The heavens declare the Glory of God.

One of my German friends, who worked at the time in the family's fine engineering business, showed me the kind of tolerance levels to which the company worked in its machining of metal components.  There was a large circle, drawn on a large sheet of paper.  If my memory serves me well, that circle was about 18" (45cm) in diameter.  In the middle was a dot.  The circle, my friend informed me, represented 1 cm. (0.4").  The dot, to the same scale, represented the tolerance to which the company machined!

I thought back to that event when I was reminded, today, that on July 4th of this year, physicists at the CERN facility in Geneva announced the discovery of a particle that may well be the elusive "Higgs' boson" - referred to, in the popular media, as "the God particle".

One of the staff in the U.S.A. Department of Energy's laboratory in Chicago (which is exclusively dedicated to the study of particle physics), a gentleman who is also a disciple of Jesus, has said this: "Science reveals the nature of God.  ... In the 1980s, we seldom talked about God in scientific circles.  But in the 90s, scientists realised they didn't know anything about the vast majority of the universe.  Now, in the 2000s, scientists discuss the possibiity of a Supreme Being at scientific lectures and colloquia ... Every two to four years, knowledge doubles in the various fields of science ... we are realising that we hardly know anything."  http://ag.org/top/News/index_articledetail.cfm?targetBay=c97d4d5c-a325-4921-9a9e-e9fbddd9cdce&ModID=2&Process=DisplayArticle&RSS_RSSContentID=23358&RSS_OriginatingChannelID=1184&RSS_OriginatingRSSFeedID=3359&RSS_Source

I am reminded that even Albert Einstein stated that: "Everyone who is seriously interested in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe- a spirit vastly superior to man, and one in the face of which our modest powers must feel humble."   Long before Einstein, Johannes  Kepler described science as: "thinking God's thoughts after Him."

The point is that, to use my engineering friend's illustration, if that circle was to be drawn ten times its size, and this was to represent the sum total of all of the knowledge in the universe, then what mankind actually knows would not even be enough to be represented by that dot (left at the same size!) in the middle.

Of course, there will always be those who will refuse to accept even the possibility of the existence of the Creator. They are those of whom Paul wrote: "The coming of the lawless one by the activity of Satan will be with all power and with pretended signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are to perish, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.  Therefore God sends upon them a strong delusion, to make them believe what is false, so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (II Thess 2:9-12; RSV).

Centuries before Paul, the Psalmist-king of Israel wrote: "The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims His handiwork." (Ps 19:1; RSV).  They still declare that glory today - to those who have eyes to see!

Building Your Home

A great and wise man once called one of his workmen to him saying, "Go into the far country and build for me a house. The decisions of planning and of actual construction will be yours, but remember, I shall come to accept your work for a very special friend of mine."

And so the workman departed with a light heart for his field of labour. Material of all kinds was plentiful here, but the workman had a mind of his own. "Surely," he thought, "I know my business. I can use a bit of inferior material here, and cheat on my workmanship a little there, and still make the finished work look good. Only I will know that what I have built has weaknesses."

And so, at last the work was completed and the workman reported back to the great and wise man. "Very good," he said. "Now you remember that I wanted you to use only the finest materials and craftsmanship in this house because I wanted to make present of it? My friend, you are the one I had you build it for. It is all yours."

How much like us. We come to earth as strangers. We have free will. We may build our lives as we like. But on "that Day" each of us will receive what (s)he has built for an eternal home and habitation.

Jesus said:"Every one then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock; and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And every one who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand; and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell; and great was the fall of it." (Matt 7:24-27; RSV).

For those of us who own the Lord Jesus as our personal Saviour, Paul has this to say: "According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and another man is building upon it. Let each man take care how he builds upon it.  For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.  Now if any one builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay , straw - each man's work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If any one destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and that temple you are." (I Cor 3:10-17; RSV).

Be careful how, and what, you build!

Feet of clay!

It was just before I closed my Facebook account, last week, that the stories of the late Jimmy Savile's alleged abuse of children during his long career in radio and television, were breaking.  The comments all suggested that the writers were unable to believe that such allegations could have even a grain of truth in them, and most seemed to be expressing the fervent hope that they would all be shown to be false.

A week later, and the picture has changed - and changed quite dramatically!  The ITV documentary has been screened; a steady stream of fresh allegations have been made by those who claim to have been victims of Mr Savile's unwanted attention; and an increasing number of former colleagues are claiming that his behaviour was, in fact "an open secret" (to quote just one such person) within the BBC.

