The roaring lion, the jumping antelope, the grass growing, the chirping birds, the thorn tree in the whistling savannah, the giraffe taking water up its long neck, the domineering elephant, the swimming fish, the spectacular wildebeeste, the striped zebra, the pink flamingos, and the man watching.
"It just happened, by accident," says the man
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Too much ado over something
Presence of words emphasizing the role of "evil" in the world in major
post-9/11 speeches by President Bush and in major newspaper editorials
following the speeches.
(Source)
Religion today plays a subtle but deeply significant role in politics, the economy and social life than we care to imagine. Why, for example, do most people work five days a week rather than six or seven? Why does the Middle East remain such a tinderbox? Why is Uncle Sam chasing shadows in the name of fighting terror? Why do some countries care more about nature than others? Why is Sudan divided between the north and south? Why did Pakistan and India separate?
There may be many answers to these questions, but I submit that religion is at the core of them. Followed to their conclusion, religion appears in most answers. In Christianity, a major player in world politics today, worship is the main issue, and it has a lot to do with a day.
No day has been argued over and debated as hotly as the seventh day of the week. Innocently passing every week, the 24-hour period remains oblivious of the great controversy surrounding its observance in honor of the Creator.
There are only two kinds of people in this debate: Sabbath keepers and non-sabbath keepers. Others refer to the two groups as 'sabbatarians' and 'non-sabbatarians'. Seventh-day Adventists and Jews fall in the group of sabbatarians. All others, including atheists, fall in the second group.
I had promised to explain which church Christ would have most probably belonged today. That church is the Seventh-day Adventist church.
I will quote from EG White's Medical Ministry "Christ was a Seventh-day Adventist, to all intents and purposes. It was He who called Moses into the mount and gave him instruction for His people.... In awful grandeur Christ made known the law of Jehovah, giving, among other charges, this charge: 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.'"
It is a startling statement, given that the SDA church was established in 1863. But the understanding is in the words "to all intents and purposes". It means for all practical purposes, or in every practical sense. Since Christ did not abrogate or repeal the Sabbath law, it remains valid to date. There is no place in the scriptures showing He called for Sunday worship as practised by Protestants and the children of Rome. In effect, Sunday worship is man's invention, not God's law., which is ironical given that Sunday worship is allegedly in God's honor.
For details of how Sunday became a day of worship, and why 'Protestants' would rather join Rome in condemning the SDA church than admit their error, please click here.
It is not easy being SDA. I do not think it's ever been, for Christ Himself withstood many taunts, ridicule and outright opposition, leading to his crucifixion. There are many things Christ did that attracted this kind of treatment, yet this post will focus on the Sabbath part.
"The name Seventh-day Adventist is a standing rebuke to the Protestant world," so wrote EG White in Testimonies for the Church, Vol 1, pg 223. It is ironical that among the most strident critics of the Adventist Church are protestants. Perhaps inadvertently, they have joined forces with Rome to trample underfoot the express command of God to keep the seventh day of the week holy in His honor.
If history is anything to go by, religion will play a more and more significant role in public and private life until the end of the world. Indeed, religion itself will be the cause and effect of the end of the world.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Only two kinds of people
The world is made up of only two kinds of people: those who think the world is made up of two kinds of people, and those who don't. That's a quotable quote from a sage whose name I no longer remember.
Yesterday, I heard a similar line from a preacher who gave a very serious message. In Gen 12, God calls out Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees to a land where He would show him, to make his name great and to bless the whole world through him, to bless those who bless Abraham, to curse those who curse him.
That means two kinds of people: those called out and those not called out, those who bless Abraham and those who curse him, those blessed through him and those who are not.
Spiritually, it has always been two kinds of people from the very beginning. In Gen 4, we see Abel and Cain giving offerings to God. Cain offers 'fruit of the ground' and Abel offers the 'firstlings of his flock'. God accepts Abel's sacrifice, and rejects Cain's.
Two kinds of people: those whose worship God accepts, and those whose worship He rejects.
