Atonement

Atonement: Reconciliation or an instance of reconciliation between God and humans.
Here's a good place for a question. Why do I or anyone else need to be "reconciled" or need "atonement" to God? What could God possibly have issue with me about and to the point where I need to reconcile to Him? I'm a good guy. I haven't killed anyone or caused someone to lose their fortunes. In fact, I have been a model citizen who is a volunteer EMT at the local firehouse. I don't think I need something as big as an "atonement" to be excepted by God or to go to heaven. I've earned that right by being a model citizen.

Unfortunately this is the attitude of most Americans today. It's a very arrogant, self serving point of view. It also lacks understanding of what Gods standards are (to be blameless and without sin before Him Duet, 18:13, Rom, 3:9-18) and what the consequences are of not meeting those standards.

If we go back to Genesis, we can see clearly what the penalty is for disobeying God. Death!! God tells Adam that he can eat of every tree in the Garden Except one tree, the tree of knowledge of good and evil. "For in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." Genesis 2:15-17. Unfortunately Adam disobeys God with the same arrogant and self serving attitude and brings sin and death into the world.

Every mans conscience bares witness that he and she has broken the law of God(Romans 3:20).
Having broken the Law of God man brings judgment upon his own head and penalty which is do, Death(Romans:1).

Man cannot undo the sin that he has already done or unbreak the Law that he has broken. How then does man atone for his sins? How does he reconcile himself to God? Man cannot reconcile himself to God. Only God can reconcile man to God Himself. God does this by offering His own Son as the atonement sacrifice for mans sins. Those who believe in Jesus Christ the son of God, as their Lord and Savior from Gods penalty for their sins, will receive everlasting life (John 3:15-16).

If you know that you are a sinner and you would like to receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior you can do that by praying to Jesus. Just ask him to forgive you of your sins and come and live in your heart. Read the book of John in the New Testament of the Bible to start. If you need someone to talk to or you don't have a bible you can email me at flastatenoles@msn.com.

Does God exist

There really is no such thing as an athiest because all athiest are simply agnostic, meaning they can't prove that their isn't a god. There are basically two types of atheist; practical and theoretical. One just doen't care and the other is not as smart as he thinks he is. It really doesn't make a difference because atheism is nothing more than perverted moral state to try to escape from God. So how does the christian prove that God exist. Logically we cannot prove that there is a god. There is no formula that we can write down and say "see, there is a god". There are only 2 ways that we can show that God exist. Both of these are a measure of faith but it is not blind faith but faith that has evidence through 1) the Scriptures and 2) nature as the revelations of God. Gen1:1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth". God could not have created everything if He Himself did not exist. Heb 11:6 "and without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him". Psalm 19:1-2 "The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge."These are just a couple of the thousands of versed that testify to the existence of God. The implication always is that God exist. I also find it practical that God created everything as opposed to everything happened by accident, went from disorder to order, and denying ex nihlo nihil fit - from nothing, nothing comes. It takes an increadable amount of faith to believe this rather than God created everything for a purpose and that purpose is Him. The evidence of God is there. People simply don't believe in Him and try to disprove Him for the sole purpose of escaping His judgement so that they can live without consequences. Trying to talk about the existence of God to someone who can't understand the Scriptures can seem like a fruitless task but that is what the Holy Spirit is for. The Holy Spirit is the only one who can bring man to an understanding of the Lord and His creation.

