kinda funny depiction of Adam & Eve...

Hello World!!!

As I said in a previous post, my Bible study class is reading the book of Genesis and apparently, we will go through the entire Bible over the course of several months…

Since I grew up in church, I have read passages in probably most of the books of the Bible over the course of my lifetime, but I’ve never gone through the Bible from start to finish. I’m sure that I will learn volumes although my parents made sure that I had a solid Biblical education along with my academic education.  But I must admit, there are some lingering questions that I’ve had over the years that never seemed to be answered to my satisfaction.

And now that my class is going through the entire Bible, I’m sure those questions will resurface. One of those questions resurfaced during a telephone conversation I had over the weekend. And I had to admit, I didn’t have the answer. It is clearly stated in Genesis that Adam and Eve were created by God. The couple had two sons, Cain and Abel. It is also mentioned that Cain had a wife….well, who created that wife if only Adam and Eve were created by God? Hmmm…something to think about, huh?

Also during the telephone conversation, I was asked why Jesus Christ was called Jesus Christ when the letter J was not existent at the time Jesus Christ lived on earth….I asked my Bible study leader the answer to that question last night, and he said, I think,  that Jesus’ name was originally Yeshua and was translated to Jesus by the Greeks…I plan to ask him to explain that answer in more detail when I go to Bible Study tonight, God willing…

The ages of people in the Old Testament has also puzzled me. In Genesis 5, it is stated that Methuselah, a descendent of Adam, lived to be 969 years old. Shoot, Adam lived to be 930 years old. I didn’t attend Bible College so I pose this question to Bible scholars – Were years determined differently than they are today? If not, it is very hard to believe people lived for hundreds of years when in modern time, humans are blessed to live for even 80 years….

I’m sure more questions will be raised as I continue to study the text and discuss it with the people in my life. But the truth of the matter is that belief in the Bible itself, no matter what the passage, is an exercise in faith…I mean if some random man came up to me on the street today and said, he is the saviour of the world, I would gingerly back away from him and hope he did not chase me down the street. And if one of my girls told me she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit although she was a virgin, I would talk about her behind her back to my other girls. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen… I know what that sick boy’s father meant when he said to Jesus, “Lord I do believe. Help my unbelief.” (Mark 9:24) And Jesus healed his son right then. And this Bible verse below also applies to the situation.

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6

Because God is God and we are finite creatures, I imagine there will be questions that will not be answered while we are here on Earth, but I do believe that God will answer those who earnestly seek answers. Aside from all of that, I believe in Jesus Christ, Yeshua, Jehovah, the Prince of Peace, the only Begotten Son, Messiah, the Great Shepherd, the Amen, the Ancient of Days, the Alpha and the Omega and on and on because I’m seen Him at work in my life and in the lives of those around me…

How can I explain the answers to countless prayers…I cannot except I have in faith in God…And how is it anyway that I can get down on my knees and say words out loud in the air or inside of my head and God hears and answers…And how is that sometimes as I sit in church I can feel this joy that wells up inside of me so much that it spills out of my eyes in the form of tears…I cannot except I have in faith in God…and how is it that I’ve known people healed of all sorts of addictions and disorders that threatened to kill them…I cannot except I have faith in God…

I cannot explain the Holy Wars or why people in the name of Jesus have managed to commit crimes against humanity. I cannot explain why some church folk are more judgmental and nasty than the average person walking down the street on any given day. I cannot explain why people have used the Bible to enslave others. I cannot explain why a pastor would flashy a phony badge intending to impersonate an officer when he was stopped for speeding. Ridiculous! Human beings are fallible , Jesus Christ isn’t…

Any thoughts?

Hello World!!!

Can you believe it? It is almost the third month of 2009 already…It seems like it was just yesterday that I was in our nation’s capital celebrating the inauguration of our 44th president! To God be the Glory…

But y’all know that to every yin, there is a yang. So if there is God, there must be the adversary also known as the devil…I love thinking about God…well sometimes I don’t like thinking about God actually - particularly when it comes to something that I want to do when God has clearly told me that I shouldn’t do it…But I really never like thinking about the devil…just thinking about the adversary and his wiles make me scared actually although I know that God is infinitely more powerful than His adversary…but I’ve discovered that to not think about the devil is to give him more power because he exists…yes, he does…

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour. 1 Peter 5:8

My father says that one of satan’s best tools is convince us that he is like the tooth fairy…that he is a figment of our imagination and doesn’t exist at all…that way he can wreak havoc in our lives and we don’t even know the source…if you don’t believe me, think back to when you have tried to do right…whether it be attending church on a regular basis, getting up every morning to have devotion, praying each day, having a testimony, etc…Didn’t it seem that there was some force that tried to prevent you from accomplishing your goal? I think that force is the adversary…

I’m an obsessive thinker…at any given moment, the same thought will be traveling through my mind over and over and over again…sometimes when I have experience this, it’s just me being me I think…but sometimes, when the thought is destructive and leads me into constant worrying and fear, I think that is a thought planted by the real evildoer (Thank God, we have ushered in change!!!)

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.    2 Timothy 1:17

This is a verse that I say to myself over and over again when an obsessive thought whirs in my mind…There are several verses in the Bible in which God tells us it is not His will that we worry and be in fear…Here is another verse that calms me down…

 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him,  and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6

Because I know the Father, He is constantly leading me, and I can trust that He is leading although I have no idea where I am going…Here’s another way of looking at it…In my finite human wisdom, I can’t possibly know everything and everybody and whether this person or that person intends to hurt me or not…but God does…and IF you have given your life to Him, He has got your back….and your front and your sides and over and under you for that matter…surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life…Praise Jesus!

