https://rgonce.blogspot.com/2013/03/pictures-of-salvation.html
Last week I was contacted by an 80yr old physicist, an inventor who had seen www.deadseapower.com and wanted to tell me about his invention of a pipeline that could move water very economically, suggesting it should replace the tunnel in the proposed project.
I told him about Ezekiel's vision in chapter 47, and said I would stick with the tunnel design.
http://ezekielproject.org/history.shtml
Turns out he is an avowed atheist, and had stopped having religious discussions sixty years ago. He commanded me to stop talking with him about religion. After a few more exchanges, I asked him to explain to me how gravity works. He called me on the phone, and we had a ten minute discussion about politics in the Middle East, and various connections.
Highly educated atheists are a real challenge to those of us who want to share our faith in Jesus. My experience has been the reception of rabid insults in response to suggesting study about YHWH and Yeshua. I tell them that I just want to examine factual information, including science and history. But atheists seem to be afraid to open themselves to inquiry about faith in God, having decided to reject faith, and having no desire to revisit their decision.
The Bible is a remarkable book. It has stood the challenge of endless critique, and mindless affronts. Those of us who believe should not be thin skinned about our faith. We should be ready to suffer insults, and still be kind and gracious. But I will not stop talking about Jesus.
The challenge is to identify information that is factual and supported by science and history. For example, when I visited the coast of Israel at Palmachim, I noticed that the stones jutting through the surf looked familiar.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmachim
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurkar
The calcarious sandstone at Palmachim is very similar to the calcarious sandstone boulders that have rolled down the mountain at my house. Our ancient stone wall was built of such stones, and from my childhood I had wondered at the sea shells embedded in the stones. Turns out that this stone is formed in the surf of a sandy beach, of sea shells mixed with sand and cemented with the calcium from sea creatures. I am very familiar with this stone as I used it to build the foundation wall of the cabin where we live.
https://rgonce.blogspot.com/2012/12/from-peaceful-visa-of-front-porch-of.html
Yes, the mountain behind my house was once a sea coast, and the sea shells in my foundation stones speak of Psalms 104,
He set the earth on its foundations,
so that it should never be moved.
6 You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.
7 At your rebuke they fled;
at the sound of your thunder they took to flight.
8 The mountains rose, the valleys sank down
to the place that you appointed for them.
9 You set a boundary that they may not pass,
so that they might not again cover the earth.
What are some of the narratives of the Bible that have historical and factual support, and which can help us develop faith in YHWH, the great I Am?
1. In the beginning, the story of creation
2. The Flood
3. Abraham
4. David
5. Birth of Jesus
6. Miracles of Jesus
7. Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus
Why is faith so important? Because it gives us the hope of eternal glory, of one day sharing the eternal existence of God.
Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Last week I was contacted by an 80yr old physicist, an inventor who had seen www.deadseapower.com and wanted to tell me about his invention of a pipeline that could move water very economically, suggesting it should replace the tunnel in the proposed project.
I told him about Ezekiel's vision in chapter 47, and said I would stick with the tunnel design.
http://ezekielproject.org/history.shtml
Turns out he is an avowed atheist, and had stopped having religious discussions sixty years ago. He commanded me to stop talking with him about religion. After a few more exchanges, I asked him to explain to me how gravity works. He called me on the phone, and we had a ten minute discussion about politics in the Middle East, and various connections.
Highly educated atheists are a real challenge to those of us who want to share our faith in Jesus. My experience has been the reception of rabid insults in response to suggesting study about YHWH and Yeshua. I tell them that I just want to examine factual information, including science and history. But atheists seem to be afraid to open themselves to inquiry about faith in God, having decided to reject faith, and having no desire to revisit their decision.
The Bible is a remarkable book. It has stood the challenge of endless critique, and mindless affronts. Those of us who believe should not be thin skinned about our faith. We should be ready to suffer insults, and still be kind and gracious. But I will not stop talking about Jesus.
The challenge is to identify information that is factual and supported by science and history. For example, when I visited the coast of Israel at Palmachim, I noticed that the stones jutting through the surf looked familiar.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmachim
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurkar
The calcarious sandstone at Palmachim is very similar to the calcarious sandstone boulders that have rolled down the mountain at my house. Our ancient stone wall was built of such stones, and from my childhood I had wondered at the sea shells embedded in the stones. Turns out that this stone is formed in the surf of a sandy beach, of sea shells mixed with sand and cemented with the calcium from sea creatures. I am very familiar with this stone as I used it to build the foundation wall of the cabin where we live.
https://rgonce.blogspot.com/2012/12/from-peaceful-visa-of-front-porch-of.html
Yes, the mountain behind my house was once a sea coast, and the sea shells in my foundation stones speak of Psalms 104,
He set the earth on its foundations,
so that it should never be moved.
6 You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.
7 At your rebuke they fled;
at the sound of your thunder they took to flight.
8 The mountains rose, the valleys sank down
to the place that you appointed for them.
9 You set a boundary that they may not pass,
so that they might not again cover the earth.
What are some of the narratives of the Bible that have historical and factual support, and which can help us develop faith in YHWH, the great I Am?
1. In the beginning, the story of creation
2. The Flood
3. Abraham
4. David
5. Birth of Jesus
6. Miracles of Jesus
7. Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus
Why is faith so important? Because it gives us the hope of eternal glory, of one day sharing the eternal existence of God.
Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
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