Lazy Sunday Afternoon

As my lazy Sunday afternoon draws to a close, I sit down to reflect on it.  First off, my kind of Sunday afternoon is one where I can be lazy.  It involves lying down with a book, playing a game with the family, watching a movie with the family, and above all drinking a cup of hot tea or coffee.  As spring and summer make their presence known, I suppose I will have to change that to a tall glass of iced tea or coffee, but I digress.  Sunday is that day of the week were we can just pause.  For my family we begin it by going to church in the morning and then finish it by coming home, eating lunch and then relaxing.  Sandwiched in between a previous week of busyness and a coming week of busyness, Sunday stands alone.  It isn't a "me" time though, it is a God time.  While it may seem like we restrict our God time to church in the morning, my family does carry that into the rest of the day as we spend time together as a family.
Treasure those Sundays of worship and rest.  Treasure those Sundays of family time.  You are blessed to have them.

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

One Worn Girl

My favorite phrase this last semester has been "I'm tired of being tired."  These last two weeks have found me using that phrase a lot more as I prepared for my most difficult Anatomy and Physiology test.  Another favorite phrase was "I'm nervous about the nervous system."  Yesterday I finally got that test over and I am even pretty sure that I did well on it.  After days of studying, that relieves me.  Now though, in the aftermath of the test, I find myself more tired then I have ever been.  I just want to lie down and sleep for a week.  I want never to look at another text book or stare at another image of the eyeball.  However, there is always another test and always will be.  Even when I am graduated from high school and college there will still be tests in my life.  Of course these tests will not be of the same kind but will be tests of my perseverance and faith, tests that could probably have more devastating consequences if I fail them then my present school tests.  So no matter how worn I am, I must keep going.  If I can't finish the race and get past one test, then I am going to have a hard time in my later life passing life's tests.  Therefore, I must, "...press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:14)

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

Glorify God and Enjoy Him Forever

Americans are so full of themselves nowadays that the concept of glorifying or enjoying anyone besides themselves would sound ludicrous to them.  However, as Christians, it should be our life's goal to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.  1 Corinthians 10:31 says, "Whether then you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."  So not just in a few things should we be glorifying and enjoying God but in everything.  We are to do ALL to the glory of God.  It is hard for us (including me) to see that in a world of ME but it is something we must learn to see.  There is NO reason we should be proud and arrogant, full of ourselves.  We should be humbled by the overwhelming knowledge that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8) and that nothing we do can ever set us higher in God's eyes for by faith we are saved, not through our works (James 2). 
I remember the line from Stuart Towends's song, "How deep the Father's love for us, how vast beyond all measure. That He should give His only Son, to make a wretch a treasure."

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

Wisdom

A friend once told me that wisdom is experience, which I think is a good simple example but one that definitely needs to be expanded on.  What is wisdom,  why should you want wisdom, and how do you obtain wisdom?  Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, these three questions all intertwine.

Wisdom, according to the dictionary is, "The quality of having experience (as mentioned before), knowledge, and good judgement."   That is more or less the definition also given in the Bible.  However, there still is a difference between what the world calls wisdom, and God calls wisdom.  Several times throughout the Bible the differences between the wisdom of this world and the wisdom of God are shown. In 1 Corinthians 1:20 Paul writes, "Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?"  In Chapter 3 of the same book in verse 19 Paul writes, "For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God."  So we can see what the wisdom of this world is, foolishness, but what is the wisdom of God like?  1 Corinthians 2:6-8 says, "Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory..."  God's wisdom is something we cannot understand, it is mysterious and unknown.  Romans 11:53 reiterates this giving more insight, "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!"  What are the limits to God's wisdom?  There are no limits; they are unfathomable!  Solomon was the wisest man ever to live but did he have limits? Yes.  God is not like man; His wisdom has NO boundries. In Ephesians 9:10 it mentions the "...manifold wisdom of God..."  Manifold, numerous, how great is the wisdom of our God!