My favorite apologist, C.S. Lewis, wrote a fictional account of a demon and his apprentice and the ways they tried to influence a newly converted Christian man to do wrong…think of the whole angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other shoulder scenario. I read “The Screwtape Letters” some years ago, and it is a brilliant depiction of what could be going in the spiritual dimension.

I don’t know much about the Minister Joyce Meyer, but I have been reading about her book, “Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind” on the Internet…I found an excerpt of the book in which the struggle of a married couple is described. The devil planted destructive thought patterns in each of their minds based on their individual backgrounds, personalities and fears, and their marriage was suffering as a result…Of course, that was the adversary’s goal…

In fact, I sometimes gage whether I am in the will of God by how much opposition I experience in a particular situation…A few years ago, I wrote an article about the book, “The Prayer of Jabez: Breaking Through to the Blessed Life,” by Bruce Wilkinson. I even met the man. Although it was a religious article, I wasn’t working at a religious publication. Anyway, my boss was…well to put it nicely – let’s just say we didn’t get along…While she was reading through the article, she yelled at me from her office, “When you pray the Prayer of Jabez, do you pray for a new boss?” She cackled after she finished her statement…I am saved, but a few choice words ran through my mind (let’s just say one word rhymed with witch)…And then she gave me a hard time about the number of sources I had in the article and other stuff…it was opposition for sure…but the article was published as God intended…

Anyway, I could say more, but I won’t…

Any thoughts?

P.S. One way to defeat the adversary is to praise God…Here is one of my fave praise songs!!! This a great song for when you’re “going through.”

Hello World,

Did you eat your collard greens and black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day? I didn’t.  As far as I know, this is an American custom. I don’t think Jamaicans have a similar New Year’s Day custom – at least it wasn’t that way in my Jamaican household.

So rather than eating collard greens and black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day, I was at the movies. It’s been a long while since I’ve gone to the movies…I love movies, but I haven’t heard of very many movies lately that I’ve wanted to pay my money to see. But I must say I really enjoyed seeing the movie “Doubt.” I had heard about the movie, which stars Meryl Streep and Viola Davis, on NPR and “The View.” First of all, Meryl Streep is a beast, isn’t she? She is probably one of the best actresses of all time….She literally loses herself in every role. I loved her in “The Bridges of Madison County.” (Swoon, swoon) I hated and loved her in the “The Devil Wears Prada.” (She reminded me of my worst boss ever!) And in this movie, she is a tough-talking nun with a Bronx accent!  (And I believed it! She scared me!)  A beast, I tell you!

Also, I want to shout out Viola Davis too! You know I gotta shout out my black actresses! She is a remarkable actress with an equally remarkable story. Davis was the one actually featured on NPR and on “The View.” I really felt her pain as I watched her wide, wild, teary eyes accompanied by runaway snot in the movie.

Potential movie spoiler ahead! The movie is about a 1960s Catholic school in the Bronx that is undergoing “CHANGE” as its first black student has been admitted.  Sister Aloysius Beauvier, portrayed by Streep, is the principal of the school. Her no-nonsense demeanor and pinched face inspire dread and fear from the students to the teachers under her leadership. Her leadership and sensibilities are challenged by Father Flynn, portrayed by Philip Seymour Hoffman (a beast in his own right. Remember him in “Boogie Nights?” ) Flynn, a card-carrying member of the good ole boy priest network, wants to bring about his own CHANGE at the school by injecting secular Christmas carols during the school’s Christmas program, taking the students on camping trips and other practices frowned upon by the Sister.

The two get locked in a battle of wits and will when the Sister suspects, without very much tangible evidence, that Flynn is having an (ahem) inappropriate relationship with the school’s first black student.  However, her relentless pursuit of Flynn along with a little white lie ultimately lead to Flynn resiging from the school. (Actually, in spite of the accusations directed at him, Flynn is put in a higher position at another school.) By the end of the movie, it is never absolutely proven that Flynn is guilty, and the Sister sobs as she admits she has doubts. And she never reveals exactly what she doubts. I think she doubted if Flynn was actually guilty, but I also think she doubted the Catholic church which has had a history of protecting some of its priests while allowing children to be abused by these  same priests.

Anyway, ALL of that to say, was is it that you have doubted in your life? Some believe that if you have never doubted your faith, then you have no real faith at all. Perhaps, the most famous Biblical doubter is Thomas aka Didymus. I remember how my fifth-grade teacher at Pathway Christian School said, “Didymus.” Something about the way he said it made me want to giggle. I think he even dressed up as the apostle once, but I digress…

Thomas said that he didn’t believe that Jesus was resurrected from the dead. “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.” John 20:25  Rather than banish him to Hell or even chide him, Jesus came to Thomas and instructed him to touch His hands and His side to remove his doubt. Of course, Thomas believed then. Jesus said, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:29

It was revealed in 2007 that Mother Teresa, too, had doubts about God. Read an article about it here.  In spite of her of her God-given call to the poor, she often wondered if God even existed and cared.

So my question is on this first Sunday of 2009 is, do you ever doubt that God exists? How do you know that God is real? Unlike Thomas, none of us alive now have been able to actually touch Jesus, see the nail prints on His hands or put our hands into His side? Faith is “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” But sometimes, don’t you just wish you could see…

Any thoughts?