As Halloween approaches, and I do my "little ritual studies" on the origins of this holiday, studying the customs, the cultures, the passing down of how this holiday is kept and honored....I ask myself: "Why?...why does God put up with all of our erratic behavior...throughout history none the less!
We kill each other off because we don't understand or accept another's view on life, we have a "thousand ideas" of whom God is, while others don't think there even is a God, and if that is not enough, we hurt our very earth in the name of greed, we want things...and we want it now, and family values are faced with new views and outlooks.
Even those who are under the umbrella of Christianity, with its various belief systems and ways to honor Him, are at times "ripping one another to shreds"...and doing so because they believe God told them to.
Now here we are...Halloween...we have Christians ripping other Christians who celebrate the event, while others are finding Christian alternatives to the night of Halloween, while other Christians are saying to "chill out"...it is a harmless night of fun and festivities.
Sometimes I think the whole of humanity is simply "nuts"...it doesn't make sense. And this is just the "tip of the iceberg" as the saying goes.
So, here is what I am doing....taking a "timeout"...thinking about how all of us came about, and just relax a bit from what man has done...what is going on now...and where we are going....sometimes it just gets mind-boggling.
First, I do have one prerequisite: I honestly believe the Sacred Scriptures are inspired through the power of the Holy Spirit. I know...that could be an endless argument in itself...except for one ingredient that has been a constant throughout history and one I feel man has failed to understand...that is Faith...I simply believe this by...Faith.
A Gleaning from Genesis 2:5-7:
" In these days, there were no shrubs, no crops in the field, in fact there was no plant life...nothing had been "springing up" from the ground. You see, the Lord God had not yet sent rains to the earth...after all, who would be there to attend to all the landscape, the fields, or to cultivate soil? In these days, water came by underground springs...the whole earth receiving its water by these springs....until one day....
The Lord God had a plan...and formed a man...right from the very dust of the earth itself. He didn't bring in special components from elsewhere in the vast universe, but made it with what was already in place...the very dust of the earth.
Then, the Lord God did something that would change the course of history...forever...God breathed into man's nostrils...He instilled into man the very Breath of Life itself...and man became...alive!...a living...human being!"
I can rest in the fact God is in charge of us...from the very beginning. It was His idea to create us, and because He designed it, I put my trust in His idea...not in mankind or any one individual.
I take some time to consider the Psalm David wrote...not sure exactly when he wrote this in his life...but what a potent thought...a Gleaning from Psalm 8:
"Lord God, You are so brilliant! Your Excellence, Your Majesty, and Your Glory simply fills the entire earth! And yet...Listen!...Your Name is spoken within the family households.
Nursing infants, small babes, toddlers, and children of all ages sing the "Songs of Praise" that contains the power to drown out Evil, the "Songs of Praise" that establish You and You alone as the Conqueror of any foe, "Songs of Praise" that shuts out the Enemy's chatter, silence the babble of the atheist, and leaving anyone who opposes You...speechless!
When I think of the heavens, or simply take a moment and look up in the skies....the complexity...the enormous work...the awesomeness...of Your handiwork...Look!...the star-studded skies, the moon...the sun...the planets...what wonder!
Why is it You choose to concern Yourself with man...a living being...and even that because You breathed Life into the heart of man...we are alive!...because of You!
You could have easily "scratched the whole man idea"...and start with something new.
Yet, You didn't! You went beyond what most would have done...making man just a little lower than Yourself...in fact, man narrowly missed being gods, and then You crowned man with glory and honor.
And You didn't stop there!...You put man in charge with everything You have made. You made the decision to put all things You have made...under the authority of man...including the flocks, the cattle, the herds of various kinds, and the wild animals as well.Even the birds in the sky, the fish...from the streams to the seas, and the great creatures within the ocean's depth...are subject to...man.
Lord God, You are brilliant. Your Excellence, Your Majesty, and Your Glory...simply fill the entire earth!"
Why bother with us?...because it was His idea!
We kill each other off because we don't understand or accept another's view on life, we have a "thousand ideas" of whom God is, while others don't think there even is a God, and if that is not enough, we hurt our very earth in the name of greed, we want things...and we want it now, and family values are faced with new views and outlooks.
Even those who are under the umbrella of Christianity, with its various belief systems and ways to honor Him, are at times "ripping one another to shreds"...and doing so because they believe God told them to.
Now here we are...Halloween...we have Christians ripping other Christians who celebrate the event, while others are finding Christian alternatives to the night of Halloween, while other Christians are saying to "chill out"...it is a harmless night of fun and festivities.
Sometimes I think the whole of humanity is simply "nuts"...it doesn't make sense. And this is just the "tip of the iceberg" as the saying goes.
So, here is what I am doing....taking a "timeout"...thinking about how all of us came about, and just relax a bit from what man has done...what is going on now...and where we are going....sometimes it just gets mind-boggling.
First, I do have one prerequisite: I honestly believe the Sacred Scriptures are inspired through the power of the Holy Spirit. I know...that could be an endless argument in itself...except for one ingredient that has been a constant throughout history and one I feel man has failed to understand...that is Faith...I simply believe this by...Faith.
A Gleaning from Genesis 2:5-7:
" In these days, there were no shrubs, no crops in the field, in fact there was no plant life...nothing had been "springing up" from the ground. You see, the Lord God had not yet sent rains to the earth...after all, who would be there to attend to all the landscape, the fields, or to cultivate soil? In these days, water came by underground springs...the whole earth receiving its water by these springs....until one day....
The Lord God had a plan...and formed a man...right from the very dust of the earth itself. He didn't bring in special components from elsewhere in the vast universe, but made it with what was already in place...the very dust of the earth.
Then, the Lord God did something that would change the course of history...forever...God breathed into man's nostrils...He instilled into man the very Breath of Life itself...and man became...alive!...a living...human being!"
I can rest in the fact God is in charge of us...from the very beginning. It was His idea to create us, and because He designed it, I put my trust in His idea...not in mankind or any one individual.
I take some time to consider the Psalm David wrote...not sure exactly when he wrote this in his life...but what a potent thought...a Gleaning from Psalm 8:
"Lord God, You are so brilliant! Your Excellence, Your Majesty, and Your Glory simply fills the entire earth! And yet...Listen!...Your Name is spoken within the family households.
Nursing infants, small babes, toddlers, and children of all ages sing the "Songs of Praise" that contains the power to drown out Evil, the "Songs of Praise" that establish You and You alone as the Conqueror of any foe, "Songs of Praise" that shuts out the Enemy's chatter, silence the babble of the atheist, and leaving anyone who opposes You...speechless!
When I think of the heavens, or simply take a moment and look up in the skies....the complexity...the enormous work...the awesomeness...of Your handiwork...Look!...the star-studded skies, the moon...the sun...the planets...what wonder!
Why is it You choose to concern Yourself with man...a living being...and even that because You breathed Life into the heart of man...we are alive!...because of You!
You could have easily "scratched the whole man idea"...and start with something new.
Yet, You didn't! You went beyond what most would have done...making man just a little lower than Yourself...in fact, man narrowly missed being gods, and then You crowned man with glory and honor.
And You didn't stop there!...You put man in charge with everything You have made. You made the decision to put all things You have made...under the authority of man...including the flocks, the cattle, the herds of various kinds, and the wild animals as well.Even the birds in the sky, the fish...from the streams to the seas, and the great creatures within the ocean's depth...are subject to...man.
Lord God, You are brilliant. Your Excellence, Your Majesty, and Your Glory...simply fill the entire earth!"
Why bother with us?...because it was His idea!
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