So now that you understand what wisdom is, why do you want wisdom?  Proverbs 1:7 says- "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction." It is obvious from this verse that as Christians we are called to pursue knowledge.  If we do not we are fools, and nobody wants to be a fool.  In Chapter 13 of Proverbs it talks about how blessed a man is who finds wisdom and how wisdom is better then precious jewels and nothing compares with it.  
 How does one obtain wisdom? The short answer is in Proverbs 2:6 where the Bible says that the Lord gives wisdom.  James 1:5 says, "But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him."  In John it says "ask and you shall receive."

Now you know what wisdom is, Godly wisdom, you know why you should want wisdom, so we aren't fools, and now you know how to obtain wisdom, through God.  Broken down it all looks so simple but as you and I know the Christian's walk isn't simple.  It is all very well for you to read this (or for me to write this) but it is the action that really counts.  Wisdom isn't easy, I know, but through God, all things are possible.  

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

The Ultimate Proof of Creation

This is a great video that puts Evolution to the test with the presuppositional apologetics method.  It is a long video but well worth the watch.  Please comment with your thoughts as I am always interested in what my readers have to say (though I know there isn't much I wrote for this post, it is the video you should be looking at).

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

Beautiful

Have you ever had someone call you beautiful?  I have had it several times from my Dad.  He seems to believe the more times he tells me the more beautiful I get; he is woefully mistaken.  Now I am sure when whoever told you that you were beautiful they meant that you were physically beautiful.  However, has someone ever told you that you were spiritually beautiful?  I bet you hear that a lot less often; I know I do.  What does spiritual beauty look like?  Well when I think of spiritual beauty I think of the fruit of the spirit from Galatians 5:22-23.  The fruit of the spirit is:

1. Love- God is Love (1 John 4).
2. Joy- We are to sing for joy at the work of God's hands (Psalm 92:4).  The joy of the Holy Spirit (1 Thessalonians 1:6). 
3. Peace- Seek peace and pursue it (Psalm 34:14). The man of peace will have a future (Psalm 37:37).
4. Patience- If you are patient you find favor with God (1 Peter 2:20).  
5. Kindness- Do not let kindness and truth leave you (Proverbs 3:3).  Kindness is desirable in a man (Proverbs 19:22). The kindness of God leads you to repentance (Romans 2:4).
6. Goodness- Christians are full of goodness (Romans 15:14).
7. Faithfulness- God is faithful (Psalm 89:2, Psalm 89:9).  We are to declare God's faithfulness (Psalm 40:10, Psalm 92:2)
8. Gentleness- God's gentleness makes us great (Psalm 18:35). The man of God pursues gentleness (1 Timothy 6:11). With gentleness correct your enemies (2 Timothy 2:25).
9. Self-Control- Men who are lovers of self have no self-control (2 Timothy 3:2-4).

At the end of verse 23 it concludes, "... against such things there is no law."  So go, and be beautiful. :)

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

Valentines Day... Singles' Awareness Day

I know Valentines Day was sooo two days ago but bear with me and my thoughts on this overrated and ridiculous holiday (yeah, I don't like it). Valentines Day is the holiday of chocolate, red, pink, fluffy teddy bears, gaudy hearts and love.  WalMart is literally iced in red and pink decor from as soon as the Christmas holiday is over to the actual Valentines Day.  For some reason every other business thinks they must follow WalMart's "standard" and also douse themselves in the red and pink standard.  By the time Valentines Day has actually arrived one is so sick of chocolate, red, pink, fluffy teddy bears, gaudy hearts and love that they are seriously considering celebrating Singles' Awareness Day with salad, blue, green, slimy frogs, brains and common sense. 

Actually, that doesn't sound too bad.  Salad- check, blue- check, green- not my favorite but it's okay so check, slimy frogs- again not my favorite but anything is better then fluffy teddy bears, brains- Oh yeah!, and common sense- most definitely.  Singles' Awareness Day here I come. :)

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

The Greatest Evidence Against Evolution

     In my studies of Creation vs. Evolution I have come across many proofs against evolution but the proof I have found the strongest and also  the easiest to explain is that of mutations.  Supposedly mutations is how Evolution is to have occured.  Mutations are changes in the sequence of DNA and are quite real, but are they capable of evolutionary change?  To make the answer short, NO!  To explain: There have been no mutations observe to this day (and there have been many observed) that have ADDED information, only mutations that have LOST information.  I guess that would be evolution going backwards. :)
To conclude, Evolution is impossible because there is no method by which infomation is added to the genome.  Evolution: DEBUNKED.

