August 8, 2011

Evolution Vs. Creationism



Charles Darwin (left) developed the theory of evolution after spending time in the Galapagos Islands with an array of interesting animals. But he, himself admitted his theory was merely speculation without scientific proof.






“Proof” breakdown:
-The “fact” that we have 98% identical DNA with monkeys is in fact a lie. We don’t even have 98% identical DNA with our parents. Therefore how can we be more closely related to our “primate ancestors” than the people who we directly descend from?

-Nebraska Man: Harold Cook found a tooth in Nebraska he believed to be halfway between a human tooth and a monkey tooth. He believed he’d found the missing link in the evolution theory. Later it was discovered the tooth was merely a pig’s tooth.

-Piltdown Man: The Piltdown Man was a deliberate hoax by two people who took a human skull and molded it together with an ape’s jaw bone. They filed and sculpted the two together and made a cast making it virtually impossible to tell that it was a fake. It fooled scientists for 50 years but was ultimately discovered as a fake.

-Neanderthal Man is simply a man deformed from old age and arthritis, explaining why his back was bent over.

-Java Man: Java Man was concocted when Eugène Dubois found an ape-like skull fragment, and some 50feet away a human leg bone. From these remains he developed a computer generated model that filled in the evolution chart. Although on his death bed he admitted that he had also found two human skulls at the site, therefore providing evidence the specimen he’d created never existed. Yet Java Man is still falsely presented on the evolution chart.

-*Lucy* : Lucy (right) is the one critical piece of the evolution theory that is severely significant. Lucy is a 40%complete skeleton of what “humans” were supposed to look like, in that stage of evolving, estimated to have lived 35 million years ago. She was said to have had a chimp-sized brain, and stood 3ft, 7ins. The only bones discovered resembling human bones is her hips and knee joints giving hints to her erect posture(although this remains highly controversial.) Charles Oxner studied Lucy in great detail for 16years. Recreating computer models and studying scans, etc. Oxner made a statement saying Lucy is NOT the missing link in evolution, simply an unusual monkey.

-Due to mitochondrial DNA scientists have successfully traced every female back to one common mother. And has furthered their research isolating the y-chromosome in males to trace every male back to a common father. This provides a truth to the Bible’s account of Adam and Eve.

-In the Scopes Monkey Trial, 1925, the evolutionist lost and Mr. Scopes was convicted. Yet the media twisted the story to make it seem the creationist was lacking the education to prove anything.

-Archaeopteryx is always brought up in trying to prove the theory of evolution. Archaeopteryx is the theory that birds evolved from reptiles. This theory was developed after a fossil was discovered in southern Germany seemingly in the middle stage of evolving from a reptile to a bird. The theory, however, became increasingly unstable when a fossil of a fully-developed bird was discovered that is 75million years older than when archaeopteryx was supposed to have happened. (Giving a truth to Genesis 1:21 “So God created great sea creatures and every sort of fish and every kind of bird.”)

Again and again the theory of evolution has been proven wrong. Ask yourselves why then you so easily accept a theory that provides no proof, yet the belief that perhaps the history in the Bible is indeed accurate is nothing more than a desperate persons need to believe in something more than their meek existence on earth? Ask yourselves why a Bible account that has never been disproven is banned in schools, yet a theory that has been proven false repeatedly is still taught to our children?



August 5, 2011

Everything(wait for the bridge it's the best part)

Back in 2006 I went to my first Winterfest in Knoxville, TN and saw this drama live. It made such an impact on me that I've never forgotten it. Back then I was in the middle of a lot of sin (as you will see the girl in the drama also is) and like her I had to fight my way out. But the battle was more than worth it. :)
This video is so powerful that after all the times I've seen it, I still cry during the bridge...



