Josh Harris on Modesty

Josh Harris had a couple of very good posts about modesty on your wedding day.

Below is a snippet of what he wrote:

Modesty on Your Wedding Day
If tackling the topic of modesty weren't brave enough in and of itself, my sisters over at Girltalk have opened a much-needed conversation about modesty in wedding attire. No, men, your rented tuxedos and plastic shoes are not the source of temptation they're addressing. They're talking about dresses for the bridal party. Here's a portion of a quotation they share by pastor Todd Murray...

He also had a follow up post, that highlighted a comment left on his previous post. It was in response to a person's comment who tried to justify immodest dress on the wedding day.

To read the posts click a link below:

Post 1

Post 2


I'm not going to concentrate on the human side of this, they did an excellent job addressing that in their posts and comments. Instead I want to consider Christ's bride, the church. Jesus says, in Rev. 16:15, that we need to keep watch and not be caught "immodest". Are we ready? Will we be gloriously attired on our wedding day with Christ? These aren't clothes made by hands with cotton or wool, but our spiritual beauty made by what we do for Him.

The Bride eyes not her garment, but her dear Bridegroom’s face;
I will not gaze at glory but on my King of grace.
Not at the crown He giveth but on His pierced hand;
The Lamb is all the glory of Immanuel’s land.
- (Hymn) "The Sands of Time Are Sinking"

Where did all the water come from?

“In the six hundreth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.”
GENESIS 7:11 - 12

The Bible tells us that water came from two sources: below the earth and above the earth.

Evidently, the source for water underground was in large subterranean pools, or “fountains,” of fresh water, which were broken open by volcanic and seismic (earthquake) activity. It’s possible that these fountains supplied water for the rivers of the Garden of Eden, as wall as the rest of the earth before the Flood.

Signs of Design: Evolutionists have tried very hard to “link” the various language families so that they in turn point back to a common ancestor, i. e., to show that the original Indo-European and Sino-Asiatic languages themselves arose from some previous language. But their efforts have been without success. The evidence is wonderfully consistent with the notion that a small number of languages, separately created at Babel, has diversified into the huge variety of languages we have today.


P. S. Be sure and check out all the links in my post below.

P. S. S. I now have an RSS feed on my sidebar. If you would like to subscribe click - here.

Good posts on Friendships

Kimi Harris, nonconformist, has had a very good series on friendships. There are three so far (I don't know if there are going to be any more). I suggest you read them, they may just change your view on friendship.

To read, click a link below:

Friendships, part 1

Friendships, Part two: What foolish friends will look like

Friendships, Part three: What foolish friends look like, continued


She also has a good post on the Wrong Way to use Humor. Below is a small taste of what she has to say.

Do you ever notice the humor Hollywood will often use? In fact, it's in cartoons too. An old lady gets knocked over, a nun witnesses a sinful act, a hand is caught in a trap, someone's thumb is smashed, and the list goes on. I was recently at the movie theater watching a movie aimed at a younger crowd. There were a lot of children in the audience and guess what they laughed at: Someone getting hurt, or frustrated in their plans. Or they laughed at someone being made fun of. Wow, so much for the sweet innocent years.

Read the rest - Here

Be True To Your Word

This was my daily devotion for today.

Be True To Your Word

READ: Matthew 5:33-37

Let your "Yes" be "Yes," and your "No," "No." Matthew 5:37

Shortly before his death, the Duke of Burgundy was presiding over the Cabinet Council of France. A proposal was made by the ministers that would violate a treaty but would secure important advantages for the country. Many reasons were offered to justify the deed. The Duke listened in silence, and when all had spoken he closed the conference without giving approval. Placing his hand on a copy of the original agreement, he said with firmness in his voice, "Gentlemen, we have a treaty!"

It's important that Christians act and speak so that the Savior is glorified. When you give your word, keep it. If you make a commitment, honor it. If you take on an obligation, fulfill it. As Jesus said in Matthew 5:37, "Let your Yes be Yes."

Our honesty and reliability should be so evident that we can be trusted for any contract we make. What better testimony could be said of a believer than this: "He gave his word; that's good enough for me." And if non-Christians can trust us in business matters, they are more likely to believe us when we speak about the gospel.