Theology

There are a lot of Christians who believe that it is o.k. to believe what they believe without being able to give an account of why they believe what they believe. Hence, this is why dogmatics came into being and why systematic theology is so important. It has literally taken millenia for man to come to the understanding of God that we have today. Some christians would say that dogmatics is overdone and that it pulls man away from God and into a philysophical debate. Peter states that we are to "... sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence" 2 Peter 3:15. This is more than just a testimony of an emotional encounter with the Lord at the point of salvation. This is not a call but a command to be able to speak definitavely of the Lord and His works. Not every christian is called to be a theologian but we certainly are not called to be an ignorant bump on a log either.
I am one who gets excited by comming to a deeper and more detailed understanding of what the Scriptures say about the Lord. I get fired up about the Lord when I come to either an understanding of a verse that I couldn't figure out or to a correct understanding of a verse that I misunderstood. I have said all of this to say that I am reading Louis Berkhof- Systematic Theology. This book was the last gift that dad gave me a month before he died. A lot of this book is way over my head but it has been very helpful for me to understand the Scriptures. I have been learning so much that I feel like I am forgetting more than I have learned. Joel suggested that I post some of the things that I learn as I am going through Berkhof. So I said o.k. So I will be posting some things either that I have learned or of things that maybe I already knew but think that they would be important to note whether it is from Berkhof or the Scriptures.
So I would like to quote from Berkhof. "there seems to be a fear that the more we systematize the truth, the farther we wander from the presentation of it that is found in the Word of God. But there is no danger of this if the system is not based on the fundamental priciples of erring philosophy, but on the abiding priciples of Scripture itself. God certainly sees the truth as a whole, and it is the duty of the theologian to think the truths of God after Him. There should be a constant endeavor to see the truth as God sees it, even though it is perfectly evident that the ideal is beyond the grasp of man in his present condition".

Today's Thoughts

My 11 year old daughter wants to watch MTV and I don't like her to watch it. She doesn't watch the videos ( which I'm glad ) at all, she just likes some of the reality TV programs. They seem harmless enough, at least on the surface. It's not about people and their every day lives and their dealing with their personal issues that bother me the most. It's not about how they deal with their relationships with each other that concerns me either. It's the Self Centeredness that oozes out of the programming that bothers me the most. It's very sutle on most of the programming but if you pay attention you can see that it's all about ME ME ME!! Very destructive when you are trying to build character in a young impressionable mind.

Currently I'm trying to read "Bondage Of The Will" by Martin Luther. I was off from work today but I didn't get as much reading done as I would have liked. It's a very intriguing read and it's hard to put down. I had some other things to get done around the house so I forced myself to do so. I've read it before but it's better the second time cause you pick up on things you missed before. I suggest you read it.

Just a quick note on the college bowl games this year. Great games, I'm Glad Ohio State smeared Notre Dame. If Ohio State is returning most of their team next year, they'll be herd to beat. Sick of USC ( cause they don't ever play anyone with talent) so I'm glad Texas Won. GO NOLES!! Even though they lost I think that Florida State suprised a lot of people with the game they played against Penn. state. Watch out for the Noles next year!!

Judge Alito Hearings

I've watched a good bit of the Judge Alito confirmation hearings the last couple of days. I guess you know your getting older when you find this kind of stuff interesting enough that you can't stop watching it and then consequently look for someone else to talk too about what you just saw and heard. That's what I've done over the last couple of days and I'm sure I'm driving my wife crazy cause she's usually the one who has to put up with me as I try to express my thoughts on the hole matter.
For the Life of me I can't understand why any sane person would ever vote for Ted Kennedy. He looked like a complete buffoon up their gurgling all kind of nonsense, especially the incident
were he was arguing with Arlen Specter about a memo he mailed to Senator Specter. He became almost militant about his "demand" for the records from the CAP organization in which Judge Alito admitted that he had very little if any involvement. Senator Kennedy's actions were way out of character for someone of power and authority and Judge Alito was never implicated in any of the documents from the CAP organization in which Kennedy demanded to have.
On the other hand I was impressed with Diane Feistein. She seemed very respectful of Judge Alito and rarely interrupted the Judge during his response to her questioning. Senator Feistein Stayed in her seat during most of the questioning and witness panels unlike most of the other democrats including Senator Kennedy. She was actually paying attention to the proceedings rather than blurting what ever it was she wanted to say and then leave, just as many of the others did. Despite her well mannered ways I doubt she will vote for Judge Alito, she's to far to the left in her opinions to do anything more than vote against Judge Alito.
Judge Alito was very knowledgeable about the law and his practice and rarely referenced any papers or council during the hearings. He was very well mannered as a Judge should be and presented himself as someone who would be very competent and deserves to be a Supreme Court Justice. He should be Confirmed with ease.