Genesis 1-11

Just before my wife and I went away for a few days (we returned yesterday), I started a new series that I hope to publish on this blog. It is to be based on The Bible Project, and will provide a basic overview of every book in the Bible. It should be helpful to anyone who wishes to know more about the most important book (or, more accurately, library of books!) in the world, whether as a new disciple of Jesus, or as someone who just doesn't like reading very much! 

The Book of Genesis is the first book in the Bible Library and, as the name indicates, it deals with the beginning of all that is. There are, however, two distinct parts to the book. This video deals with the first of them - chapters 1-11.

Genesis 1-11 is one of the most important sections of the whole Bible! It deals with foundational truths, and sets the scene for the redemptive work of the Creator. In the next post, we'll look at the remainder of Genesis. 

Getting to know you!

In his book "Five things every Christian needs to grow" (my emphasis), the late R.C.Sproul makes the point that living the Christian life, effectively, is not something that "just happens". Just as a Gold Medal winner in the Olympic Games didn't just happen to arrive at the Stadium one day, and just happened to jump higher, run more quickly, or lift the heaviest weight, but did so as the result of years of training, practice, and discipline; so the Christian does not "just grow" in his faith. 

The Christian life is a vital relationship with Father God, through the Lord Jesus, the Christ and, like all relationships, it requires to be worked at. As I type this, my wife and I have been married for more than 48 years. That sort of marriage requires a lot more than the physical attraction we had for one another 50 years ago (when we started to be "an item"!). Our relationship with the Father requires to be worked at, as well! Paul encourages us: "...  work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure." (Phil 2:12-13).

R.C.Sproul offers five disciplines that will help us to live our Christian lives to the full. The first of these is Bible Study. That is the topic that, God willing, I shall seek to deal with over the next however many posts it takes. A friend; here in France; has often stated that the Church in the "West" is dying from ignorance - ignorance (as in 'lack of knowledge') of the Word of God. I agree fully! however, knowing that there are those who do not enjoy reading as much as I do, I plan to use some video clips. I plan to go through a particular series produced by The Bible Project; and also to intersperse those with some of the "Shorts" - a series of short answers to important questions, produced by SOLAS (The Centre for Public Christianity).

As I am going to be away for few days, and have extremely limited internet access, so this first post is going to be merely introductory. Of course, if a topic arises that I sense needs to be dealt with, then the series will be interrupted!

So, here are your two "starter" videos. Watch, and enjoy. I trust that they will be sufficient to whet your appetite for what is to follow.

For the SOLAS video intro, please click on the following link:

https://www.facebook.com/solascpc/videos/1424789827556253/?t=60 

Sorry, this link appears not to be working! Please "copy and paste"!

Postscript

In an unexpected situation, the following information was delivered to my Inbox, today. It has a direct application to the early part of the previous post, even if it deals with an different substance. However, as I doubt that very many teenagers access my blog, may I suggest that those who have direct access to that age group pass on the information to them?

"Using cannabis as a teenager increases the likelihood of depression and suicidal behaviour, new research has confirmed.

Doctors analysed eleven previous studies, covering more than 23,000 young people.

They warned that cannabis has a “devastating impact”, and urged teens to avoid using the drug.

Depression

In the largest study to date, researchers from the University of Oxford and McGill University in Canada found that using cannabis before the age of 18 increased the chance of developing depression by 37 per cent.

Published by the American Medical Association, the study found that around 60,000 cases of depression in the UK could be attributed to cannabis use in teenage years.

Researchers said the findings highlighted an important public health problem.

‘Devastating’

The team emphasised that teenagers should stop using the drug, and said greater education is needed for parents who have a relaxed attitude to it.

Professor Andrea Cipriani, the study’s co-author, said: “The number of people who are exposed to cannabis, especially in this vulnerable age, is very high”.

He added: “Now we know that, especially for teenagers, there may be an effect which is biological, with some consequences which can be devastating”.

More attention

The Times editorial welcomed the findings, saying: “The new study creates the most robust link between youthful cannabis use and depression.”

The newspaper also encouraged parents to be better informed about the danger the drug poses for their children.

It concluded that “too little attention has been paid to the drug’s far wider psychological impact, which is anything but benign”."

Keep off the grass!

It was a sign that I saw many times when I was a young boy. Usually in public parks, and similar grassy areas, the sign "Keep off the grass" was a warning to walk only on the pathway provided!

Of course, as I grew older, I discovered that "grass" was another name given to the dried leaf of the hemp plant - also known as marijuana, and referred to as "weed", "pot", or "grass". Often (I believe - I have no personal experience! However, I learned a lot during my time as a Police Force Chaplain.) it is smoked like a cigarette, named a "reefer", and produces an exaggerated feeling of well-being; an increased sense of self-confidence; and a lessening of moral restraint. It distorts perception, and creates a psychological dependence, that we refer to as an addiction. There may well be medical uses for marijuana, and having it administered under clinical conditions, and by a qualified doctor may be useful (when I went into hospital, in my early twenties, with renal colic - stones in the kidney - I was given morphine injections!) but the golden rule would be "Keep off the grass"!