In Exodus, we see God giving his law to the Israelites then declaring them a special people. Paul in Rom 3 argues that they were not special because of anything, but simply because they were the depositories of the 'oracles of God'.
Two kinds of people: those to whom were committed the oracles of God, and those to whom they were supposed to be examples. Jews, Gentiles. Paul breaks it down even further in Rom 1 and Rom 2 into the circumcised and the uncircumcised.
Yet we know that God rejected Israel when the nation proved too stiff-necked and rebellious. God then called out the Gentiles and made them like the new Israel. According to Paul, He grafted Gentiles into the branches He had cut off.
Again, two kinds of people; first, those chosen to be the depositories of God's oracles, those not chosen; those rejected, those accepted; those grafted in, those cut off.
According to Ellen G White, "Seventh-day Adventists have been chosen by God as a peculiar people, separate from the world. By the great cleaver of truth He has cut them out from the quarry of the world, and brought them into connection with Himself. He has made them His representatives, and has called them to be ambassadors for Him in the last work of salvation. The greatest wealth of truth ever entrusted to mortals, the most solemn and fearful warnings ever sent by God to man, have been committed to them to be given to the world; and in the accomplishment of this work our publishing houses are among the most effective agencies. . . ."
Again, two kinds of people: those chosen by God as a peculiar people separate from the world, and those in the world.
Are Jews better than other people? Put another way, are Gentiles worse than Jews? Incidentally, Paul asks the very same question in Rom 3, the passage linked above. Today, one might ask, are people of my church better than those in other churches? One might ask, are Seventh-day Adventists better than other Christians?
(In response to that question, the preacher made a startling statement, whose import I'll discuss in the next post, including the church where Christ would have most likely been a member).
Yesterday, I heard a similar line from a preacher who gave a very serious message. In Gen 12, God calls out Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees to a land where He would show him, to make his name great and to bless the whole world through him, to bless those who bless Abraham, to curse those who curse him.
That means two kinds of people: those called out and those not called out, those who bless Abraham and those who curse him, those blessed through him and those who are not.
Spiritually, it has always been two kinds of people from the very beginning. In Gen 4, we see Abel and Cain giving offerings to God. Cain offers 'fruit of the ground' and Abel offers the 'firstlings of his flock'. God accepts Abel's sacrifice, and rejects Cain's.
Two kinds of people: those whose worship God accepts, and those whose worship He rejects.
In Exodus, we see God giving his law to the Israelites then declaring them a special people. Paul in Rom 3 argues that they were not special because of anything, but simply because they were the depositories of the 'oracles of God'.
Two kinds of people: those to whom were committed the oracles of God, and those to whom they were supposed to be examples. Jews, Gentiles. Paul breaks it down even further in Rom 1 and Rom 2 into the circumcised and the uncircumcised.
Yet we know that God rejected Israel when the nation proved too stiff-necked and rebellious. God then called out the Gentiles and made them like the new Israel. According to Paul, He grafted Gentiles into the branches He had cut off.
Again, two kinds of people; first, those chosen to be the depositories of God's oracles, those not chosen; those rejected, those accepted; those grafted in, those cut off.
According to Ellen G White, "Seventh-day Adventists have been chosen by God as a peculiar people, separate from the world. By the great cleaver of truth He has cut them out from the quarry of the world, and brought them into connection with Himself. He has made them His representatives, and has called them to be ambassadors for Him in the last work of salvation. The greatest wealth of truth ever entrusted to mortals, the most solemn and fearful warnings ever sent by God to man, have been committed to them to be given to the world; and in the accomplishment of this work our publishing houses are among the most effective agencies. . . ."
Again, two kinds of people: those chosen by God as a peculiar people separate from the world, and those in the world.
Are Jews better than other people? Put another way, are Gentiles worse than Jews? Incidentally, Paul asks the very same question in Rom 3, the passage linked above. Today, one might ask, are people of my church better than those in other churches? One might ask, are Seventh-day Adventists better than other Christians?
(In response to that question, the preacher made a startling statement, whose import I'll discuss in the next post, including the church where Christ would have most likely been a member).
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