Values To Be Taught Children

And By Which You Should Live

Teach your children some basics. Such as:
* All of life isn’t fun. Fun isn’t the criteria by which you judge what you should do. Sometime it isn’t fun to do right. If having fun had been the basis of action there would have been no willingness on behalf of Columbus to suffer privation in order to sail the ocean blue. It wasn’t fun to defend America against the Nazi threat in World War II.
It isn’t fun to do homework, be responsible and show up on time for engagements, attend choir practice, or do your home chores.

* Don’t whine because life isn’t fair. It isn’t. It never was and never will be. Don’t expect it. “Fair” isn’t the issue “right” is.

* Some things are special, some places sacred, and some persons worthy of respect. It is proper to respect the flag and stand for the playing of the national anthem. Don’t lose a sense of awe and wonder regarding life.

* It is OK to respect those with whom we differ while lovingly defending our beliefs.

* You are a responsible person. Don’t look for excuses or someone to blame. Assume responsibility for your own actions.

* Life takes on meaning when you have a Biblical world view. Base you beliefs and conduct on God’s Word.

The Twelve Tribes

The tribe of Levi, the priestly tribe, is sometimes not numbered according to the instruction given by the Lord to Moses (Numbers 1: 47-50). When they are omitted the two sons of Joseph are included. They were Manasseh and Ephraim (Numbers 1: 20-47).

When Levi is included along with Manasseh and Ephraim there are thirteen (Gen. 46: 8-24).

Numbering of the tribes is confusing. In the N.T. the number “twelve” is referred to in Matthew 19:28; James 1:1; Acts 26:7; Revelation 7:1.

Confusion results, in part, from various listings being for different purposes. Some are genealogical, some geological, some priestly, and some non-priestly.

In general the number “twelve” is used to refer to “all Israel.”

The tradition of twelve maintained in most lists: Genesis 35:22-26; Deut. 27:12,13; I Chron. 2:1-2, Ezekial 48:1f.

The most common grouping is:
Judah
Benjamin
Joseph
Ephraim
Mannasseh
Issachar
Naphtali
Zebulon
Asher
The Transjordan tribal territories
Gad
Ruben
The Half-tribe of Manasseh
The Remaining West Jordanian Tribes
Dan
Simeon

The Trinity

The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the most challenging and complex Christian doctrines. The Christian “godhead” is a moral and mental unity, fused together by mutual love and common purpose. It is the essence of Deity abiding in each that makes them one.

The small unit of matter, an atom, is diverse yet one unit. Each component exists to constitute one atom.

The Bible clearly teaches the doctrine of the tri-unity of God.
Jesus said, “The first [commandment] is, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, is one…'” (Mark 12:29).

I Corinthians 8:4 states, “…there is no God but one…”

How does this square with the command of Jesus to baptize “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19)?

Note it to be done in the name not names. This speaks of oneness.

Texts mentioning the three members of the tri-unity are: I Peter 1:12,; Titus 3:4-6; John 3: 34 and Ephesians 3: 14-19.

Nature gives examples of three in one.
H2O exists as three. As a liquid it is water, as a solid it is ice, as a gas it is vapor, yet having one nature it exits in three-forms.

Saint Patrick used the shamrock to illustrate the Trinity. It has three petals yet is one shamrock.

Place three match heads beside each other and strike them. There is one flame in the three.

The next time you bite a banana look at the end. It is equally divided into three parts, yet it is one.

How can the Lord our God be one if the Trinity is true? Hold a stem of grapes with three grapes. There is one bunch consisting of three. Hence, three in one.

Gregory of Ninzus wrote in the fourth century: “When I contemplate the Three together, I see but one luminary, and cannot divide or measure out the undivided light.”

The title ascribed to one member of the Trinity, “Son of God,” confuses some persons.

The dictionary recognizes the term “son” at times signifying not generation but association. James and John were called “the sons of thunder.” The name Barnabas means “the son of encouragement.” Jesus referred to “the son of peace” in Luke 10:6. These titles identified their nature; that to which they were related.

