers of Americans have fought and died in defense of the ideals that those men embraced. When Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid condemn their fellow Americans as evil, unpatriotic, and un-American for simply disagreeing with them, and expressing that disagreement, they not only undermine everything this country stands for, but they also betray their oaths of office to support the Constitution of the United States of America.
For such arrogance, these leaders owe an apology, not only to the people of this country, but to our founding fathers as well.
John
Two-hundred-thirty-three years ago, a group of about 56 Americans sat assembled to debate what the future of this country would be. They had tasked five of their members to draft a declaration of independence from Great Britain. These five men, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston, asked Mr. Jefferson to draft a document that ultimately became known as The Declaration of Independence.
I wonder if Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid share the same opinion of those Americans then as they do of their fellow Americans today. After all, the country was divided over the issue of independence. There was even division within the Continental Congress over whether independence was the proper course for the future of this country.
My question to those who demean their fellow Americans for standing in opposition to what their government wants to do; who call those who oppose them evil, un-American, and unpatriotic; and who would try to silence their opponents by any means necessary is this: Were any of our founding fathers evil for opposing the British crown? Were they unpatriotic? Were they un-American? Or did they establish the ideal that when good men and women believe they see their government heading a wrong direction, they have the right to voice that opinion without fear of reprisal from their government leaders?
In 1776 the members of the Continental Congress -- the de facto leaders of the United States of America -- signed The Declaration of Independence. They knew that by so doing, if they failed, their lives would be forfeit, and they knew that failure was the most likely outcome. Yet in spite of that they boldly went forward to establish this country and to lay a foundation that has made this country the greatest country on earth.
In the 233 years since those men in the Continental Congress adopted The Declaration of Independence, untold numbers of Americans have fought and died in defense of the ideals that those men embraced. When Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid condemn their fellow Americans as evil, unpatriotic, and un-American for simply disagreeing with them, and expressing that disagreement, they not only undermine everything this country stands for, but they also betray their oaths of office to support the Constitution of the United States of America.
For such arrogance, these leaders owe an apology, not only to the people of this country, but to our founding fathers as well.
John
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Welcome To My World
This is just a beginning. My hopes for this place is to provide an outlet for my more (or less) creative side and to find an excuse to write. By write I mean putting words on paper -- so to speak -- regardless of whether they make sense. I hope for my sake, and the sake of anyone desperate enough to actually find this drival, that these strings of words make more sense than not.
I intend to delve into some Bible exposition -- I am a minister of the Gospel and co-pastor of a church.
I intend to delve into some political thought -- I am also an opinionated minister of the Gospel.
I will post my observations and musings on the meaning of life, the universe, and everything (with apologies to Douglas Adams).
I might even try to put some of my other writing interests here: short prose, not-so-short fiction, and oh-my-God-he-is-writing poetry.
Good luck to any who find me, and to those of you who will try to understand me, I will be praying for you.
John
I intend to delve into some Bible exposition -- I am a minister of the Gospel and co-pastor of a church.
I intend to delve into some political thought -- I am also an opinionated minister of the Gospel.
I will post my observations and musings on the meaning of life, the universe, and everything (with apologies to Douglas Adams).
I might even try to put some of my other writing interests here: short prose, not-so-short fiction, and oh-my-God-he-is-writing poetry.
Good luck to any who find me, and to those of you who will try to understand me, I will be praying for you.
John
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