TRADITIONS: The Old Rutted Road -- Part II!

And now, the twist to the story ... there's an interesting extension to the story about railroad gauges and horses' behinds. When we see a Space Shuttle sitting on the launch pad, we see two huge booster rockets saddled to either side of the rocket’s main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. Thiokol Corporation makes the SRBs at their factory at Utah.

The Thiokol SRB design engineers might have preferred to make them a bit bigger … wider not taller, but 1.) the SRBs had to ship by train from the factory to the launch site; 2.) the railroad line from the factory had to run through a tunnel in the mountains; 3.) the SRBs had to fit through a tunnel which is only slightly wider than the railroad track; and 4.) the railroad track is about as wide as two Imperial Roman war-horses.

So, the major design feature of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was determined by the width of a horse's behind! Think about that!

Not only do unreasonable or irrational traditions ruin the vision of the church but they are the cause of some baggage that prevents it from being bigger and going higher and farther.

Ed. Note: Don't think that I'm anti-tradition; I am simply pro-church … the one that is made up of real, live, redeemed children of God.

[The Good, Clean Funnies List], Box 476, Harvest, AL 35749-0476; USA; “The Impact of the Roman Empire on Space Shuttle Design,” 20 October 1999, “ Received from L. Rodney Ford via Doug Taylor.”]

Christianity, Illustrations,
Religion, Traditions

FAITH: Who Committed the First Folly?

- for we walk by faith, not by sight -

2 Corinthians 5:7

The Sleepwalkers is a history of astronomy by Arthur Koestler. In it the author calls the period when astronomy and theology became separate disciplines a watershed event. The cause of the cleavage was the adoption of non-circular (elliptical) orbits for planets to explain their motion around the sun. This went against traditional religious dogma of the day.

The circle was believed to be the perfect figure, and God, having made the planets, could not have made them move in a path other than a perfect one.

Nonetheless, the ellipse prevailed. This, contends Koestler, had a profound impact on the cultural; namely that logic prevailed over blind ideology. Thus the scientific age was birthed.

Today, physics and religion remain in distinct chambers – one practical, the other spiritual — as in the separation of body and soul; thus it is of interest to look at the Celts, a people whose innermost intuition, unlike ours, was that astronomy and theology were intimately associated.

Jean-Marc Perelmuter, writing for Fox News Online, says it has only been recently that Celtic art and legends have been put on par with their warring accomplishments. He says, “Stonehenge, a mysterious but deliberate arrangement of rocks dating back 1000 to 3000 B.C. is a testimony of the Celts' ability to harmonize what we call science and religion into one monolith.”

[Eye On The Sky by Dr. Jean-Marc Perelmuter “Celtic Astronomy “ 7.00 a.m. ET (1100 GMT) November 17, 1999 © 1999, News America Digital Publishing, Inc. d/b/a Fox News Online.]

Not all that has occurred in the battle between people of faith and people of science can be neatly excised as an example of theological folly as were the orbits of planets. But it’s good for those of us who place our faith and fates in the hands of God to remember facts have a place in the order of God’s universe … we should do our homework before we take a stand on traditions.

Yet, it’s likewise good to remember foolishness is not the private domain of the faithful, science has its follies as well … two monumental examples have yet to be revealed: 1) the selfish slaughter of the innocent because science blindly insists it’s just fetal tissue and 2) the siren song of modern man, the theory of natural selection.

After all, Paul said it for all of us long ago, … we walk by faith, not by sight.

Christianity, Faith,
Illustrations, Religion

FLOOD - Don't ever do that again!

DIVINELY HIDDEN SPIGOTS! [Genesis chapters 5-8; Other topics - judgment]

A few years ago, Scientists researching ice flows in the Whitmore Mountains of West Antarctica discovered an active volcano under mile thick ice. Ice melt from the volcano’s heat is evidently soaking the surrounding ground and lubricating nearby ice streams. These phenomena led to the volcano’s discovery.

The West Antarctica ice sheets are of critical importance to oceanic research … you see its base is below sea level, the only one of its kind, making it intrinsically perilous. Global sea levels would increase by as much as 20 feet were the ice sheet to collapse.

Science is a two-edged neighbor of biblical truth: on the one hand, its discoveries and theories often cause the questioning of Scripture; on the other hand, it continues to reveal secrets which provide plausible insights into events buried in the dust of the ages.

For the sake of discussion, let’s say not only do the ice sheets of South Pole collapse but those of the north melt as well. If one sheet can raise the sea level an average 20 feet, how much might the content of dozens?

Biblically speaking, the Great Flood did not take place in this way but it certainly allows one to see the possibility of the flood actually happening … a thing I don’t doubt, with or without the revelations of science.

FORGIVENESS: We've an endless supply, why so stingy?

IN THE END, NOTHING! [Jeremiah 2:22; Atonement, Cleansing, Sin]

Once in the Bureau of Standards in Washington, a tiny tube of [less] than 2/1000 of an ounce of radium was accidentally dropped on the floor and broken.

They swept up the radium with a camel's hair brush and washed the floor to get the rest of it, but enough radium remained to render another washing necessary, and this time they washed the floor with acidulated water, and still another time with soda water, and a fourth time with hydrated water.

