Sunday: The Lord Alone
There is evidence of the living God in all of His creation. This statement has been repeated so often that it has become clichéd. When we consider, for example, the heart of God in creating this world, which humans have proceeded to damage and mar, we may come closer to how we can best teach the arts and sciences.
Image © Kevin Carden at Goodsalt.com
Take the human gestation period, for example. Biology tells us that new intelligent human life emerges from one fertilized egg and grows to full gestation after nine months. The marks of a loving Creator are all throughout this cycle. The loving-kindness of God can be seen in the place that a fetus develops: right below the steady beating of a mother’s heart. As the fetus enlarges, so does the mother’s abdomen, right out in front of her person. The expectant mother is made always aware of her child, just as our heavenly Father is always aware of His children.
Read Romans 1:18-21, Psalm 19:1-6, and Nehemiah 9:6. What do they tell us about God’s work as our Creator?
Even after 6,000 years of sin and thousands of years after the worldwide devastation of the Flood, overwhelmingly powerful evidence exists not just for God as our Creator, but for the power and love and benevolence of this God as our Creator. It’s so powerful, in fact, that Paul, in Romans 1:18-21, says that those who reject this God will be “without excuse” on Judgment Day because enough about Him can be learned from what He has made. In other words, they won’t be able to plead ignorance!
Especially in a day and age in which many humans have come to worship the creation rather than the Creator, how crucial that Christian education in the arts and sciences always work from the assumption that God is the Creator and sustainer of all that exists. In the end, any ideologies and presuppositions that deny or exclude God can lead only to error. Worldly education all but works on the assumption of no God; Christian education must not fall into that trap, nor must it work even more subtly from principles based on the assumption that there is no God. Either way, humans are bound to wind up in error.
| Think about the incredible wonder and beauty in our world, even after sin. How can we learn to draw hope and comfort from it, especially in times of personal trials and suffering? |
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The only way we are ever going to win the argument about origins is by allowing the image of God to be reproduced in us in our interactions with others and our environment. The most eloquent teleological, moral, ontological and cosmological arguments fade into contradictions unless we live our lives in harmony with the God who created us. Irrespective of how and when you think God created us, the key element for "proving" God's existence is our reflection of his character into the lives of those we come in contact with every day.
Agreed...as christians, we must reflect the Creator, so that those who we witness to can have a greater appreciation for His creation.
We are so blessed to have bible believing scientists who can help us understand the so called geological column in terms of the events described in the Bible as well as the truth about all the other facts that have been used to support alternative theories of the origins of life.
There are so many explanations some which even a child can understand like the building blocks of life point to a designer using basic material in different ways. If we give a child a set of Lego they can build all sorts of unique things which are not related except they are made of building blocks.
As they grow older one can show the complexity of each cell which can be compared to a mini factory.
It is so important that our youth are given the knowledge to support their faith in the Word of the LORD right from an early age.
How my life is inconsisent to the title of the lesson study today. With my mouth I proclaim, the Lord alone but my behavior demonsrates otherwise. Take away my possession, my health, and my posistion then I can see the inconsistency of my life.
Job illustrated well when he said, “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
God allows events to take place in my life that would allow Him (with my submission to His will) to chip away that which holds me captive to this world.
Each time I study the SS lesson, I am filled with remorse that leads me to a "little talk with Jesus". I think it is a Holy Spirit divine appointment and as I spend time confessing my sins to my dear Savior, I come away renewed and refreshed. I agree with your last comment whole-heartedly, God lays things upon us that will change us into better people. We may never understand while we live on this earth but in heaven, all things will be revealed and God's way is best. Hold on...Jesus is coming! Amen!!
Looking for God in an egg. A worthy endeavor to be sure. A city child, I remember being a bit sad to think that Mother Hen would lay eggs that would never be little chicks without the Rooster! Activities like drawing eggs, matching pictures of eggs to their 'parents',sculpting eggs, learning to cook eggs, and hatching chicks are all fun to do, but I think the most important 'egg theology' is the discussion that takes place between the teacher/parent and the child. Why are there two parents is fading as a viable question today as to the particulars of that reality. Seeing God in the reproduction of life opens a mind to evidences of meticulous design with a specific purpose and other concepts. "I look just like Grandma!" or "why do I outgrow my clothes?" Of course, there are various levels of discussion, research, and Biblically based conclusions. Reproduction is a subject that was discussed before we were made.