If you are tempted to go back on a promise, think again of the words of the Duke of Burgundy: "Gentlemen, we have a treaty!" Richard De Haan.

Uphold me in the common strife;
Give me the grace to work and plan;
And in the marketplace of life,
O keep me, Lord, an honest man.
- A. Bayliss

Never give your word unless you intend to keep it.

The Science of the Bible: Astronomy

• The Science of the Bible
  
  
  
• The Earth is Round
  
  
  
• The Earth Floats in Space
  
  
  
• The Universe is Expanding
  
  
  
• The Age of the Universe
  
  
  
• The Magnetic Fields of the Planets
  
  
  
• The Spiral Galaxies
  
  
  
• The Comets

How could a flood destroy every living thing?

“And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.”
GENESIS 7:21-22

Noah’s Flood was much more destructive than any 40-day rainstorm ever could be. Scripture says that the “fountains of the great deep” were broken open. In other words, earthquakes and volcanoes, with geysers of molten lava and scalding water, were squeezed out of the earth’s crust in a violent, explosive upheaval. These fountains were not stopped until 150 days into the Flood, so the earth was literally churning underneath the waters for about five months!

The local floods, volcano eruptions, and earthquakes recorded by humans in more recent centuries, though clearly devastating to life and land, are tiny in comparison to the worldwide catastrophe that destroyed God’s original perfect earth. All land animals (and people) not on board the Ark were destroyed in the Flood waters, billions of which were preserved in the great fossil (Flood) record we see today.

Sign of Design: It’s often overlooked that the properties of a cell which make it alive cannot be explained by just referring to the chemical properties of a car cannot be explained by the properties of rubber, metal, plastic, and so forth.

Huh?

Unfortunately, this is too true among many teen bloggers.

For more in-depth thoughts on this comic, see Study.Quiet's post.

Never worry about spelling again!

Believe it or not, you can read this.

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdgnieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Amzanig huh?

How did Noah care for all the animals?

Just as God brought the animals to Noah by supernatural means, He surely also prepared them for this amazing event. Creation scientists suggest that God gave the animals the ability to hibernate, as we see in many species today. Most animals react to natural disasters in ways that were designed to help them survive. It’s possible many of the animals did hibernate, perhaps even supernaturally intensified by God.

If we had been able to walk through the Ark as it was being built, we would undoubtedly be amazed at the ingenious systems on board for water and food storage and distribution. As Woodmorappe explains in his book, Noah’s Ark: A Feasibility Study, a small group of farmers today can raise thousands of cattle and other animals in a very small space. One can easily imagine all kinds of devices on the Ark that would enable a small number of people to feed and care for the animals, from watering to waste removal.

As Woodmorappe points out, no special devices were needed for eight people to care for 16,000 animals. But if they existed, how would these be powered? There are all sorts of possibilities. Gravity? Wind? Or the motions of the Ark? Who know what technology Noah had available to him.


Sign of Design: Regarding Tyrannosaurus rex, two specialist biomechanical researchers have shown that the famous “king tyrant lizard” would not have been able to run fast. The strength of a muscle is related to volume. So, as the strength needed escalates with increased weight, the mass of the muscle required increases still faster. At the size of a T. rex, chicken-type speed would require it to have an impossible 200 percent of its body weight in its legs. In short, large dinosaurs were much more likely to be prey for humans (e.g., hunting in groups, or using traps or poison darts) than the other way around.


P.S. I found a very neat site, that shows what the Ark may have looked like while under construction (On the site is a 3D sample that needs to be downloaded. It’s fairly large, but worth a small wait.)

To view, click - here

How could Noah round up so many animals?

“Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.” (emphasis added)
GENESIS 6:20

This verse tells us that Noah didn’t have to search for the animals, or travel to far away places to bring them on board. And, on the basis of Genesis 1, many creationists believe there was only one continent before the Flood.

The animals simply arrived at the Ark and marched up the ramp, all by themselves. Though this is a supernatural event, one that cannot be explained by our understanding of nature, it is certainly within God’s ability. Even today, we are far from understanding all of the marvelous animal behaviors exhibited in God’s creation: The migration of Canadian geese and other birds, the amazing flights of Monarch butterflies, the annual travels of whales and fish, hibernation instincts, earthquake sensitivity, and countless other fascinating capabilities of God’s animal kingdom.


