Jesus, Provider and Sustainer

When communicating, it is recommended to never use absolutes such as "is that you always ..." or "is that you never ...", as they are statements that generally are untrue to reality. Therefore it is recommended to always make use of words or expressions that may be closer and more honest to reality such as: "sometimes you ..."

The Bible reminds us, however, that there is a place where we can confidently use an absolute: "My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19). Did you notice?, it says "all", and not only that, but the text also presents the arguments to support the word "all", "according to his riches." Not only here, but through all the Bible, through its pages, reminds us again and again that God cares for his children by providing them with all they need. Why so sure that God has such capacity?

As a fundamental argument, the Bible says that Jesus Christ is before creation, and in him its where it finds its origin, in him and for him (Colossians 1:16-17). That is, God is the absolute master of not only of our lives but also of the elements that make it possible. Our means, although we work hard for them, are not because of us for we are not owners or originators much less providers or rescuers of creation, attributes only of God. We just make use of the resources God has available for us to survive. From Genesis, where Jesus calls the Father and the Holy Spirit (Genesis 1:26 and John 1:3) to plan the origin of man, to Revelation, where Jesus Christ guarantees the definitive rescue of his children (Revelation 22:20), the entire Bible focuses on Jesus as the source and sustainer of the universe, and the rescueer of human beings.

If you notice, the Bible does not try to convince of this, it just tells us what it is. The existence of God is not subject to my appreciation and neither is its provision to sustain life. God does not condition the participation of the elements for life. He provides outside our recognition  (Matthew 5:45). To condition the provisions for life would confirm the accusation of Satan that God "buys" our loyalty (Job 1:9-10). The character of God does not allowed him to act in such a way. Instead, before we respond to his love, he gives it to us unconditionally.

From the beginning, man was put into a pre-designed ideal conditions to live and develop. Once those conditions passed the inspection of God (Genesis 1:25), man was placed in the middle of them. Thus, to evaluate our experience in this world, we must recognize that our understanding of things is dramatically limited compared to the vastness of God's existence.

The Bible also shows us the reason for the conditions prevailing today, despite that the universe bears witness to the greatness of God, it also reflects the intrusion of sin. The pain we observe and experience are consequences of a major conflict. But even there, in pain, God provides, God is still in control of the natural world, God still has the conditions to meet the needs of his children.

Creation and the Fall

HIV

A couple of days ago I came across an article that featured the works of artist Luke Jerram who had taken the time to make glass sculptures.

Looking at the different glass sculptures I was impressed with their beauty, in my opinion, that give a sense of delicacy and fine taste, until I started reading the article entitled: "The Unsettling Beauty of Lethal Viruses."  Yes, the artist took the time to recreate in glass lethal viruses such as HIV and Malaria. The artist explains the reaction of the different people that saw his art, some of them coming closer to appreciate their beauty, but stepping back with some level of fear or respect once they knew what they represented.

Malaria

The Bible states that sin, and its tragic consequences, was not presented to Eve as something lethal, but as something good, pleasant and desirable (Genesis 3:6). Under the idea of ​​achieving what Satan himself was looking for, to be like God (Genesis 3:5, Isaiah 14:14), Eva sacrificed her own freedom. If we pay attention, the prohibitions of God, protect our freedom. In Genesis 2:16 God said, "Of every tree of the garden you may eat." There was only a single tree they could not eat (v17), and the serpent was clever enough to focus Eves attention on the one thing Eva could not do, and forget about the many she could do, and felt "repressed".  Do you get it?  The DO NOT of God identifies the few things we can't do, so we can enjoy the many things we can do. For example, when God says: "You shall not commit adultery" (Exodus 20:14), He identifies the element that will bring unhappiness and threaten our freedom, and frees us to fully enjoy the many blessings of marriage. However, as in the past, Satan often manages to focus our concentration in the few No's, so we may forget the many Yes's, and thus leading us to feel imprisoned by the Law of Liberty that God gave us (James 2:10-12). Just as with the rest of the Commandments.

In this encounter between Eve and the serpent, a harmful and lethal feeling  aroused in humans, the ME feeling.  Satan wanted to be like God, to draw attention to himself, ignoring that God does not live for himself. The serpent managed to introduce a spirit Eva outside the kingdom that God directs. Now Eve, who until then lived for God and Adam (as Adam lived for God and Eve), began to focus on herself. She began to covet all the benefits that eating from the forbidden tree would bring to her alone. She forgot about God and Adam and concentrated on herself. Get it? The number one enemy of any relationships, including marriage, is the ME approach. Marriages where its members live for themselves, are bound to fail, because they are going against the eternal principles of God's kingdom and being deceived by Satan and his ruined kingdom.  It frightens to think on the capacity of our self-centeredness, which has perpetuated through history much suffering: war, injustice, greed, abuse, murder, and the list is long.