Jesus is referred to as the Son of God not to indicate generation but relationship. Jesus is not called “a Son of God,” but “the Son of God.” He occupies a unique position of equality with the Father and Holy Spirit.

In Scripture the Greek word HUIOS is used when speaking of Jesus as the Son of God. TEKNON is the Greek word used in reference to all others as sons of God. Teknon stresses the fact of birth. Huios emphasizes dignity and character of a relationship.

Some cults profess Jesus to be a son of God just as all believers are. The distinction made by the use of these words reveals Him to have a unique relationship with the Father. Remember the word unique means none other like it.

Tree of Life

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God” (Rev 2:7).

The tree of life is first spoken of in Gen. 2:9. Following the fall of Adam and Eve it was guarded by a flaming sword lest they eat of it and acquire immortality.

“Paradise” (PARADEISOS) is a Persian word meaning “a garden.” It spoke of fellowship. Jesus is referred to as the restorer of the lost Paradise, fellowship.

The expression “tree of life” as used here conveys symbolically the concept of eternal life and the banishment of suffering and death (Rev. 22:1,2). The perennila fruit in the heavenly Jerusalem speaks of eternal life and fellowship. Jesus is the one who gives access to fellowship and eternal life.

As used here the expression refers to the restored perfect fellowship between man and God as known before the fall in Eden.

To the people of Ephesus in that day this expression had a very important meaning. Their coins contained engravings of a sacred tree used in nature worship. To them this expression in Rev. 2:7 was assurance that the source of life originates from a deeper reality than that which the cultic goddess images on their coins inferred.

Time Helps Us Understand Eternity

It’s about time!

That is, this column is about “time.” Have you ever taken time to think about time? It was Benjamin Franklin who said, “If you love life don’t waste time for that is the stuff life is made of.”

In the Greek text the Gospel of John begins, “Before time began to begin….” There was a “time” when there was no time.

Lovers often speak of being devoted “to the end of time.”

Academicians have been giving a lot of thought to “time.” It is a fertile field in which my mind gets bogged down. Physicists in particular have given it a lot thought. Consider their imaginary visit to our nearest star, Sirius. It is nine light years away. Traveling there at 99.99999% of the speed of light the following would happen. Persons here on earth would have to wait about 18 years for your return. Upon returning your watch and body clock would indicate you were gone 12 hours. You would be 12 hours older and your earth bound friends 18 years older. If you could accelerate to the speed of light time would stand still. It is already getting a little boggy.

What time is it? Where? When it is twelve noon in Georgia it is 6:00 PM in Europe and 6:00 AM in Hawaii. What time is it at that moment half way to the sun? Does time ever change in deep outer space?

Stephen Hawkins, who holds Newton’s chair Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge is widely regarded as the most brilliant theoretical physicist since Einstein wrote:

“Up to the beginning of this century people believed in an absolute time. That is, each event could be labeled by a number called “time’ in a unique way, and all good clocks would agree on the time interval between two events….[with] the theory of relativity… one had to abandon the idea that there was a unique absolute time.” He concludes, “The theory of relativity gets rid of absolute time.”
He and others using nuclear clocks tested the theory of absolute time and reported the results were in exact agreement with the theory of relativity.

Hawkins is joined by Princeton physicist, John Wheeler, who coined the phrase “black hole” in concluding time stands still on what is called the surface of a black hole, a collapsing star.

I don’t understand that. Perhaps the apostle Peter understood more than we when he wrote of God’s perception of time: “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day” (II Peter 3:8).

Are physicists opening a crack in the door to let us better see what is called immortality and eternity?

On a lighter note imagine this interview with God.
“God, what is a million dollars like to you?”
“Like a penny.”
“What is a thousand years like to you?”
“Like a minute.”
“God, will you give me a million dollars?”
“In a minute.”