Happy Birthday America!!!
As we celebrate our nation’s birthday, I think you will enjoy our national anthem!
http://www.facebook.com/posted.php?id=1317169864#!/video/video.php?v=74136331072&ref=share. (I hope you can access through this link. You may need to copy and paste.)
The Star Spangled Banner like you've never heard it! This was at a Texas Tech University Basketball game . . . .The National Anthem is sung by five young ladies. You have never heard it performed better than this! An entire arena remains completely silent throughout the song. You could hear a pin drop. Take a moment to listen to this...you will not regret it. The two young girls on the right are six years old. The two in the middle are seven and the one on the left is eight. Wow! The girls in this video are known as The Cactus Cuties!
My Father’s Genes – Part II
Is being born again easier to understand if we first understand being born at all? What similarities, if any, exist between the two that might help our understanding? We will explore these and other important questions in a multi-part series over the next weeks and perhaps months.
Biblical Background and Foundation (Continued from Part I)
The Psalmist has declared “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” (Psalm 51:5) This and other references in both the Old and New Testaments proclaim what has become known as the “doctrine of original sin”. J. I. Packer says: “Scripture diagnoses sin as a universal deformity of human nature, found at every point in every person (1 Kings 8:46; Rom. 3:9-23; 7:18; 1 John 1:8-10).”1 There are a number of other scriptures in support as well, such as John 9:34, Romans 5:12-13, and Galatians 3:22.
Further elaboration on this doctrine is provided by Paul P. Enns:
“Definition. Original sin may be defined as ‘the sinful state and condition in which men are born.’ It is so designated because: (1) ‘it is derived from the original root of the human race (Adam), (2) it is present in the life of every individual from the time of his birth, and (3) it is the inward root of all the actual sins that defile the life of man.’ Simply stated it refers to ‘the corruption of our whole nature.’
As we celebrate our nation’s birthday, I think you will enjoy our national anthem!
http://www.facebook.com/posted.php?id=1317169864#!/video/video.php?v=74136331072&ref=share. (I hope you can access through this link. You may need to copy and paste.)
The Star Spangled Banner like you've never heard it! This was at a Texas Tech University Basketball game . . . .The National Anthem is sung by five young ladies. You have never heard it performed better than this! An entire arena remains completely silent throughout the song. You could hear a pin drop. Take a moment to listen to this...you will not regret it. The two young girls on the right are six years old. The two in the middle are seven and the one on the left is eight. Wow! The girls in this video are known as The Cactus Cuties!
My Father’s Genes – Part II
Is being born again easier to understand if we first understand being born at all? What similarities, if any, exist between the two that might help our understanding? We will explore these and other important questions in a multi-part series over the next weeks and perhaps months.
Biblical Background and Foundation (Continued from Part I)
The Psalmist has declared “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” (Psalm 51:5) This and other references in both the Old and New Testaments proclaim what has become known as the “doctrine of original sin”. J. I. Packer says: “Scripture diagnoses sin as a universal deformity of human nature, found at every point in every person (1 Kings 8:46; Rom. 3:9-23; 7:18; 1 John 1:8-10).”1 There are a number of other scriptures in support as well, such as John 9:34, Romans 5:12-13, and Galatians 3:22.
Further elaboration on this doctrine is provided by Paul P. Enns:
“Definition. Original sin may be defined as ‘the sinful state and condition in which men are born.’ It is so designated because: (1) ‘it is derived from the original root of the human race (Adam), (2) it is present in the life of every individual from the time of his birth, and (3) it is the inward root of all the actual sins that defile the life of man.’ Simply stated it refers to ‘the corruption of our whole nature.’
“Results. First, man is totally depraved. ‘Total depravity does not mean that everyone is as thoroughly depraved in his actions as he could possibly be, nor that everyone will indulge in every form of sin, nor that a person cannot appreciate and even do acts of goodness; but it does mean that the corruption of sin extends to all men and to all parts of all men so that there is nothing within the natural man that can give him merit in God’s sight.’
“Second, man has an innate sin nature. ‘The sin nature is the capacity to do all those things (good or bad) that can in no way commend us to God.’ Every part of man is affected: intellect (2 Cor. 4:4); conscience (1 Tim. 4:2); will (Rom. 1:28); heart (Eph. 4:18); and the total being (Rom. 1:18–3:20).”2
Therefore, I conclude that the ungodly spiritual nature is with us from birth (and perhaps even from conception, as Psalm 51:5 could be read). This suggests that there is some ungodly DNA present in our first birth that can only be dealt with by a miracle of God’s power in regeneration or being born again. John the Apostle records the great insight of John the Baptist: “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, 'Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!' ” (John 1:29)
Human birth is the result of a God-created process resulting in human conception. The miracle of conception occurs not because we believe it will, but because God has provided a plan and a process for it to occur. Mental agreement with the plan doesn’t make it happen. Sperm penetrating egg makes it happen because that’s how God created it. Mental agreement may promote exercise of the plan, but exercising the plan is the only way to accomplishment.
Human conception is a marvelous and profound initiation of a human life. The more one understands about this miracle called life, the deeper one respects how precious life is. And that’s just on a human level! Consider spiritual life. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways…” (Isaiah 55:9 NIV) And thus we begin to understand when John quotes Jesus as saying that “flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.”
Since Jesus seemed to link the two types of birth in the scripture above, is there anything we can learn from human genetics that could be applied to spiritual genetics?
1 Concise Theology: A Guide To Historic Christian Beliefs by J. I. Packer, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois
2 Moody Handbook of Theology by Paul P. Enns, Moody Press, Chicago, Illinois
(Stay tuned for the next exciting episode!)