These addictive drugs mean that one is, basically, dependant upon something other than Father God. However, while the destructive habits of the drug addict - and that addiction could be to anything from alcohol to heroin - are a serious problem for the user, those of us who have not succumbed to such substances may well ask ourselves if it is possible that we may, in principle, be guilty of similar unhealthy habits!

This may be especially true for those of us who claim to be disciples of the Lord Jesus, the Christ. While not addicted to a drug such as marijuana,or any other similar substance, we may all too easily become dependant upon other "gods" to produce the same effects. Some, for example, try to lose their fears in an endless round of social activities - while neglecting fellowship with the Lord's people. Others are so addicted to watching television that they have little time for prayer and the reading and study of God's written Word. Still others look to money, and other possessions.

However, if we are truly honest, none of these things bring us lasting satisfaction. Indeed, anything that detracts from our dependence upon the Heavenly Father is an offence in His eyes! Things that may not be, in themselves, wrong can finally occupy such a prominent place in my life that they become objects of worship and, if that happens, I am breaking the first and greatest commandment. "... a lawyer, asked [Jesus] a question, to test Him. "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" And He said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment." (Matt 22:35-38).

The highest good for the disciple of Jesus is found in complete reliance upon Him, and the Spirit Who indwells us. Let us, therefore, "Keep off the grass" of false substitutes for God - whatever they may be!

Womb - or tomb (Part 4)

This is the last of the four posts on the topic of abortion that that, due to the current controversy in the USA, I am repeating from August 2014. 

This final part of this mini-series is one for which a warning must be issued.  The following post contains information that some will find distressing.  In this post, I wish to look at the methods that are used by the abortion industry.

The pregnancy may be about one-third of the way through its course - it may, of course, be even further on!  The mother is probably lying on a gynaecological examination table.  The abortionist uses a syringe with a four-inch needle to extract about 60cc of the amniotic fluid from the womb. This is then replaced with 200cc of a strong saline solution.

Immediately, that little human being who already has all of the organs of any other human, and even has the fingerprints that make that child unique in the whole history of humankind, begins to suffer violent convulsions.  Instead of the pleasant, and beneficial, swallows of the amniotic fluid, the unborn child now experiences the bitter taste of a lethal poison.  Caustic salt burns that little throat; the delicate skin; the unopened eyes; the ears that will never hear.  Vainly the child tries to escape, throwing him/herself from side to side in violent contortions - an agony that may last for hours, and which the mother will follow by those pointless movements of self-defence.

When death does arrive, the tragic drama may still have several hours to play out - until the the child, looking like the victim of napalm bombing, is finally expelled from what should have been the safest of environments. 

However, that is only one of the methods used in this murderous trade.  If the abortion takes place early enough in the pregnancy, the method used is more likely to be that of vacuum aspiration.  This involves the use of a vacuum machine that is almost thirty times more powerful than a domestic cleaner.  As an aside, I do wonder if the current decision of the European Union to ban the sale of all vacuum cleaners with motors stronger than 1600 watts will apply to abortion clinics!  I think that I know the answer!  Such powerful machines are necessary - as a special tube, inserted through the mother's vagina, sucks the baby from the womb; tearing it, violently, from the walls of the uterus. Death, at least, comes quickly, as the little unique individual is totally dismembered.

Depending on the stage of the pregnancy, another method may be used.  This is D&C (Dilation and Curettage).  This involves cutting the placenta, and slicing up the body of the unborn child within the uterus, using special surgical instruments called curettes, before finally sucking it out.  This is a method that requires very careful follow-up.  In order to ensure that no foetal part that could cause a life-threatening infection in the womb, the body of that helpless, unborn, child has to be carefully put together again - like some grotesque human jigsaw puzzle.  It is then disposed of in whatever way the clinic/hospital sees fit.

Of course, if the unborn child is more than three months old, the bones will already have calcified (hardened).  The procedure then available is D&E (Dilation and Evacuation).  In this case, tongs are used to separate the bones - first of the legs; then the arms; then the back.  Finally, the head must be crushed before all is sucked out.

Please note that, in all of these methods, the unborn child is not even anaesthetised!  In spite of overwhelming medical and scientific evidence, the abortion industry refuses to accept the sentience of the unborn child.  In other words, it refuses to accept that those little bodies are capable of feeling pain!

Just two other methods may be used, as far as I know, both for late abortions.  One involves the injection of a chemical that induces premature delivery; the other involves a hysterotomy - simply a Caesarean procedure that aims, not to save the child's life, but to destroy it.  In each of these cases, the infant dies outside the womb - and it is after such abortions that children have been discovered alive, in black bin-bags, ready to be thrown into the incinerator.

Abortion - the murder of a helpless human being, at a very early stage of its development, in the place in which it should be safest - its mother's womb.  It is a terrible indictment on humankind that, for so many, that womb becomes, temporarily, a tomb.