Pangaea: Science reveals truth

Some people I come across refuse to believe that the Bible is the actual, divine Word of God, written by man throught the inspiration of and maintained for accuracy by the Holy Spirit. This is one of those 'proofs', if you will, that I reference to show that man did NOT write the Bible as man has a tendency to believe his intellect is superior and would therefore, 'correct' anything seemingly in error in the writings. We have seen, through the years in writings of historians, the belief in their day of some inaccurate scientific 'fact' and the theories developed because of these beliefs.

In Genesis 1:9, God spoke and said, 'Let the waters under the heavens be gathered into one place, and let dry ground appear.' If the waters were gathered into one place to let dry ground appear, of necessity, the land also is in one place. Then in Genesis 10:25, God says, 'To Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided, and his brother's name was Joktan.' Most people just read these passages without blinking an eye or giving it a second thought, but what lies in the unspoken is quite profound. God just didn't make a big deal about it because HE never questioned it. He knew what He did. When looking at the original Hebrew language in vs. 25 there is no mistaking that when it says 'the land was divided' it is not merely speaking of dividing up land to different nations or people but it was literally the physical dirt, soil, earth, land.

It wasn't until the 1912 that a man by the name of Alfred Wegener proposed that at one time all the land on earth was in one place as a Supercontinent and suggested the idea of Continental Drift. His ideas were that the continents moved across the face of the earth, floating over the water. Although he was not completely correct, this was the first time the notion of a supercontinent, or Pangaea, was suggested. (Except by God in Genesis 1, of course.) It really wasn't until 1968 that any real scientific interest was realized. At that time, it was sparked by the extremely high geared and heavily funded NASA programs when in October of 1968, Apollo 11 orbited the earth and patterns were noticed in the shapes of the continents like a giant gigsaw puzzle along with ridges under the ocean surface which seemed to indicated a 'pulling away' of sorts, or movement of the continents and in very specific directions.

I believe God put these types of things in the Bible for us as 'proofs' for future generations so that as our knowledge grows, we are able to verify the accuracy of the Word and thereby prove it's nature to be divine rather than human. Never doubt our God can keep His Word so that you may 'KNOW Whom you have believed.' 2 Timothy 1:12

In the beginning....we were vegetarians

Science tells us that the first humans had teeth like cows teeth which indicates that they were vegetarians and NOT flesh eaters. To me, this is yet another 'proof' that it is the Lord who flowed words through man to pen the Scriptures and that He holds the Scriptures together. If Moses were writing this of his own free will, it would not occur to him to make such a claim as to say humans ate only vegetarian meals. Again, it is kept by the Holy Spirit, because any real scholar would want to change that verse knowing that we are NOT vegetarians, but science has shown us something more. Something you would only know, if you were there. By Moses time, we were well in to our meat eating ways. Some try to prove the Bible is wrong by many things because they just don't understand. OR, as I have found recently, their view of interpretation is skewed by a negative view of God, thereby seeing God's laws as one of a domineering dictator as opposed to our Creator who made us and knowing what will hurt us physically and emotionally gives us those guidelines to follow to keep us from physical and emotional harm.

In Genesis 1 when the whole creation story is given it says in verses 29 and 30 -
29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.
30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

This means that in the beginning, there were no carnivores on earth. All animals and humans and insects alike were plant eaters.

In Genesis 2 , when it more specifically focuses on the creation of human beings rather than creation as a whole, it indicates that the animals were man's companions (Gen. 2:18-20 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. ) this should be even more apparent in Genesis 3 because the serpent spoke to Eve and she was not frightened. (Gen. 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”) Had animals not been companions and conversed on a regular basis, she probably would have figured out something was up.... Have you ever noticed how a toddler or very young child responds when their parent puts on a Halloween mask? They can see the body, they can hear the voice, but as long as that mask is on, they are clawing their way up the other parent's body for protection. It's just downright frightening... Eve would have been scared and certainly wouldn't have had this long conversation. Adam was standing next to her (Gen 3:6b she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband who was with her, and he ate.)and Adam would have certainly been afraid as well. In chapter 2, devoted to more in depth explanation of human beings creation, verse 16 says, And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden. " With the fall, they were banished from the Garden and given these instructions: Genesis 3:17-19. They were to eat the "herb of the field". Until their fall, there had been no death, the animals were their friends and companions. We know that the Bible tells us that "without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin". ( As Hebrews 9:22 tells us : And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.) Just a simple verse...you hardly even notice it, but it profoundly speaks.... (Gen. 3:21 The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.) With the very first sin, the consequence was devastating on all involved, including friends. An animal, who had been a companion, was slain, to become a covering for them because they now were no longer innocent. The first death entered the world because of sin and it wasn't the one who sinned, but a friend who became the sacrifice. Maybe it was a lamb. From that point on, we know that there were sacrifices to God to atone for sin. (:Genesis 4 :2b-4 ...."Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil.3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord.4 But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering") They did not eat the meat. Not until after the flood is Noah instructed to eat meat. ( Genesis 9 :2-3"Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it." )God tells Noah that just as he gave the green plants to eat, now he is giving all things that is living and moving, only DO NOT eat it raw or still alive. In these days, we know more about the bacteria and diseases that are carried in raw meat and in blood, so God was not giving some kind of rule to be a dictator, it was for health reasons.