Sign of Design: I [Carl Wieland] think it’s misleading to talk about any “evolution of language.” Changes in language come about mostly from humanity’s inventiveness, innate creativity, and flexibility, not from random genetic mutations filtered by selection. And languages studied today in the process of change appear mostly to be getting simpler, not more complex.

How could Noah fit the dinosaurs on board?

"And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark…"
GENESIS 6:19

Most dinosaurs were not very big at all; some were the size of a chicken (although there’s absolutely no relation to birds in any way, as many evolutionists are now saying)! Most scientists agree that the average size of a dinosaur is about the size of a sheep. All dinosaurs, of course, were fairly small at one time. . . when they were young.

For example, God most likely brought Noah two young adult sauropods (e.g. Apatosaurus), rather than two full-grown sauropods. The same would go for elephants, giraffes, and other animals that grow to be very large. There was, however, more than enough room for most fully grown adult animals anyway.

The number of dinosaurs isn’t a problem either. Although there are hundreds of names for the different species of dinosaurs that have been “discovered”, there are probably about 50 actual different kinds.


Sign of design: Evolutionists know that mutations are overwhelmingly either harmful or just meaningless genetic “noise.” Their belief system, however, demands that there must have been “upward” mutations on occasion. (Defects which give survival advantage, like the loss of wings on windy islands, do not qualify.)

Easter

During Easter, we remember and commemorate Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection… especially the resurrection. Jesus’ lives and everyone needs to know it.

If Christ does not live, we can’t have eternal life. If He wasn’t buried, some could say He didn’t die. If He didn’t die, He couldn’t have risen again.

Christ’s Death

Christ died a horrible death, a death we can’t imagine. Now many other people have been crucified in the past and people can still be crucified, but no one can ever say they will be crucified sinless, or bear the sins of the world as Christ did.

Jesus is the only human to ever live a perfect and holy life, and had never experienced separation from God or felt the guilt of sin. On that day, two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ hung on that cross and bore every sin imaginable and, for the first & only time, was separated from God.

Jesus died, but that didn’t save anyone.

Christ’s Burial

Jesus was buried. And to insure He stayed buried, His tomb was sealed with a large stone and soldiers were assigned to guard it.

Jesus was dead for three days; even pagans considered a man dead after three days. Christ was dead.

Christ died and was buried, but this didn’t save a single person.

Christ’s Resurrection

After three days in the tomb, Jesus defeated death. He faced dark, cold, death head on and walked away with only superficial wounds. That battle was won before it even began.

Jesus is alive! He Lives so that those who will believe in Him as their savior can have eternal life. If you trust Him as your savior from eternal death, you can have everlasting life.

Jesus Christ died, was buried, and resurrected. Because of this, anyone that calls on His name will be saved from final death.

How could Noah build the Ark?

"And God said unto Noah… Make thee an ark… Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so he did."
GENESIS 6:13, 14, 22

The Bible doesn’t tell us that Noah and his sons built the Ark all by themselves; Noah could have hired skilled laborers. There is, however, no reason to believe they could not, or did not, build the Ark in just a few years.

The strength and mental prowess of men in Noah’s day, was at least as great as, and quite likely even superior to, our own. They certainly would have had efficient means for harvesting and cutting timber, as well as for shaping, transporting and erecting the massive beams and boards required.

One or two men today can erect a large house in just 12 weeks, how much more could three or four men do in a few years? Adam’s descendents were making complex musical instruments, forging metal, and building cities. Their tools, machines, and techniques were not inferior to the ones we use today.

It is evident from examining the “mysteries” of earlier civilizations that the human race has likely lost just as much (maybe even more) knowledge from before the Flood, as we have gained since that time. The idea that ancient generations were more primitive than ours is an evolutionary concept.

When God first created Adam, he was perfect. Today, human intellect has suffered from 6,000 years of sin and decay, though computers are compensating a great deal for our natural decline in mental prowess, allowing us to gather and store information as, perhaps, never before.

