THIS AFTERNOON I WENT TO SEE THE NEW MOVIE GOD'S NOT DEAD.
OVERALL A GOOD MOVIE, JUST A LITTLE THEOLOGICAL MISTAKE....SO IN THE OVERALL IT WAS GOOD.
THE THEATER WAS JUST ABOUT FULL......MANY "CHRISTIANS" ATTENDING.
IT IS BASICALLY A DEBATE OF SORT BETWEEN A FRESHMAN AND HIS PROFESSOR IN A PHILOSOPHY CLASS. THE PROFESSOR WANTS HIS STUDENT TO ADMIT GOD IS DEAD, NO SUCH BEING. HE WANTS THEM TO WRITE THE WORDS "GOD IS DEAD" ON PAPER AND HAND THEM IN.
A CHRISTIAN YOUNG MAN CANNOT DO SO....HENCE THE TEACHER IS GOING TO MAKE FUN OF HIM IN A TYPE OF DEBATE; I SAY TYPE OF, BECAUSE IT IS NOT THE RULES OF A TYPICAL DEBATE.
WELL THE FAMOUS PROFESSOR STEPHEN HAWKING IS SAID TO BE AN ATHEIST ..... DON'T KNOW HIM WELL ENOUGH TO KNOW IF THAT IS TRUE, BUT THE MOVIE SAYS IT IS.
APPARENTLY IN HAWKING'S WRITINGS HE'S SUPPOSEDLY SAID, THAT BECAUSE OF GRAVITY THE UNIVERSE HAD TO COME INTO BEING.
THE YOUNG MAN HAD SHOWN THE CLASS THAT THE UNIVERSE ABOUT 14 BILLION YEARS AGO CAME INTO BEING FROM NOTHING, WITH THE BING BANG SCIENTISTS PRETTY WELL ALL AGREE TOOK PLACE.
THE YOUNG MAN DOES NOT ANSWER HAWKING'S GRAVITY THEORY IN A WAY THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE FIRST OBVIOUS WAY...... WHO CREATED GRAVITY?
HE DOES QUOTE HAWKING'S SAYING "PHILOSOPHY IS DEAD."
OTHER PEOPLE ARE IN THE MOVIE IN THEIR VARIOUS LIFE SITUATIONS, TO MAKE THE MOVIE MORE INTERESTING.
AS THE YOUNG MAN DOES BRING OUT, PEOPLE WANT TO BELIEVE THERE IS NO GOD, SO THERE IS NO MORAL NORM, OR ANY RULES TO FOLLOW, AND SO PEOPLE CAN THEN DO WHATEVER THEY FEEL IS RIGHT AND CORRECT.
WHICH OF COURSE BRINGS THE WORLD EVENTUALLY INTO ANARCHY, OR AT LEAST A NATION INTO ANARCHY THAT SAYS THERE IS NO RULES TO FOLLOW. A SOCIETY CAN OF COURSE SET ITS OWN RULES, BUT THEN PEOPLE CAN SAY WE DON'T AGREE WITH THOSE RULES AND SO DO THEIR OWN THING. WHICH WOULD EVENTUALLY BRING THE BREAK-DOWN OF THAT SOCIETY AS PEOPLE GO THEIR OWN WAY.
THOSE WHO DO NOT WANT TO BELIEVE GOD EXISTS, DO NOT WANT TO THINK ABOUT IT EVEN, DO SO SIMPLY SO THEY CAN INDEED NOT THEN ADMIT, THAT THIS GOD COULD WRITE A BOOK, TELLING US HOW TO LIVE - THE BIBLE. THEY WANT TO "I DID IT MY WAY" AS A POPULAR SONG WAS ONCE NAMED.