However, the biblical record is not as interested in emphasizing our shortcomings as to exalt God's love. In math we find the law that, in addition and multiplication "the order of the factors does not change the product," as well as 2 + 3 = 5, 3 + 2 = 5 also. However, in the plan of salvation is not. In the plan of salvation does matter the order of the factors, as these do affect the product. In the Divine formula, Grace + judgment = Gospel. God is not interested in punishing us for our sins, but to rescue us from them. The accuser is Satan (Revelation 12:10, Zechariah 3:1) who installs the same spirit in us.

Yes, the Bible speaks of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. However, its priority is to let us know of the love and grace of God that "gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). That is the wish of God, the promise, that when you believe there is no condemnation for us (Romans 8:1), but eternal life (Matthew 25:34).

Creation and Morality

Do you remember the miners trapped in the San José mine in Chile? I remember following the story, along with my wife, since the collapse of the mine broke the news until the last of the miners was rescued. It was pretty impressive to follow the development of the story day by day with our emotions, not only from us but from society in general, on a roller coaster as witness of the progress, welcoming with joy every good news, but also with anxiety by ignoring what would happen next. By the end of the rescue operation, it is estimated an audience of over a billion people around the world, all hoping for a happy ending.

As humans, what makes us differentiate between right and wrong? In regard to the story cited in this commentary, where did the feelings of compassion, hope and joy of the successful rescue of each of the miners come from?  Why we wanted, despite belonging to different countries, and in many cases to different cultures and ethnicity, the preservation of their lives?

As a society we have identified certain rights belonging to every human being. Who decided them? Or are they already "installed in our system"? The Bible teaches that the human being, from its creation, was provided with certain privileges identified and defined, in Genesis, at least, to govern the rest of the species created by God, administer and use of land resources, the ability to form one flesh between a man and a woman, the capacity to reproduce, and the ability to decide.

With the freedom to choose, man was exposed, as a result of the conflict generated at the universal level by the complaints of Satan against the government of God, to know and choose the good, in other words, humans were created morally intelligent and free. Having said that, the fact that it was morally intelligent and free does not mean that was created foreign of the consequences of their decisions.  Yes, we are free to choos, but subject to the consequences of our decisions (Ecclesiastes 11:9).

Although free individuals, the Bible reminds us that we are not really ours. We were created so we have acquired a responsibility in relation to the role for which we were created, as individuals and in our relationships with others. Christ summarized it as follows: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your mind. 'This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it:' Love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets "(Matthew 22:37-40).

We are aware of what is good and what is bad, not by ourselves in an evolutionary process, a process exempt to the other spices. We were created with that ability. We know our responsibility toward God as a result of our creation, and our responsibility to the good of others. To mistreat ourselves physical, mental, social or spiritual is to abuse God's creation. Similarly, to physically abuse mentally, socially or spiritually others, including our enemies, is also mistreating God's creation. By acknowledging my origins and my freedom, as any other human being, implies, then, to recognize the responsibility for the welfare of my fellow man.

The famous statement of Jesus in Matthew 5:44-48, to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect, is given in the context of the love due to our neighbor including our enemies, as Christ did (Romans 5:10). Christ did not return a favor to a human initiative through his rescue, but being "still sinners" he generated avenues for our salvation.  In the same way, God did not create us to live for ourselves, a well documented concept in His Word were specifies the tremendous impact in our eternal life.

As human beings we can differentiate wrong from right. When we recognize our origin  we understand the source of the feelings towards good, and we understand why, despite knowing good from evil, we tend towards evil. The Bible is clear, to do good is not the human product, is a divine gift. From this perspective, and aware of the process of salvation, through faith in the context of grace, it highlights our interaction towards the totality of God's creation as external evidence of our internal decision to be to the likeness of God .

Read:

• Genesis 2:16, 17
• Genesis 1:26-28
• James 3:9
• Acts 17:26
• Proverbs 14:31
• Matthew 5:44-48
• Revelation 20:11-13

Creation, a Biblical Theme

I like, as part of my personal devotion, to keep a spiritual diary where I write my reactions and conclusions after reading the assigned passage for the day. A few days ago I was reviewing these diaries dated back to 1997, when I first started my ministry as a pastor. While reading and analyzing the thoughts written back then, I found that, in fact, time helps us change and mature... Through the years, experiences, tears and joys, I've matured many of the conclusions held back then and advanced in my knowledge, something that, I guess, you have notice in your personal life too.

When I read the Bible's first words: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth", I find throughout Scripture, in a total of 66 books, more than 40 authors inspired by the Holy Spirit, and in a period of 1,500 years, that it maintains the same version in regards our origins. It has not had the need to mature or adjust its version, but from the very beginning has remained intact, unlike the versions that exclude God as the designer and originator of life, which have had to rethink, adjust and modify positions.