Blogger Be-A-ware

. . . Sophomore Corrine Havlin says even the modest photo of herself she's posted on her Facebook profile draws unwanted attention from male students. "It's not scandalous or anything, just a head shot, and guys I don't know are soliciting me for favors," she said.
"For some reason, a lot of students seem to think they can trust everything someone else posts on Facebook," Jones said. "But when you think about, that may not always be the case." . . .

Read the whole article - here

. . . blogs is that they are dangerous cruising grounds for sexual predators. Children have a higher chance of getting abducted on the way to or from school, it seems to me, than as a result of any of their online activity. The minuscule chance that a criminal will actually make contact with a child and locate him or her in real-time falls to zero if children promise that they will never post their last names, their addresses (home or e-mail), their phone numbers, or clear individual pictures of themselves on the Web - nor ever, under any circumstance, to agree to meet a stranger.
Kids, left largely to their own devices, are currently churning out relatively immature posts and pictures on today's social-networking sites. I won't deny it. But adults need to quit standing around and acting like a bunch of amateur plumbers who don't know how to diagnose the problem . . .

Read the whole article - here

. . . The students say they stay safe on the Internet by using common sense. They don't post pictures of themselves, don't give out phone numbers, names or private information and would never agree to meet someone from the Internet who they didn't know in person. Like many teenagers struggling for independence, they're concerned that personal privacy and first amendment rights of students are being overlooked in the name of safety . . .

Read the whole article - here

How could Noah fit all the animals on the Ark?

“And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.”
GENESIS 6:19

In the book Noah’s Ark: a Feasibility Study, author John Woodmorappe suggests that, at most, 16,000 animals were all that were needed to preserve the created kinds that God brought into the Ark.

God didn’t command that the Ark carry every kind of animal. It carried only air-breathing, land-dwelling animals, creeping things, and birds. Insects and many amphibious creatures could survive in sufficient numbers outside the Ark. Also aquatic animals didn’t need to be on Ark, they had plenty of water outside. This significantly reduces the number of animals that needed to be on board.

Another factor that greatly cuts down on the space requirements, is the tremendous variety in species we see today did not exist in the days of Noah. Only the parent “kinds” of these species were required to be on board in order to repopulate the earth. For example, only two dogs were needed to give rise to all the dog species that exist today.

Creationist estimates for the minimum number of animals that would have been necessary to come on board the Ark have ranged from 16,000 to 35,000.

Noah’s Ark

The account of Noah and the Ark is one of the most widely known events in the history of mankind. Unfortunately, it is often taken as a myth or fairy tale.

The Bible, however, is the history book of the universe. Knowing this, the most asked questions about the Ark and Flood of Noah can be answered with authority and confidence (see 1 PETER 3:15).

The following are some commonly asked questions about Noah and the Ark:

How big was the Ark?

“The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits”
GENESIS 6:15

Unlike many whimsical drawings that depict the Ark as some kind of overgrown houseboat, the Ark as described in the Bible was an enormous vessel. It was not until the late 1800s, that a ship was built that exceeded the capacity of Noah’s Ark.

Even today, when compared to our modern ocean-going ships, the dimensions of the Ark are impressive. The Ark was approximately 450ft. long, 75ft. wide, and 45ft. high*. When these figures are multiplied together, to get the volume of the Ark, we get a better idea of the massive capacity of this great ship; it equals about 1.5 million (1,500,000) cubic feet!

Modern container ships are loaded with standardized steel boxes that measure 8ft. X 8ft. X 40ft. Noah’s Ark could have been loaded with aver 500 such containers.


* The generally accepted measure of a cubit is about 18 inches.

Noah's Ark & Flood

• Noah's Ark: How big was the Ark?
  
  
  
• How could Noah fit all the animals on the Ark?
  
  
  
• How could Noah fit the dinosaurs on board?
  
  
  
• How could Noah round up so many animals?
  
  
  
• How did Noah care for all the animals?
  
  
  
• How could a flood destroy every living thing
  
  
  
• Where did all the water come from?
  
  
  
• Where did all the water go?
  
  
  
• Was Noah’s Flood global?
  
  
  
• Where is the evidence for Noah’s Flood?
  
  
  
• Where is Noah’s Ark today?
  
  
  
• Why did God destroy the earth that He had made?
  
  
  
• How is Christ like the Ark?