THE EXISTENCE OF GOD WAS TO ME PRETTY SIMPLE AS A CHILD OF 3, 4, 5. BORN IN A SMALL VILLAGE IN WALES; SEEING NATURE RIGHT NEXT TO THE HOUSE; BIRDS, CATERPILLARS, BUTTERFLIES, LADYBIRDS, TREES, HORSES, FLOWERS, THE STARS AT NIGHT, THE VEGETABLES GROWING IN THE GARDEN...... WELL TO ME IT WAS ALL JUST MARVELOUS AND WONDERFUL. GOING TO MY FIRST CLASS IN A CHURCH OF ENGLAND SCHOOL, AND OPENING UP THE BIBLE ON THAT FIRST DAY OF CLASS, AND READING: "IN THE BEGINNING GOD CREATED THE HEAVEN AND EARTH." WELL THAT WAS IT TO ME - THE ANSWER WAS JUST THAT SIMPLE.
THERE WAS A GOD IN HEAVEN, A BEING SO GREAT AND SO MIGHTY AND SO POWERFUL, IT WAS HE WHO CREATED ALL I COULD SEE IN NATURE AROUND ME.
NOW I HAD NO REASON TO HATE OR DISLIKE THIS SUPREME BEING. SURE HAD NOT DONE ANYTHING TO ME TO GET ME UPSET AT HIM [WHICH THE FILM BRINGS OUT IS ANOTHER REASON PEOPLE DO NOT WANT TO BELIEVE IN A GOD, THEY ARE ANGRY AT HIM FOR THIS OR FOR THAT, THAT THEY DON'T THINK SHOULD BE ALLOWED OR DONE IN THIS OFTEN TERRIBLE WORLD].
I SURE DID NOT AT THAT TIME KNOW ABOUT HIS TEN COMMANDMENT, OR ANY LAWS HE WANTED US TO LIVE BY. SO I SURE DID NOT HATE THIS GOD, OR WAS ANGRY WITH HIM.
LATER IN THAT FIRST YEAR OF SCHOOL WE HAD TO LEARN TO RECITE THE FULL TEN COMMANDMENTS AS FOUND IN EXODUS 20.
I DID NOT DISLIKE THOSE LAWS. IN FACT I THOUGHT THEY WERE SUPER GOOD. THOUGHT THEY WERE PRETTY NATURAL AND COMMON SENSE, IF THE WORLD WANTED TO LIVE IN PEACE AND HAPPINESS. OF COURSE I AT AGE 5, DID NOT KNOW HOW EVIL THE WORLD COULD BE; FOUND OUT AS THE YEARS WENT BY; ONLY MAKING THE 10 COMMANDMENTS IN MY MIND EVEN MORE BEAUTIFUL, FOR INDEED IF ALL NATIONS SERVED THEM, THE WORLD WOULD BE BEAUTIFUL AND PEACEFUL AND LOVELY EVERY DAY OF EVERY YEAR.
NATURE IN MY VERY YOUNG MIND PROVED A CREATOR. WHEN I WOULD LOOK AT IT WITH CLOSE UP EYES, I WAS BLOWN AWAY BY THE MIND-BENDING DETAIL OF IT ALL. YES AT AGE 6, 7, 8, 9. I WOULD SAY TO MYSELF, HOW CAN ANYONE DENY THERE IS A CREATOR, WITH ALL THIS INTRICATE CREATION AROUND US. AND THE MORE IN CLASS THAT WE STUDIED THAT INTRICATE NATURE, JUST THE MORE I WAS CONVINCED THERE WAS A GOD IN HEAVEN.
THEN I LEARNT ABOUT THE FLOWERS AND THE BEES. THE BEES NEEDING THE FLOWERS AND THE FLOWERS NEEDED THE BEES [AND OTHER CRAWLING/FLYING INSECTS] TO POLLINATE; HENCE THE CYCLE TO MOVE IN A CIRCLE. ALL SUCH LIVING THINGS DEPENDING ON OTHER LIVING THINGS HAD TO BE CREATED AT THE SAME TIME. AND JUST SILLY "CHANCE" OF EVOLUTION HAPPENING THAT WAY, WAS TOO SILLY AND FRANKLY TOO DUMB, FOR MY CHILD MIND TO EVEN CONTEMPLATE. WHEN I HEARD ABOUT "EVOLUTION" AT THAT AGE, I LITERALLY LAUGHED AT THE IDEA, THOUGHT IT WAS THE CRAZIEST BELIEF IN THE WORLD. THOUGHT PEOPLE HAD TO BE REALLY STUPID, AND BRAINLESS, TO BELIEVE IN EVOLUTION.