I really enjoy reading in depth and coming to a better understanding about the little things that we tend to skim over as we are reading. I hope you do too.

The Gospel in Genesis

This is not something I have found on my own, but some of what I have been studying. This is just a teeny tiny taste of the amazing stuff I'm learning. When I see stuff like this, I want to show it to everyone so they can see that this book, the Bible, truly is THE Word of God, written through men, but is of God Himself. No one else could have orchestrated things this way.

Isaiah 46:9-10 Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.

In the Book of Genesis, there is listed this monotonous genealogy that we have read this person begat that person and he had other sons and daughters and lived this many years. This person begat this person and so on. Well, in the Hebrew language the names have a meaning much like our Native American names. For instance, there is a girl named Daphney Two Babies (check her MySpace account) and she is so named from times past, she is descended from a twin. In the names given the first 10 antediluvian patriarchs from Adam to Noah God 'made known the end from the beginning.' His purpose is clear. Here is the list of names and their meanings:

Names--------------------- Meaning

Adam---------------------- Man
Seth------------------------ appointed
Enosh---------------------- mortal
Kenan---------------------- sorrow
Mahalelel------------------- the blessed God
Jared----------------------- shall come down
Enoch----------------------- teaching
Methuselah----------------- his death shall bring
Lamech--------------------- dispairing
Noah------------------------ rest or comfort

Put them all together and the LORD says:

Man is appointed mortal sorrow. The blessed God shall come down teaching His death shall bring the dispairing rest.

Isn't that amazing? God is so simple and so complex. You can know Him in John 3:16 and take Him at His Word or you can delve deeper and every layer you uncover, though you find new meaning, never contradicts the one you knew before. You can't say that for any other book in history. That's because God didn't write them. He placed the letters and names in just such a way as to make Himself known 'from the beginning.'

http://www.khouse.org/articles/1996/44/

http://www.memministries.org/names.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbSSsvEinro

Lot

I was reading the story of Lot yesterday. Two things stuck out in this reading. First, Lot knew who these 'men' were yet, Gen. 19 v. 16 says that he hesitated when they told him to flee the city. So much so that they grasped his hand - the original language insinuates they took his hand with some force; yanked him. I pray that if I have been so close to sin for so long that I begin to wonder whether I need to get away from it when God says to, that God would forcibly remove me because He knows that in the deepest part of me, that's what I would want Him to do. You know we as Christians do place ourselves in places where we just don't belong. It reminds me of those three little monkeys I used to see when I was a kid - Hear no evil, See no evil, speak no evil. If you could do those, you would do well. We constantly place evil inside ourselves with the music we listen to - the lyrics, would Jesus sing them? We listen to gossip, it's nearly impossible for us not to hear about all the evil that goes on in our world and it weighs us down or makes us so hardened we barely blink when we hear of another murder. See no evil......what would we really put before our eyes - reading, tv, movies, etc. if we knew Jesus were looking through our eyes and grading us on it? Then there's the things we can't even avoid.. going grocery shopping and there are women wearing...well, nothing...really. Can't say much about the men.....they don't do much in the way of wearing or not wearing for the women. You know it's not how different are we from our surroundings, but how much like Christ we are.....period. What does your spiritual reflection look like?

The second thing I noticed was about Lot's wife. You know I had always been taught that Lot and his family were fleeing and as they were fleeing Lot's wife turned and looked back and became a pillar of salt. I thought that was kind of harsh of God because if I was running and started hearing rumblings and crashing behind me, I might want to turn and see the awesome sight too, just out of curiosity. However, Chapter 19 v. 22 says they could not begin destroying UNTIL Lot reached Zoar. So in v. 26 when it says she looked back and became a pillar of salt, it was not just a looking back in curiosity the language suggests it was a wistful looking, a longing, a sad, mournful look. The sun had come up over the plains, so she probably couldn't see anything happening anyway. The Bible stories always showed the family running and Lot's wife turning around as a frozen statue of salt in the middle of the vast area they were running in. But that's not the way it was. They had already reached the town of Zoar. She did not look to her husband and thank God they made it alive and then set about trying to find a place to live, she began to long for 'home'. So she became the original salt lick.