Information gleaned from videos and articles produced or published by CMI and AIG.

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

Literal 24-Hour Six Day Creation

     I am a Christian, which you have probably noticed if you have read my blog at all.  I believe in a literal 24-hour six day creation and I am going to explain why.  In a later blog post I will try to take the time to explain why I believe in creation at all but for today I am going to focus on the controversies surrounding a literal six day creation.  I am not a scientist so my knowledge is stolen from multiple CMI (Creation Ministries International) and AIG (Answers In Genesis) videos and articles as well as from Apologetics Press's articles.  I will include the links to all of the articles I use at the bottom of this post and will put in quotations anything that is not in my own words.  I hope that as I am a non-scientist, my arguments will be clear to everyone.

     To begin with, why do theistic evolutionists even doubt the literal 24-hour six day creation account in Genesis 1?  According to an article posted on Creation Ministries International's website, "If people use Scripture to try to justify that the days of creation are long periods of time, they usually quote passages such as 2 Peter 3:8, ‘… one day is with the Lord as a thousand years …’. Because of this, they think the days could be a thousand years, or perhaps even millions of years. However, if you look at the rest of the verse, it says, ‘… and a thousand years as one day’. This cancels out their argument! The context of this passage concerns the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. This particular verse is telling people that with God, waiting a day is like waiting a thousand years, and waiting a thousand years is like waiting a day because God is outside of time—He is not limited by natural processes and time. This has absolutely nothing to do with defining the days of creation. There is no reference in this passage to the days of creation."

     Theistic evolutionists will make the claim that the 6 days of creation depicted in Genesis 1 were not literal 24-hour days.  However, there is a great deal of evidence that refutes this already rather far out claim.  "Yom", the Hebrew word used for day in the Bible, when used with a numeral in front of the word always means a literal 24-hour day.  In Genesis 1, there is ALWAYS a numeral in front of the word day.  Also as Apologetics Press says, "The words “evening” and “morning” are used together in the Old Testament with the word yom over 100 times in non-prophetic passages, and each time they refer to a 24-hour day. Furthermore, if the “days” of Genesis 1:14, were “eons of time,” then what were the years? And, if a “day” is an “age,” then what is a “night”?"  In Mark 10:6 and Matthew 19:4, Jesus teaches that God created them male and female from the beginning.  A non-literal 24-hour six day creation is also a scientific impossibility because, as Apologetics Press says, "...if the “days” of Genesis were not days at all, but long geological periods, then a problem of no little consequence arises in the field of botany. Plants came into existence on the third day (Genesis 1:9-13). If the days of Genesis 1 were long geological ages, how did plant life survive millions of years of total darkness? Also, how would the plants that depend on insects for pollination have survived the supposed millions or billions of years between “day” three and “day” five (when insects were created)."   Answers in Genesis, in an article on their website say, "... in Exodus 20:8–11 God commanded the Israelites to work six literal “days” and rest on the seventh because He created in six “days” (using the same Hebrew word)."  Again we see the impossibilities of theistic evolution being true. 

I will close with some words from Apologetics Press, "Finally, one must ask, if God wanted us to know that He created the world in six literal days, what words would He have used? Or if a person wanted to explain to someone else that God created all things in a literal six days, what words would he use? The answer?—the exact words used in Genesis 1."