YOU SEE I HAD NO ARGUMENT WITH GOD'S TEN COMMANDMENTS. I THOUGHT THEY WERE THE GREATEST!
YES, AS TIME WENT ON, I COULD SEE THE TERRIBLE, SAD, THINGS THAT SOMETIMES HAPPENED TO PEOPLE. SICKNESS, DEATH, WARS, HATE, BACK-STABBING, JEALOUSY, MEAN-TRICKS ON KIDS AND PEOPLE. BUT I COULD SEE THAT WAS PART OF GOD ALLOWING US TO BE FREE MORAL AGENTS. I COULD SEE THAT WE HUMANS WERE NOT ROBOTS OF GOD. IF WE WERE ROBOTS THEN WE WOULD NOT BE FREE HUMANS, BUT A MACHINE. AS GOD DID NOT MAKE US A MACHINE, LIKE SAY HE MADE THE HORSE TO BE A MACHINE FOR US HUMANS [HORSES ETC. DOING WHAT HORSES DO, LIVING A KIND OF AUTOMATIC LIFE] THEN NOT BEING A MACHINE, WE HAD FREE WILL.
I LEARNT AS THE YEARS WENT BY AND READING MORE AND MORE OF THE BIBLE IN SCHOOL CLASS AND AT HOME BY MYSELF, THAT GOD CRIED OUT TO US TO HEAR HIM, TO LOVE HIM, TO LOVE HIS LAWS AND COMMANDMENTS; HE PLEADED WITH US TO GO, LIVE, THE RIGHT WAY THAT WOULD BRING PEACE, JOY, AND HAPPINESS.
YES I SAW WHERE HE SAID TO ISRAEL, LOOK I HAVE SET BEFORE YOU THIS DAY LIFE AND DEATH, FOLLOW ME, OBEY MY LAWS, AND YOU SHALL HAVE LIFE; DISOBEY AND YOU SHALL HAVE SUFFERINGS. I'VE SET BEFORE YOU LIFE AND DEATH.....BUT CHOOSE LIFE!!
AND I CAME TO UNDERSTAND THAT GOD WAS NOT JUST ONE SINGLE PERSON, ONE SINGLE HEAVENLY BEING. THERE WAS ANOTHER BEING, A GOD BEING. AN "US" AS GENESIS SAID. AND THAT BECAUSE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US HAS SINNED, BROKEN GOD'S LAW, THIS OTHER GOD BEING, WOULD BE, WAS WILLING TO COME TO THIS EARTH AS FLESH AND BLOOD, LIVE, OVERCOME SIN, TAKE OUR SINS UPON HIMSELF, AND DIE AN AGONIZING DEATH ON A ROMAN CROSS. SO WE COULD HAVE THE GRACE, THE MERCY, THE FORGIVENESS, OF GOD; THE GOD WHOM THE NEW TESTAMENT CALLED "OUR FATHER." AND THIS SECOND MEMBER OF THE GODHEAD CAME TO BE CALLED JESUS THE CHRIST - SAVIOR THE MESSIAH, THE ANOINTED ONE.
AND I GUESS THAT BRINGS US TO THE BEGINNING OF THIS 14TH DAY OF THE FIRST MONTH IN GOD'S CALENDAR - THE PASSOVER EVENING. TO REMEMBER THE WONDERFUL, GLORIOUS ..... WORDS FAILING US..... EVENT WHERE OUR ELDER BROTHER [HE'S NOT ASHAMED TO CALL US BROTHERS - HEBREW 2] GAVE HIS LIFE IN DEATH SO WE COULD BE JUSTIFIED, RECONCILED TO THE FATHER.
TIME INDEED TO MEDITATE ON THE GLORIOUSNESS OF IT ALL, AND PRAISE HIS NAME.
Keith Hunt
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