The Trinity

I've wondered sometimes why it is that some people have a hard time understanding the Trinity and that Jesus was always God, He didn't 'become' God because of what He did. There are some religions considered to be in the 'Christian' realm that believe Jesus earned His place as deity because of His perfect life on earth. That's not what Scripture shows. It shows that He always was there and from the beginning of time, because He could foresee the future (He is not limited by our linear timeline) He planned His visit to earth to give His life as a sacrifice for our sin. Deut. 6:4 'Hear O Israel, the Lord Our God, the Lord is One.' When Moses asks who he should say sent him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, God said, 'Tell them I AM that I AM.' Not we are who we are. We also know that it is impossible for God to lie. Heb. 6:18 So if His word seems to contradict itself at some other place, you must take all the Scripture together to figure out what it could mean. We must understand. He has made Himself clear if we seek Him. II Tim 3:16 'All Scripture is God breathed and useful for rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped.'
**********
John 1 tells us that Jesus was in the beginning with God. We didn't know Him as Jesus then, so he calls Him 'The Word'. John tells us the Word was with God and the Word WAS God. There are clearly two distinct personalities, at least. Verse 3 says everything was created through Him. Nothing was made without Him. Genesis 1:26 'Let US make man in OUR image.' Well, we know from John 1 that Jesus was there and we also know from Genesis 1:2 that the Spirit of God was there. That means that God is three in one - The Father (Jehovah), the Son (The Word, Adonai, Jesus) and the Holy Spirit (Spirit of God). He is not like us that we can amputate a part and still be who we are. His is God and one without the other two would cease to be God. That is one reason why God is One. Another is He is singularly the only God. All other 'gods' are either simply man made superstitions or demons demonstrating supernatural power in order to deceive. In the Psalms David says that God the Father spoke to God the Son saying, 'Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies your footstool.' Psalms 110:1 The Jews recognized that this was the Messiah, the Son of God, deity, in Acts 2:37,38 (Ps. 110:1 quoted in v. 35)
**********
If some people weren't so concerned with trying to find where the Bible is wrong, they might just find out some enlightening information.

Firstborn from the Dead

I was studying and happened upon Colossians 1:18 that says, 'He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning and the firstborn from the dead, so that in everything He might have supremacy.' I started thinking....you know, He wasn't the first to be raised from the dead, so what does this mean? They raised people from the dead in the Old Testament and Jesus Himself raised people from the dead, the most famous one being Lazarus. So what does it mean? He was the first after redemption from sin - the debt had been paid, but He was sinless. He could have gone back to the Father at any time. I believe the difference is the resurrected, glorified body. He took it with Him when He left, no one else has done that since, nor had anyone done it before except perhaps Elijah and Enoch. (Mark 16:19 The Lord is received up into Heaven. II Kings 2:11 Elijah went up in a whirlwind and Genesis 5:24 Enoch walked with God and then was not, for God took Him.) When we die, our spirits go to the Lord (Eccl. 12:7 and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.)and our body is given back to the dust of the earth where it came from. In I Cor. 15:15 The question is asked, 'How are the dead raised? And with what body do they come?' After he tells them that they are foolish to think God cannot take care of this (paraphrase), he says in vs. 42 'The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.' That's pretty clear to me that our body will be raised. Incorruptible, as the Lord's was when He ascended. This is substantiated in vs. 20. He is called the Second Adam in vs. 48 and vs. 49 says that 'as we have borne the image of the man of dust (Adam, humanity) we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man (Christ). All of this is still in I Cor. 15. I just realized I changed my Bible versions and was using a New King James, I'll go back to the NIV, but they don't conflict.
******
II Cor. 5:8 says that to be absent from the body, is to be present with the Lord. That would be our spirit that is absent, obviously. So we know we aren't just 'asleep' in our graves with our bodies. I Thess. 4:14 says that when Jesus returns, He will bring back with Him those who have fallen asleep in Him. Their spirits, because their bodies are on earth. Beginning with vs. 13 he says he doesn't want us to be ignorant about what's going to happen. Vs. 15 says we will by no means precede those who have fallen asleep. (Precede in what?) vs. 16 The dead in Christ will rise first. Wait a minute! Weren't they just with Jesus? Apparently, this is the rejoining of the spirit and the body when we are raised incorruptible. Vs. 17 Then the ones left on the earth who are alive will be caught up.
******
I Cor. 15:52,53 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.
******
Then we will be like Christ in His glorified body that was the firstborn from the dead.
******
I realize not all of you may come to my conclusion. It's just food for thought and not a 'salvation' issue.