If you have any questions about a literal 24-hour six day creation take a look at these great articles, which I posted the links to below and/or go to Creation Ministries International's, Answers in Genesis's, or Apologetic Press's websites for more such articles.  Hail to the King!

http://www.apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=9&article=824&topic=64

http://creation.com/the-necessity-for-believing-in-six-literal-days

http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v5/n2/six-literal-days

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

Another Book Review- This Present Darkness Series

Recently I finished re-reading (for the umpteenth time) Frank Peretti's two novels- This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness.  I will say right off that I do not agree with everything Mr. Peretti presents in his two novels.  This stated, let me go in to what I do like about his novels.  These two books depict a very real picture of what a spiritual battle looks like.  They have demons, and they have angels.  While I wouldn't say that the spiritual battles depicted in the series is exactly what happens, they give a very eyeopening account that really makes you think about the reality of demons and angels as depicted in the scripture.  The two books really make you think about the power of prayer and God's command for us to "pray with out ceasing."  If you have not previously read these two books I highly recommend them.  They are well written, riveting, beautiful, and thought provoking.  I have not read any of his other novels so I cannot recommend them, though I have heard that others of his works have some odd theology. So grab a cup of tea and enjoy!  God bless!

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

Confrontations That Have Taught Me

Senior year is probably a pretty hectic year normally, however, when you top it off with taking thirteen dual credit hours at the local community college it steps up to a whole new level of hectic.  I have to say I am enjoying it though, despite it sometimes being a bit of a culture shock.  My whole time at BCC has been very interesting.  I have met people I will never forget, some because of how much they annoyed me but other because of how good of friends they were.  As a Christian, I was for about the first time confronted with people who disagreed with my religous views.  Thankfully, I had parents and a church that had well prepared me for confrontation.  

My first confontation was with my lab partner in my basic chemistry class.  I found out he was homeschooled also and, as most homeschoolers are, I asked him if he was a Christian.  I was surprised to hear a negative response.  Well I asked him what he did belive then.  His answers were very wide and distorted.  However, his main points were, he belived there was a "god" but he didn't belive we could know anything about him (kind of like a deist), and he belived that this "god" had set off evolution.  However, he did say that he didn't believe evolution was logical, but it was cooler then creation, so he chose to believe it.  I realized about then that he was really illogical.  In fact, he told me he was really logical.  I figured that was about he only logical thought he'd ever had.  My lab partner and I had many discussion about religion and evolution and I found it very difficult to engage in these conversations mostly for the reason that he was extremly illogica and couldn't follow my reasoning.  I will admit, I am not great logician, but I do know the basics, which was more then I could say for him.  However, despite our many arguments, my lab partner and I still remained friendly towards each other.  If I had felt like it was really aggravating him, I probably would have stopped.  

My second confrontation was with my Comp 1 teacher.  You may have read my blog post "Is Language Sexist."  That was him.  He seemed like a pretty nice guy when I first started taking his class.  A warning signal went up in my mind though even the first day, though I tried to disregard it.  The whole class was introducing themselves and we shared our favorite book/movie.  Well my favorite book has always been Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.  My teacher said (something like this), "Oh yes, Jane Austen writes really good books about young women moving past the rules of society to get what the truly want."  I about gagged.  If Jane Austen's novels had been about that I never would have read them.  This rather feminist remark though was just a taster of what was to come.  I am not going to restate what was in "Is Language Sexist," you can check it out for yourself but that was a whole big "issue" we talked about.  Anyways, I had the whole "Is Language Sexist," his talks about homosexuality being okay, and his thoughts on decriminalizing prostitution.  Sometimes the class's discussions on the decriminalizing of prostitution turned disgusting and/or disturbing, which really aggravated and shocked me.  I really was wondering sometimes if I was in the right class. It sure didn't seem like a Comp 1 class to me. The worst part of the whole discussions was that my Comp 1 teacher would always bring up the subject, pretend he wasn't sharing his opinions, ask our opinions, bash our opinions, and then say he wasn't bashing our opinions.

These two confrontations were very frustrating at times but as I look back I think they also taught me.  If I could go back in time I would get a different Comp 1 teacher, but I would stay with my basic chem class plus lab partner.  Yes those two experiences taught me a lot, but while one of them was more on a friendly level, the other was just ridiculous and oftentimes disgusting and disturbing.  Did they teach me?  Yes they did.  Would I repeat them?  Maybe one, but not the other.

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

Is Language Sexist?