The major question, for many, is why it is only now that these folk who appeared to have known about the activities of the "Jim'll Fix It" star, are speaking out!  Suggestions have been made that it was because of the way in which the libel laws in the U.K. are formed.  However, that merely begs the question: "If the evidence was so strong, why would anyone worry about the libel laws?"  After all, if what I say is proved to be true, I am not being libellous!

The subject matter of the current complaints concerning the former "showbiz celebrity" aside, there is another aspect that doesn't appear to have been picked up by the media.  We live in a culture and society in which a person's worth is so often measured by their "entertainment value", be it in the field of T.V./radio/theatre/film, sport, or whatever.  Unfortunately, as the current situation may well yet show, those who are raised up on pedestals by an adoring public, are all too often found to be made of clay! 

Of course, there is One Who never lets His followers down.  That One is the Lord Jesus.  He, and He alone in the history of mankind, was able to ask, not His friends, but His enemies, "Which of you convicts me of sin?" (John 8:46; RSV).  Of course, no-one could because, as the writer of the Letter to Hebrew disciples of Jesus could claim: "... we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin." (Heb 4:15; RSV - my emphasis).

If you want a role model worth following; if you want someone to whom you may look up; if you want someone who will never let you down; look  "... to Jesus the Pioneer and Perfecter of our faith Who, for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." (Heb 12:2; RSV).

Abortion - there's just no getting away from it!

Public pronouncements - albeit expressing personal points of view - by three Cabinet Ministers, have re-ignited the debate on abortion at a Parliamentary level.

Culture Secretary Maria Miller, who is also the minister for women, has stated that she would like a 20 week limit.  Speaking on this morning's Today programme on BBC4 radio, Home Secretary Theresa May said she, also, believed there was scope to reduce the limit on when a termination can take place, to 20 weeks into a pregnancy.  Earlier in the week the new Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, went even further, saying he believed the limit should be cut to 12 weeks - half the present maximum.

However, the most interesting comment came from Mr Hunt.  According to reports, he favours the 12-week limit as this is his view "... about that incredibly difficult question about the moment that we should deem life to start"  and that "... my view is that 12 weeks is the right point for it,".

To the best of my knowledge, the Health Secretary is neither a medical practitioner, nor a biologist (perhaps he should be; but that's another subject altogether!).  I certainly claim no professional expertise in either field.  What I know is that only that which is alive is capable of organic growth.

This leads me to ask what has been happening in the womb during the first 12 weeks of gestation?  The answer, surely, is that a process of growth has been taking place.  Indeed, that process commences as soon as the sperm penetrates the egg, and mitosis takes place.  The only difference between that moment and forty weeks later is development.

Many of us agree with Mr Hunt that abortion ought not to take place once life has begun.  We differ with him, however, in our understanding of when that happens! 

So-called "women's choice" is actually whether, or not, to murder the most indefensible, in the very place in which it should be safest.

Inconsistency - or total hypocrisy?

So 15-year-old Megan Stammers is back on British soil, with her mother and stepfather, and safely away from the fiend of a teacher who abducted her and took her to France!

Wait a minute!  I saw the CCTV images that were shown on the TV News programmes.  She certainly didn't appear to be under any compulsion - walking hand-in-hand with her teacher, who was being portrayed as probably having become somewhat more than a teacher!

Understandably, most thinking adults - certainly those of us who are the parents of daughters - have been up in arms over this affair, and the only complaint of which I am aware is that the British police took as long as they did to organise a European Arrest Warrant for 30-year-old Mr Jeremy Forrest.

But wait another minute!  What if these two people claim that they "love" each other?  This, after all, is the reason that is regularly trotted out in favour of the attempts to redefine marriage.  If two men, or two women, "love" one another, they should be given the right to be married.  And a pupil and teacher?  Why not?!

It's another example of the "can of worms" that would be opened if the legislation to redefine marriage is introduced at either Holyrood or Westminster.  Of course, someone may argue that Megan is under-age.  But if they wait even the three years that would be necessary for a pupil-teacher relationship to be legal, would her family (and his wife!) be happy to give their blessing to the union of the 18-year-old and the 33-year-old?  Possibly - but I suspect not.

So, is the difference in attitude merely inconsistent - or is it totally hypocritical?