Each yielded about four hundred dollars worth of radium. Finally a carpenter came and scraped the floor. Three years later the shavings were burnt and the ashes were found to be strong in radium. (Robert G. Lee, Salvation In Christ and Other Messages, [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1961], 57)

'Although you wash yourself with lye And use much soap, The stain of your iniquity is before Me,' declares the Lord GOD.

Jeremiah 2:22

The oldest game in the world is its endless effort to hide sin, change its appearance, change its name, or redefine it. Man is destined to have his sins revealed, as they truly are:

But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the LORD, and be sure your sin will find you out.

Numbers 32:23

But in Christ Jesus we have forgiveness of sins. The Bible says ...

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9

And when we have been cleansed there will be no residue, absolutely no trace will be found; and when we finally face the fire, only the wood, hay, and stubble will be consummed. (Added 3/1/06)


WINDSHIELD WIPER SERMON [Isaiah 43:25; 44:22; other topics - Cleansing, Sin]

A friend relates a rainy day experience:

I was driving along one of our main streets, taking all those extra precautions which are necessary when the roads slick; unexpectedly, my son declared, "Mom, I’ve been thinking." This disclosure usually meant he had been pondering a fact for some time and was now ready to expound on all his seven-year-old mind had discovered.

Eager to hear, I asked, "What’ve you thinking?" "The rain is like sin," he began, "and the windshield wipers are like God, wiping our sins away."

After the goose bumps raced up my arms, I was able to respond, "That’s really good, Matthew." Then my curiosity cut in: how far would this little boy take this revelation? So I asked, "Have you noticed how the rain keeps coming? What does that tell you?"

Matthew didn’t hesitate for a moment, "We keep sinning and God just keeps on forgiving us." [Author Unknown]

Cleansing is a daily routine for civilized people. The old but unbiblical saying, "Cleanliness is next to godliness," has as its roots the desire of civilized people to feel free from daily contamination, whether major or minor. The Children of Israel were the first to adopt cleansing as a way of life; the Christians and other organized and civilized people followed suit.

John R. Rice used to tell the story of a man he visited on his death bed. At the first visit a friend ask the man "Is there something I can do? What can I do for you?" The man said, "No, there isn’t anything you can do." The next day the same thing, "Is there anything I can do?" "No, no," he said. A third and fourth time he asked. The man, in obvious weakness and discomfort, said, "No! No! No! There’s nothing anybody can do. But, oh, if there were only somebody who could undo!" [Adapted from - “The Shortest Road to Hell: NEGLECT!” John R. Rice, The Sword of the Lord, Vol. XXIV, No. 15; Friday, April 11, 1953; p. 5]

Man desires also to feel free of spiritual contamination. Billy Graham is most often cited as the source of the Minninger quote attributed to the institute’s founder. Apparently when asked what would heal mentally ill people the quickest, he responded, "Forgiveness!"

TAGS: Christian, Devotionals, Forgiveness,
Illustrations, Preaching, Religion, Sermons

REGENERATION: Behold, new life!

Dead-ringer On The Graveyard Shift! [Jeremiah 24:2-10]

Have you ever wonder where certain sayings come from? I do? I’m told that in 16th century England, people drank ale or whiskey from lead cups; evidently the combination could knock a hardy drinker out for a couple of days. [Ed. Note: I don't think it was the combination that did it!]

At any rate, someone walking along the road might mistake an unconscious drunk for dead and so prepare him for burial. He’s be laid on the kitchen table for a few days so the family could gather around, eat and drink, and wait to see if you'd wake up. Hence the custom of holding a "wake". [Why it was not called a "wait," I don’t know!] Regardless, people soon became aware not all who appeared dead, were actually dead.

I’m also told England, being small, was running out of places to bury people in "sanctified cemeteries." Hence, old graves were dug up and the remains stored in order to re-used grave plots. Evidently, in reopening the coffins, they discovered scratch marks inside some. It didn't take long to figure out many people were buried alive.

Consequently the practice of tying string to the wrist of the deceased, leading it up through the ground to tie to a bell. A volunteer would sit in the graveyard all night to listen for the bell; thus the sayings "graveyard shift" and "saved by the bell" and "dead ringers," [Adapted from Life in the 1500's, author unknown]

Folks, we’re late of the grave, very dead yet very alive in death – the walking dead! So we too are "dead ringers," of a sort. Praise Jesus, He patiently waits out his graveyard shift by our upright graves, listening for the peal of our bell when it rings, "Save me! Save me! Save me! "

The gospel is about life not death; yet not all who hear it will pull on the string, their Savior. Many will be found on the side of the road to perdition and be counted among the dead while a chance remains for them to ring out!


All They Will Ever Have! [Matthew 29]

"As scientists look back at all the discoveries made in the 1990's, the so-called Decade of the Brain, one finding stands out as the most startling and, for many scientists, the most difficult to accept: people are not necessarily born with all the brain cells they will ever have."

These words are a quote from Sandra Blakeslee, from a 1/4/00 preview article of a The New York Times piece entitled "Discovery Yields Shock About the Brain." [Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company]

Well, shut my mouth! Neither are they born with all of many things they will ever have. Take sin, for example.

And we have no idea the precise change that takes place when a sinner is born again. If scientists have difficulty accepting an unexplained increase in brain cells, no wonder so few of them seem to be believers.

Christianity, Illustrations, Justification,
Rebirth, Regeneration, Religion