"Is language sexist?"  That is what my comp 1 teacher asked the class.  My teacher went on to explain his point by putting up on the board "proof."  For example, you can't use "she" without "he", "woman" without "man", female with out male.  Personally, I hadn't really thought about it.  But when I did, I realized it all made sense.  In Genesis 2:22-23 it says, "The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. ²³ The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.”  If you look at the "is language sexist" issue with biblical glasses it all makes sense.  Woman is called woman because she was taken out of man.  Anyone who wants to dispute this is going against God's word.  My Comp 1 teacher DID dispute this when I gave this simple explanation.  He (yes this was a male teacher) said, "Well the Bible was written by men so we can't trust what it says, that automatically makes it sexist" (that's a paraphrase but essentially that was what he was saying).  I had never heard anyone say that before and frankly I was shocked.  "The Bible is the inspired Word of God," I said.  "The men that scribed the Bible were divinely inspired by God.  It was not their word but God's Word."  I didn't figure anyone could dispute that argument.  However, my teacher did.  "But it was written by man."  We went back and forth for some time about this.  It shocked me how illogical one can be when they don't want to accept the obvious truth.  Anyone that says the Bible is not the divinely inspired Word of God has every reason not to trust it.  However, the Bible IS the divinely inspired Word of God and we can trust it.  So is language sexist? NO!

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

Evolution, it makes me laugh...

You can tell it is summer because instead of being outside in the heat I am inside with the air conditioner.   A record high was set the other day in Kansas, which didn't manage to thrill me to much.  Why not a record low?  However, throughout the sweltering temperatures and dry grass, I can still see God shining through nature.  Summers like these remind us whose in control; we don't have authority over the weather, only God does.  This weekend I had the amazing privilege to attend the Heartland Creation Conference where Dr. Jonathan Safarti spoke on how it is utter foolishness to believe in the myth of evolution for "the heavens declare the glory of God."  One thing he said over and over again that really was at the core of the issue was "you can't prove the bible with science; you have to prove science with the bible."  His point was, if you put science as a higher authority over the bible you are saying that what God said isn't as important as the deductions of fallible scientists.  Man is evil, born in sin, and will make any excuse it can conceive to get out of obeying the one true God, even something as utterly ridiculous as evolution.  Today evolution is taught in the schools as truth.  That's putting it as an equal to the bible right there.  In "Expelled", when Richard Dawkins (notorious Evolutionists and author of "The Greatest Show on Earth" which by the way was refuted in Dr. Jonathan Safarti's book "The Greatest Hoax on Earth") is pushed back and pushed back as to where the first life came from he finally has to resort to (get this, it is too funny) aliens!  Aliens?  That's how silly the whole evolution movement is.  They have no evidence so they have to say aliens.  Intelligent men saying aliens?  You can laugh with me if you want.  Now, I am not a scientist, or anywhere close, but I do know one thing, you can't get something from nothing and the evolution movement, well it makes me laugh...

By the way, where did the aliens come from? :)

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

Bridling our Tongues

After a long cold winter spring is finally here... in Kansas that is!!! :)  The red bud tree and the lilac bushes are bursting with color and there is even talk of putting in a garden this week!!!  This has got to be the best season of the year... as long as there aren't any tornadoes. :)
Today in Sunday school we were talking about the last judgement.  One of the things we talked about in relation to that was how everything we say is going to be taken into account when God judges us.  To me that is a very scary concept.  I know I have heard it a million times but somehow I just tend to forget it when it comes to having conversations with people.  It is so easy to let slip a foolish or mean word when I am talking.  It is something that needs to be on my mind all of the time so that I do not forget.  However, I tend to let other things be on my mind such as worldly pleasures.  When I was thinking about this I realized that I would be able to be more careful of my words and be paying more attention to what I say if I was not concentrating so much on the pleasures of this world and more on the pleasures of God.  Man's chief end is to glorify God.  So really, it comes down to how much easier it is to worship God if you are thinking of Him, instead of the things of this world.  I know I am not the only person that struggles with this and so I hope this will be helpful to others.  
Have a great spring! 

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.