The Bible consistently affirms and reaffirms the reason for our existence as a species and as individuals. Through its pages, like a golden thread, from time to time reminds us where we came from so we can understand where we are going. It is therefore, the Genesis record of our origins, a defense of the foundation in which rests the rest of Scripture. Jesus himself pointed to it not needing to change, add, or adjust anything.

Are we really able to scientifically understand all the mysteries of life, the earth and the universe? As human beings, our reckless ignorance has led us to believe that with just scratching the surface enclosing the mysteries of life, the earth and the universe is sufficient argument to reach conclusions, against the scientific method, to exclude the design and power of God.

On the other hand, the claims of the Bible as the Word of God are reaffirmed by history, and the consistency of arguments and interpretations through its pages on the origin of species. How to explain this consistency? Undoubtedly the Genesis version of our origins is not the result of someone's curiosity or insomnia, but the revelation of God of his own creative work.

Regardless of our philosophical trend in regards of life, we have a common starting point: we exist. We can not deny it, and does not require science to prove it. In honesty, from any perspective desired, to explain the beginning of life requires an act beyond of what we have observed and experienced.  And that's why science does not excludes God, but human beings do. The miracle of life, and the conditions beyond our immediate context that allows it helps us identifies our origin and originator. Thus, the biblical record is consistent with the testimony of nature.

To read:

• Genesis 1 and 2
• Job 38:1-21
• Job 42:1-6
• Psalm 8; 24:1,2, 33:6, 74:16,17, 89:11
• Isaiah 44:24, 45:12
• Jeremiah 51:15,16
• Amos 4:13
• Zechariah 12:1
• Matthew 19:4-6
• John 1:9
• Acts 17:22-31
• Revelation 4:11; 10:5,6

The Creation Completed

As a teenager I had the opportunity to learn to play the French horn. Being my mother a music teacher, I was able to advance in my learning and execution of the instrument which gave me the privilege of belonging, as a teenager, to the symphonic band of the university where my parents worked. I had to go out to different tours and even play at the 1990 General Association Session of Seventh-day Adventists held in the Indianapolis Colts stadium (RCA Dome back then).

I remember on one occasion, during practice, I made a few improvised modifications while playing our part. My instrument partner to my right, who was the second horn (I was third horn), confronted me nicely but firmly. He asked, "Do you think you're smarter than the composer?" To which I replied: "No." "Play then", he continued, "what is in the music score. "

The Bible says that "on the seventh day God finished his work which he had made" (Gen. 2:1-2). The text is emphatic and categorical. Makes it clear that after God completed his work, there was no need to add anything more. The work done during six days, of darkness and light each, the conditioning of the planet as well as the population of the same, was defined entirely so the text does not give space to suggest an evolutionary process from simple forms or from a common specie. In the brief biblical account of origins, as the Bible devotes the great majority of its message to inform us of the reality of our salvation, it points to the diversity of animals, of land and water, and birds created during the creation week.

Although nature presents the capacity of living organisms to adapt to different environments and natural contexts (micro evolution), the limited physical capacity of modification within a species to adapt to environmental challenges, does not give us evidence to conclude on the generation of different new species evolved from other species (macro-evolution). You and I have seen an orange tree producing oranges,  elephants which give birth to elephants, but never horses from onions.

From the complexity of the organism and its ability to survive in its environment points to a design. Assuming that through a macro evolutionary process came into existence all organisms on the planet is totally contrary to our observation and experience. We observed that life comes from life, why should we, then, assume that at one point in the history life came from no life (abiogenesis)? We've never seen it! And even the experiments that simulate the supposed conditions where life was supposedly generated, all required intelligence, why then would we assume that there is no intelligence behind life on this planet?

Assuming, based only through a logical perspective and experience of every living thing, many millions of years ago, by chance, the conditions were placed to, suddenly, emerge life. But not only that ... Life had to emerge long enough to develop a system for auto-reproduction. Logic as may seem the arguments of the Origin of Species without the intervention of an intelligent being, its foundation, the primary source of life, is totally illogical and fanciful, where have we observed this phenomenon? Because I've seen enough of life that comes from life, and that of an apple tree gives apples.

Following the previous assumption, that organism that came out of nowhere, and lived long enough to develop, through an evolutionary process, a system to auto-reproduce, after many years, the desired amount of years, developed a system which requires two organisms of the same species with different genetic and physical conditions to reproduce life. However, it took millions of years for that system to actually work. Meanwhile, the developing reproductive systems served for other purposes... Really?

