My Eyes Cannot See--Part 2

Consider this simple illustration. Imagine a person is wandering in the woods and happens upon a funny object barely sticking out of the ground. As their curiosity leads them, they begin to dig around the object in order to pull it out of the ground for closer examination. Upon unearthing the object, they see it to be relatively square, with a glass screen and some knobs on one side and some sort of cord coming out of the other side. Just below the screen are the letters, S-O-N-Y. After examining the outside more closely, they decide to open it up and peer inside. With a rock, they crack the plastic shell that encases the innermost parts, and to their amazement, they happen upon a wide assortment of small and colorful parts, all attached together on green sheets of plastic and forming what looks like some sort of maze on each sheet.

 

So, what is it that they found? They found a television made by the Sony Corporation. Is there any doubt when listening to the illustration as to whether this object had a designer? No, not at all. What if the setting were one hundred or even five hundred years ago? What would the discoverers of this object think? Would they ever think it just appeared in the forest by chance? No, it is obvious that, no matter who finds it from whatever time period in human history, this object has a designer. Someone, something, somehow made it.

 

Now a television is made up of roughly three thousand individual parts to make up the whole set. That may seem like a lot, until one considers other designed things such as trees, birds, eyes, and the human body itself. God, the great Designer, has many wonderful accomplishments at which humanity can marvel, but the human body is truly His masterpiece. Whereas a TV set is composed of three thousand individual parts, the human body is a composite of a myriad of different parts as well. Consider that the human body is a collection of approximately ten thousand trillion atoms.[1] That is a ten with twelve more zeros following. That is a number that exceeds the number of stars that science believes to exist in the whole universe. In addition, consider that, “Each human cell is made up of a trillion atoms. The body contains between 10 and 100 trillion cells. We tear down and rebuild over a trillion cells every day. Each cell is remarkable in its own miniaturized way, with electric fields, protein factories, and hundreds of ATP energy motors 200 times smaller than a pinhead.”[2] With this sort of complexity in view, is it reasonable to argue that, if a television set is clearly a designed object, then the human body absolutely must be the work of a designer also. In truth, thinking otherwise would be utterly foolish.[3]

 

Every human body is a miracle, which exceeds human comprehension. The complexity and harmony of the body’s programmed functions are simply staggering to the mind. The Bible teaches that God made humans in His very image.[4] Further, the Bible says that God created humans a little lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor.[5] The Bible is correct. Take courage today, knowing that the biblical descriptions of humanity’s specialness and God’s creative prowess are accurate revelations from the Lord.

 

The statistical odds of the theory of evolution are in the realm of 1X10¹¹⁷. For those of you counting, that is a 1 with 117 zeros after it! The general consensus of mathematicians is that such numbers are useless, because beyond the number 1X10⁵⁵ you are talking about numbers that are absolutely absurd. Peace today!

 

 

(1) Richard A. Swenson, More than Meets the Eye: Fascinating Glimpses of God’s Power and Design (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2000), 94.

 

(2) Ibid.

 

(3) Psalm 14:1

(4) Genesis 1:26

 

(5) Psalm 8:5; and Hebrews 2:7

My Eyes Cannot See--Part 1

I believed the Gospel (the good news about Jesus Christ), became a Christian, was forgiven, became a citizen of heaven, and became an alien in this world on September 15, 1982. To say the least, this exciting event is a special memory to this day. On the following day, I spotted a neighborhood friend playing on the sidewalk outside of my home. While he was enjoying his own personal reenactment of World War II with some little green men on one side of the pavement and some little grey men on the other, I was skipping toward him with gleeful news. After a few polite comments about how cool he had set his army men up, the time had come for the big revelation.

“Guess what?” was the first question asked, to which he simply replied, “what?” The conversation quickly proceeded from there to the telling of my conversion experience in detail, including the nervousness felt, the walk down the aisle, and the words used to pray and ask the Lord Jesus for salvation. After the testimony was complete, I was stunned to hear my little friend speaking scornfully by saying, “that’s so silly. You don’t really believe in God or heaven do you? Don’t you know that our astronauts have been way up in space and they haven’t seen anything at all? I know it’s true because my daddy said so.”

From the perspective of a nine-year-old, he had presented a troublesome point. How does a Christian explain away the fact that God Himself is not presently visible to the human eye? This question, however, is not merely child’s play. Great thinkers and writers in modern times are wrestling with such thoughts. Many wonderful Christian writers were once of the same opinion as this writer’s nine-year-old friend. Popular Christian authors such as Josh McDowell, Lee Strobel, and Patrick Glynn all currently write in the field of Christian apologetics, yet at one time, they did not believe in God at all. So, what changed their minds? Reality changed their minds. They began to study diligently, with an open-mind, the teaching of the Christian faith. The more they scrutinized Scriptures, the more they came to believe in them.

Don't give up on the most important book in history and the most important person in history. It is illogical, ignorant, and arrogant to ignore Jesus and the Bible. Check it out thoroughly for yourself...then decide. You'll be glad you did!

Pray for the President...and your pastor!

Peter Drucker, the late leadership guru, said that the four hardest jobs in America (and not necessarily in order, he added) are: president of the United States, a university chancellor, a hospital CEO, and a church pastor.

Jimmy Draper, former president of the Lifeway Research Group, notes that for every 20 people who go into the pastorate only one retires from the ministry. Can you name any other profession where there is a 95 percent drop-off rate? Most don’t make it to retirement in the ministry because they are either fired, have a moral failure or just burned out and give up.

Pastors have the second-highest divorce rate of any profession. 48% of them think their job is detrimental to their family’s well-being. Another 46% will experience a burnout or a depression that will make them leave the ministry. 70 % say their self-esteem is lower now than when they started their position.

I'm not bringing this before you just because "I are one." I'm saying it because as a young pastor I have had way to many conversations with young and old pastors who are miserable. This should not be. I do, however, understand it in part. The church in America is suffering (70-80% are in decline) and men generally find their self worth in their success at work. Thus, pastors deal with feelings of failure and insignificance even when many within their churches express deep affection to them on a regular basis. In fact, the only pastors I speak with that are incredibly enthusiastic about life and their work are those who are seeing success and growth in their churches.

Therefore, if you are serving or attending a church that has plateaued in attendance or is in decline then there is a very good chance your pastor needs your encouragement on a consistent basis...he carries quite a load of responsibility on those small shoulders of his. Also, if you know of individuals within your church who are highly critical of your pastor then I have one question for you..."what are YOU doing to shut them up?"

Have you ever tried to sleep with a barking dog outside your window??? It does not make for very good rest does it? Neither do pastor's get any rest when church family members are constantly complaining about this or that. He hears their words in his sleep and he is robbed of peace and rest. Pastors have truly been called to shepherd their congregations and many, if not most, take this responsibility very seriously. Therefore, it is hard to carry the weight of others complaints and frustrations around constantly. And, add that the church is in decline or stagnant and you have the makings of what Jimmy Draper described above--burn out, fall out, fire out, or quit out.

So, pray for your pastor today...and maybe send him a card or an email letting him know you've got his back...and while your at it, pray for the president too...his job ain't that easy either!