This morning I searched the Internet for Bible verses about hope and found over 100 texts that directly use the word hope. If someone says they love Jesus, then faith, hope, and love should be an automatic response, just like breathing. I also considered the biblical worldview in education and pondered how it is demonstrated in my classes. Do the students "see" Jesus in me? Do they "see" faith, hope, and love? I can tout and spout the words, but unless they are part of the very fabric of my being, they are meaningless...1 Cor 13.
This morning, I needed some reminders of hope- the pandemic and election can deplete our "love cup" so I wanted to share with my online SS family a few of the gems that have filled me this morning!
Jeremiah 29:11 ESV
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Romans 15:13 ESV
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Romans 12:12 ESV
Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
Hebrews 11:1 ESV
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Isaiah 40:31 ESV
But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
Romans 8:24-25 ESV
For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Psalm 39:7 ESV
“And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you.
1 Corinthians 13:13 ESV
So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
A piece of art reflects the artist. Creation's shimmering creatures and sparkling waters reflect the beauty of God, as does the muted earth tones. I love that God is all about diversity! Also, I'm so grateful He gave us photoreceptors in our eyes to be able to see the amazing colors. When the chlorophyll fades in the fall the leaves could all turn the same color but instead it's a rainbow of reds, oranges, yellows, browns. The visions of Ezekiel and John both describe God on a throne of blue and emerald and dazzling rainbows. In Matt 6:28-34 Jesus reminds us to look at the beauty in nature, much of which is so much shorter-lived than even our own brief lives, to take in that if God clothes something temporary with such glory, how much more He longs to clothe beings made in His image with his robe of righteousness, seen as white or the mixing of all colors together.
In Psalm 19 David simply "declares" the glory of God when he looks up into the heavens. There is a lightheartedness in a simple statement "this is my father's theater and show" vs. "let me prove to you that my father exists". It's pretty cold here in NH right now for standing around looking up at the stars. How wonderful on warm nights to have that front-row seat in God's theater to look up at the cloudy mass of our own Milky Way and the massive stretch of galaxies and take in His power and expansiveness! I love it, too, that so much went on in the sky the night Jesus was born. The angels filled the sky where the shepherds were dozing and a bright unusual star led the Wise Men. It's like the heart of the Universe seen in the heavens came alive to announce the Creator's arrival on planet Earth.
Yes, the evidence of the intelligent design of creation is everywhere, but the minds of the people have been inundated with various thoughts about how this universe came to be and so straddle the fence.
Again, the Christian knows all about the Creator’s Creation, but does this reach far enough into the heart of the believer to honor his Creator with his own life? Is not this the most important question man needs to answer?
God's Creation is not only observable through to the physical eyes, it is also observable through the spiritual eyes calibrated by the Spirit's teachings of Truth and revealed to the heart and mind of man.
Maurice stated it well: “ Irrespective of how and when you think God created us, the key element for “proving” God’s existence is our reflection of His character into the lives of those we come in contact with every day.”
Good insight into the word of God. Praise be to our living God
O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Psm 139:1
The Lord Alone
Known stages of development of a human: 1.Germinal stage; (this conception occurs after the sperm and egg combines).
2.Embryonic stage- the growing of the first stage into the second period.
3.The Fetal stage/period- The completion of the second stage and the baby is now ready to born. In humans it takes between 36-36wks. Before or after that time the mother can develop some problems. Before modern medicine and machines (ultrasound etc) it was always the same. Human counted the date of delivery by the moon. 9 full moons then the baby will be born. Isn't The Lord great?
When we read about Arts and Science and Humans, it goes beyond our inside, outside and our environment. Psm 139:14. We are wonderfully and fearfully made by our creator.
But do we acknowledge we were wonderfully and fearfully made? I knew because of sin, humans are not what we are supposed to be but never the less, we have sufficient to show that we are wonderfully and fearfully made in the image of God.
Augmentation- the Art and Science of augmentation; making greater in size. Human looks at the outside, Jesus looks at our heart/mind. A quiet and a meek spirit he will not despise. Because human looks at the outside and form their judgment, others have decided to augment their outward look. Mind you, I am not referring to changing our pronouns in our names.
If we SDA Christians are wonderfully and fearfully made how is it we are so caught up in augmentation? Are we satisfied with the way our maker created us? Are we saying he should have made us this way or that way? Are we bring praise to him by the way we are altering our bodies?
Instead of marring God’s handiwork, they will have an ambition to make all that is possible of themselves, in order to fulfill the Creator’s glorious plan. Thus they will come to regard obedience to the laws of health, not as a matter of sacrifice or self-denial, but as it really is, an inestimable privilege and blessing. {Ed 201.1}