In his infinite wisdom, God established, putting himself as an example, a sanctified and blessed system that would allow us human being, through our existence, to reaffirming our origin and originator (Gen. 2:1-3, Mark 2:27). From this perspective, the observance of the seventh day is not only a matter of doctrine, is a weekly exercise of alignment and loyalty where we recognize (Ex. 20:8, 11) our beginnings  Today, in the midst of a world in sin, through the keeping of the Seventh-day, we are reaffirmed in acknowledging where we come from, we are defined today in acknowledging who we are, and we are projected into the future, acknowledging our destination. God provided a twenty-four hour date, every seven days, to allow us to come boldly (Heb. 4:16) to him to rest in sanctification and blessing.

Forming the World

Sitting in my office, writing this review, I look around me and I realize that everything I own was designed and created for a specific purpose: The books, pencils, stapler, computer, telephone, paperweights, the printer, the desk, the desk drawers, the trash can, envelopes, sheets (letter and legal size), the clips, the big year calendar on the wall, the door, windows, blinds. Everything to make my work possible.

By observing the natural world, the balanced interdependence of the various elements that make this possible, we discover that undoubtedly was conditioned to allow not only life, but to allow its full development. Not that life has gradually adapted for long periods of time to previous existing conditions, but that conditions, the Bible assures us, were set for life to be possible (Gen. 1.3-13).

No such coordination of conditions could be attributed to coincidence for this is mathematically impossible. Isaiah 45:18 tells us that God, without sharing responsibility, formed, made, and established (NKJV) the earth with a clear idea to be inhabited.  From the creation light, essential for the development of life, to the conditions generated by the atmosphere, the allocation of rocks to keep the waters in its place, to the diversity of plants that together provide the nutrition for our healthy development, the hand of the Creator can be seen.

If we assume the origins through evolution, why would life need conditions so defined? If we are true and consistent with the idea of evolution, life could occur anywhere and adapt to any condition. Therefore, by recognizing that life requires certain environmental specifications, shouldn't we accept the fact of a deliberate design, though the intervention of a higher being?

With the desire to exclude God from the obvious, man has developed alternative stories relating to our origins such as natural selection, where the strongest survive over the weakest. Christ, on the other hand, advocates for the weak: "the poor in spirit", "those who mourn", "the meek", "those who hunger and thirst for righteousness," "the pure in heart", "the Peacemakers "," those who are persecuted."  In addressing this disparity of the versions of the origins, there cannot be a relative truth where everyone has the freedom to choose ones truth... In actuality, there is only one absolute truth, and the individual has the option to accept it or reject it.

The difference of philosophies of life that ramifies from the acceptance or rejection of this truth is abysmal and marks in definitive our worldview and behavior. For those who are consistent with the testimony of nature, the sacred text reminds us, "worship him that made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water" (Rev. 14:7), for "God said", because his word is power; "God saw", because what God does is good; "God called", because God is the creator, therefore, the owner.

"Remember your Creator in the days of your youth" (Ecclesiastes 12:1)

Creator of Heaven and Earth

There has been times in which I get home late and, passing through the kitchen to leave the keys, I see a chocolate cake on the kitchen table.  My first thought and conclusion, not giving it to much analysis, can be summarized in four words: "My wife made it".  If I wanted to explain the cake's existence without the intervention of my wife, and even more, without the intervention of an intelligent design/designer, I would then need to write an encyclopedia, a couple of doctorate degrees, and the help of a couple millions of years to explain in logical terms the emergence and development of the elements that made possible the beginning, development and finished product of the cake as it is.

When we consider infinitely more complex things than a chocolate cake, such as the universe and everything within, the Bible uses only ten words (seven in the original Hebrew): "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Gn 1:1).  There is no need of further arguments.  It is so obvious: "The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork" (Ps 19:1).  The following verses of the first and second chapter of Genesis focus to build the information on the obvious conclusion that there is someone (God) behind the existence of the cosmos.

Richard Dawkins, and atheist thinker and writer, begins his book, The God Delusion, in the section where the book is dedicated, quoting Douglas Adams (1952-2001): "Isn't enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?"  But, wouldn't it be even more fairytalish, while enjoying the beauty of the Keukenhof garden, in the Netherlands, to think that it became from nothing and purely by chance, without the intervention of any intelligence?

When we continue observing and discovering the complexity of life, intuition, logic and reason tells us that there must be intelligence in the design and origin of the universe and life. The desire to exclude God from our origins has led man to reach conclusions contrary to natural laws observed and experienced unaware that God's existence is not pending human recognition.

Nature cries aloud the existence of a God; the Bible identifies him.  It is Jesus himself, God with us, the Word made flesh, who spoke, and it was done (Ps. 33:9, Jn. 1:3, Col. 1:16), our representative and mediator. Yes, Jesus, who was born and was physically present among us, who died and rose again and invites us to come boldly to His presence (Heb. 4:16).