Stopping to Think

Preface: This isn't "writing" per se, this is the first of three posts that will be lesson outlines from the VBS our church is conducting this week. The titles are, Where Did I Come From? , Am I Important, and How Can I Be Okay ? My hope in sharing is that if you work with kids, or simply are interested in answering these questions for yourself, you will be edified. Am I Important? Have you ever felt small and unimportant?  Did you know you are important to God? God cares about little things and little people, because God values all people.  What did we talk about yesterday? Creation Who remembers what the most important part of creation was? People; Gen 1:27, 31.  Gen 2: 7-9 , how did God make man? Where did God put him? 15 , why did God put him in the garden? Remember how people are supposed to take care of God’s world? 16-17 , God gives them a rule. How many rules? 1 rule! What is the rule? Remember that, it’s important. 18-23 , God didn’t want Adam to be alone, so wha...

"The incarnation of God is proof that the human body is an essential component of [the image of God]." Herman Bavink Commonplace Monday is a series of posts wherein, on Monday mornings, I share short quips, sentences -perhaps as much as a paragraph- which I have collected in my various commonplace books and files. If I wrote down or recall where it came from I will certainly give attribution. However, sometimes I write down things and not where they came from. So if you see anything like that here and recognize it, that's what comment sections are for.  

Throwback Thursday is a series of posts, wherein I will on (some) Thursdays post a piece of writing from back in the day. Generally not from this blog. I will edit lightly for readability, but my intention is to allow each piece to stand basically as written. Over the years my mind has shifted on many things, as my knowledge of life, the Scriptures, and myself has grown. I'm not in the business of hiding this fact, so these will probably (at least on occasion) contain some things which even I think are crazy. Originally posted on Facebook on  November 3, 2009 at 2:55pm Public Friends of Friends Friends Friends except Acquaintances Only Me Custom Good feed South Lake Youth Ministries See all lists... Le Mars, Iowa Area Plummer, Idaho Area Family US Postal Service Acquaintances Go Back "Man created God in his own image: angry, bigoted, and hateful." So said a bumper sticker I saw the other day. (The exact wording may have differed, but that was the gist of it.) ...

Following up on the poem I posted yesterday, here is a quote from Wayne Grudem: A tragic example of male dominance was reported on the front page of USA Today: International Edition (Sept. 6, 1994): "No girls allowed: abortion for sex selection raises moral questions" was the caption on a photo of a doctor performing an ultrasound on a pregnant woman in India. The cover story, "Asains' Desire for Boys Leaves a Deadly Choice," reported that according to Dr. Datta Pai, a Bombay obstetrician, "99% of those found to be carrying female fetuses aborted their unborn children." (2A). The story explained that "modern technology, the strong cultural desire for boys and pressure to reduce population have joined forces in a deadly combination in India, China and much of Asia to produce a booming business in sex selection...the practice of aborting female fetuses appears common judging by the emerging statistics that show lopsided sex ratios throughout Asi...

Just a couple brief thoughts. I was flipping back through Rodney Stark's, "The Triumph of Christianity" yesterday. And one of the themes he explains to be prominent in the early years of the church was the opposition to the (widely embraced) practice of infanticide. The exposing of children to the elements, often on dump heaps, was most often done to little girls because the culture valued men more highly. Christians, following in the footsteps of the Jews, rightly rejected this practice as abominable to God, who created mankind in His own image. And this seeing of humans, women and girls included, as the image bearers of God, is the only sure footing for valuing human life and protecting the dignity of all persons. And furthermore, this valuing of life provides a stark contrast to much of the world around us. It did in ancient Rome, it does in China with one child laws, it does in America with abortion on demand. -------- Most of my conservative Christian readers we...