Back to the Beginning - God's infallible Word.

Although I've already had a couple of entries, I suppose I really should start back at the beginning with the most basic precept of my studies.
***********
I BELIEVE THAT THE BIBLE IS THE INERRANT WORD OF GOD given through the medium of man, but is His very thoughts and ideas that God would have us to know in order to know Him and to live godly lives.
*************
Here is why.... First, you must have some base or else you can make up your own belief system based simply on the way you feel at any given time in your life.
**
Second, because God said so. Hebrews 6:18 It is impossible for God to lie and II Timothy 3:16 'All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. Matthew 5:18 'Not one jot or tittle will pass away from the law until all has been fulfilled.' (Jots and tittles are the Hebrew equivalent of periods and commas.) Proverbs 30:6 says, 'Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you and you be found a liar.' Rev. 22:18 concerning the book of Revelation - 'If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book and if anyone takes away from the words of this book of prophecy, God will take away his part from the Book of Life.'
**
God is pretty serious about His word being delivered properly. The ancient Jews, when copying the Torah, if any mistake was made in the scroll, the entire scroll was destroyed and burned and the ashes were sifted to make sure that no part remained.
**
MAINLY, I believe the Word of God is true because it proves itself true. There are so many, but I'm going to give just a few. A couple of the ones that stick out to me, but by all means are still just a few of what I can name right off hand. I hope you will see these as proofs to you, too. They seem all too obvious to me and it just seemed that to most ordinary people they would, too.
**
One proof, in Genesis 1 (follow it), the Lord says - 'Let there be light..', 'Let there be an expanse...', Let the water be gathered into one place.....', 'Let the land produce vegetation.....', 'Let the waters teem with living creatures....', ' Let the land produce living creatures....' and so forth. Now having said all that so fast, remember the theory of evolution? Water, slime....slime to fish, fish to land mammals? They have the sequence of when each animal shows up correct, just not why they show up. God created them. Most scientists assume because they just show up where they weren't there before, that they had to evolve from what was there. Nope. At any rate, thousands of years before man even knew the order they show up, God had Moses write it in Genesis. Now who would know the order, besides the One who put them there since man wasn't there and hadn't discovered the order yet?
**
Another proof is back in what we just read. Genesis 1:9. All the water was gathered into ONE place and dry ground appeared. You might skip right over that, but if the water is in one place - and God puts words in there for a reason - it stands to reason that the land is also in one place. Pangea. One large mass of land. Of course, it's just been known, understood and accepted by the scientific community since 1920. If you look at the earth on a globe, you can see how it fits together like puzzle pieces. (and see the puzzle pieces together on Wikipedia - Pangea) Later, Genesis 10:25 the earth divided. It was such a significant event that the Bible mentions it and Peleg means literally 'the land was split apart'. Of course, God told us about it thousands of years ago. Why? For people who need proofs...
**
Finally, and dare I say another one of God's perfectly planned jobs to show 'proof' for those who rely on 'proof' (and I am one of those 'show me' people). For those who need to be shown by a preponderance of the evidence that God is indeed God and He is quite able to dispense and preserve His Word. Read this....
**
A Bedouin shepherd, looking for a lost sheep, tossed a rock into a cave hoping to scare it out if it was in there. Instead, he heard the breaking of pottery. Upon investigating, he found many clay jars of scrolls containing the scriptures and Jewish history. This was in 1947. The scriptures dated back to 66 A.D. and were very well preserved. So you know how long they had been there???? Yep, and nobody had ever discovered them. And not just that cave, they were found in 10 caves! When they were compared with the Bible we have today that has been translated and copied and hand written through thousands of years, the only differences found were in schematics or word translation. For instance, schematics - Instead of saying 'they went after eating.' it would say, 'after eating, they went.' In word translation - instead of saying 'plates and cups, forks and spoons' it might say 'tableware and eating utensils'.
**

I believe it is a miracle directly from the hand of God that He keeps His word true and in tact. Knowing how well meaning human beings would try to 'fix' or 'correct' scientific errors to make the Word sound more true, it is a wonder it hasn't been completely rearranged by Biblical scholars in their attempt to prove the Bible true only to later have what they believed to be truth revealed as fraud, thus discrediting the Bible. But God has not allowed any one to 'correct' His Word and I have no doubt that what we think are scientific flaws or discrepancies in the scriptures now, will in due time be discovered as more 'proofs'.