August 3, 2011

theNorthGate:Dayton Street Ministries

Dayton, Ohio

Dayton Street Ministries:
I was more than a little nervous about what to expect when it came to volunteering to feed the homeless. I was scared of the things I’d see, the people I’d meet, and most of all being separated from the people I knew and felt safe with; because the only way I’d ever known a homeless person was through a television screen. I didn’t know what to expect, how to react, or even how to communicate with someone whose life was so completely different from my own. But what I did experience was something I’ll not soon forget.
When I’d first heard of the ministry I pictured the Hollywood version of feeding the homeless: a buffet counter where we prepared meals for them to pick up at the end…but this ministry was nothing like that. I found out we would be splitting up into several groups to hike around the city with a backpack full of water and clothes, and paper bags of food in our hands. We were abandoning the safety of our nets and entering into their world.

My particular group decided to visit a homeless camp under the train tracks first. Upon entering into the camp I was amazed at what I saw: tents, broken glass, and books lying on almost every touchable surface. Each person who lived there had their own space to do with what they pleased and a common area with a fire pit and a tattered couch covered in a thin sheet to hide its many holes. Each tent had its own area filled with random objects belonging to the owners; small piles of worn out clothing and shoes, each seeming to have an invisible barrier to protect it from the other piles around it. I was astonished when I overheard a story of a father giving his daughter a tent to set up in the camp but wouldn’t offer her a place in his home. I'm blessed with a family that makes such a thing seem unreal to me.






There was only a single person in the camp while we were there; a seemingly normal guy, Keith. Danny, our group leader, had shared Keith’s story with us: he was an alcoholic who, when drinking, flew into an unstoppable rage that had made him ultimately give up on trying to make things good in his life. When we offered Keith a corndog he accepted graciously along with a prayer. But when we told him we would have to wait to give him a shirt, because we currently didn’t have one in his size, you could see the disappointment in his eyes, and hear it behind his words when he offered simply, “That’s okay.”
Leaving the camp I was surprised to realize that Hollywood had done nothing but dramatize the look and actions of these people who had fallen on such hard times. Seeing Keith on any street I wouldn’t have thought twice about the situation he was in, living on the city streets and eating what was offered to him once a week by a ministry who’s vowed to make their needs known.
Continuing to walk we passed the Dragons (baseball) stadium where we saw several more people who lived in the camp. I met a guy there, Jack, who was filthy from his days on the street. His once white tank top had been turned to the color of red dirt. He filled with warmth when we offered him the meal we carried and the shirt from our pack. I was so blessed when he asked to give us all a hug. I was overwhelmed with the a sadness for all the things in life I’d taken advantage of when with one decision God could strip me of all I know and I could be the woman who was standing beside him.
We met several others along the way, learning their stories and creating small talk to get to know them.
Bruce was one story that stuck with me personally because it’s one that could happen to anyone. He had fallen ill and had to have surgery and was unable to work for several weeks. His work had then fired him because he was no longer of use to them if they couldn’t benefit from his place on their payroll. Without the pay from his job he couldn’t afford to pay all of his bills and consequently lost everything, landing him in the very camp I’d just visited. But like Keith, looking at him I would never know.
The entire night was a learning experience for me personally. I learned not to judge people, you never know their situation. That was a lesson I’d been taught over and over again before…but being apart of that ministry, even if only for a night, shed new light on exactly what people may be living that we may never expect. It taught me to serve. Also a lesson as a Christian that I’d learned previously, but I was shown the fulfillment you can get from serving others, even if it's a simple corndog and bottle of water. I learned not to take for granted all that I have and all that God has blessed me so graciously with, because in a blink of an eye he can take it away. And finally, I learned that you are not above anyone! I realized that at any point in my life that could be me jumping at the chance to eat a corndog from a stranger. I could end up in any situation with any need, at any time, and I will thank God for everything He’s given me. 

June 24, 2011

Book Review: SOUL CRAVINGS

Soul Cravings by: Erwin Raphael McManus


I picked up Soul Cravings in a small christian bookstore when i was in TN with my youth group. It was a small book, cheaply priced, and barely noticable among the piles of books stacked in mountains atop the shelves in the store. For some reason this little book caught my attention, and i'm glad it did.


Soul Cravings is an intimate look within the human mind at the evidence that lies within everyone of the very real God we sometimes have a hard time accepting. He tells you in the beginning to take the book in peices. To read through it anyway you please, reguardless of the order it is arranged. i was dumbfounded by the points he makes while trying to explain God. For instance, a story seemingly random about a group of baby ducks taught me a lesson about God's love i'd never been able to fully comprehend, and although i never will i am a step closer now looking at it in a new light.

I highly recommend this book if you're willing to look at things in a new perspective and a willingness to listen to the very good points he makes throughout this book.

I was so intreiged i had to start from the beginning with a highlighter in hand.

April 27, 2011

TIME

Time is the one thing that is always changing. you can't stop it, speed it up, destroy it, or create it. it is what it is and always will be.
i just finished watching my camp video from last summer and it's odd to see how different everything is now. change is something i've always tried to avoid bc with it comes the oppertunity for something worse than what you already had, but change is not something you can run and hide from. no matter where you are, who you are, or what situation you're in: change will happen no matter what.
that summer was the best of my life, but while i was living it i didn't see that. i was caught up in all the things that seemed so important at the time that i didnt put forth the extra effort to get to truly know the people who i'd met. so many wonderful people that i hope will always be friends to me. but that summer was simple. it was easy. i was happy and stress-free. now i'm swollowed by worries and questions, emotions and regrets. i can't help but ask myself, Why? why can't life be like it was last summer?
the answer: because there is a time for everything and this is my time to go through what i am. last sumer was my time to live last summer.
it's strange to think about how looking back everything will look so different as we grow, learn, and mature. but if you think things are bad remember that change will always find you and you'll understand one day why you're facing what you are. if your life is good dont forget to spend time loving the people you love, getting to know the friends you've made, and appriciating the life youre living RIGHT NOW.


ecclesiastes 3:1-8
"there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven; a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace."


February 26, 2011

The Past Vs. The Present

i personally have experienced some difficulty lately in staying close to God the way i had been in previous months. i've been stuggling because everytime i sit to talk to God or to spend time in devotion i always find my mind turning to memories from last year, because of this i'd stopped spending so much time in devotion and prayer and instead filled my life with distractions. i only recently allowed myself to admit that it was creating a gap between me and the God i'd, only last year, felt so close to. so today i woke up determined to spend more time with him than i have been and refocusing my life on the relationship i'd allowed to suffer because of the problems with another relationshp in my life.

"One thing i do; forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. i press toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3: 13-14

i've come to understand how wrong it is to let other relationships in your life affect the one with your creator. i'd always known deep down the distance it was creating, but instead of facing the pain of letting it go, i chose to ignore it. well i am taking the initutive to choose to admit my mistake and try everything i can to fix it. i will no longer turn from God because of the other broken relationships in my life but choose rather to strengthen my relationship with him so i dont lean so much on those of this world that never truly had a sturdy foundation anyway.

i realize that i've grabbed ahold of something i'd sworn i had gotten rid of, this time i will work harder to not pick up the strings that have already been severed.

Excerpt from "When Dreams Come True"

Leslie Ludy is one of the people i look up to the most in the world and i've read several of her books. i was going through some papers and i found my favorite quote from her book "When Dreams Come True" and felt i would share it with you.

"A letter represents something far more than a kiss ever could. it evidences thoughtfulness and the gift of time. While a kiss can prove tender, it must overcome the stigma of impulsivness to truly display love. A letter on the other hand, when written in the spirit of ardor and romance--even if it never mentions passion--strokes the heart deeper than any form of physical touch. A kiss cannot be felt again and again from great distance; but a letter can be read and reread thousands of times. A kiss only fimiliarizes the lips with the physical body of a lover. A letter farmiliarizes the heart, mind, and soul. Maybe that's why God decided to write us a letter."

i read this "When dreams come true" years ago and have still hung onto this quote. it seems to touch me everytime i read it.
i hope you found the comfort and inspiration that i did in it:)