Many of you know the story of the 99 sheep the shepherd left behind in order to seek the one sheep that wandered.
Matthew 18:12-14 (NIV)
12 "What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off ? 13 And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost."
Starting with just the beginning, Verse 12 says, "If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go look for the one that wandered off?"
In biblical times, a shepherd's sheep were his children. He would raise his sheep, feed them, guide them, and lead them on the correct path. You won't find too many shepherds today, but what if we broke this down and changed the verse a bit?
What if the verse read, "If a man fathered a great number of children, and one of them got lost, will he not leave his home and go to look for the one who wandered away?"
Well, I know that my own father would travel to the ends of the earth to find me if I went missing! He wouldn't stop for anything until he found me and brought me safely home.
If an earthly father, or a good shepherd, would go to such great lengths to seek out a lost loved one, we can rest assured that our Heavenly Father would accept no limits in seeking out his wandering children.
In fact, this wasn't the only reference to shepherding lost sheep in the Bible. God referred to himself as our shepherd in Ezekiel 34:11-21:
11 "'God, the Master, says: From now on, I myself am the shepherd. I'm going looking for them. 12 As shepherds go after their flocks when they get scattered, I'm going after my sheep. I'll rescue them from all the places they've been scattered to in the storms. 13 I'll bring them back from foreign peoples, gather them from foreign countries, and bring them back to their home country. ... 15 And I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep. I myself will make sure they get plenty of rest. 16 I'll go after the lost, I'll collect the strays, I'll doctor the injured, I'll build up the weak ones and oversee the strong ones so they're not exploited."
Does any of that look familiar? To me, it looks awfully similar to Jesus' parable about the lost sheep! And this quotation came from God even before Jesus was born on earth. Of course, one also could say that God was hinting to everyone at the time that He would be sending Jesus as a shepherd to all of us ("I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep...I'll go after the lost...doctor the injured, I'll build up the weak ones...").
But how's that for proof that God loves us--it was stated twice at completely different times from the most primary of sources :)
Verse 13 states, "And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off."
At this point, you might think, well what the other 99 sheep? Where were they when he left to look for the one who wandered?
At first, I used to wonder the same thing. It's possible that the shepherd in this parable left his 99 sheep with another shepherd or a friend while he went after his lost sheep or something along those lines. However, I had to remember that every parable Jesus told had a purpose--a meaning behind it. Sometimes, it's not about those small details. For example, Matthew 13:44 says,
"The kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field."
The story wasn't telling us to hide the wonderful existence of Heaven or that a physical, tangible treasure like that in the story is what we should strive to find. Instead, Jesus was telling His followers about the greatness of Heaven. You might have to leave everything you have behind when you seek out the kingdom of Heaven, but the end result is much more precious than anything you could have possibly left.
In the same way, the parable of the lost sheep refers to God's great love and dedication to His earthly children.
Verse 14 says, "In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost."
The same verse was written in The Message to say, "Your Father in heaven feels the same way. He doesn't want to lose even one of these simple believers."
That one lost sheep deeply hurt the good shepherd, so he left to bring it home, but he didn't leave any sheep on their own in the process. In the same way, God will never leave any of His children alone; He knows that the ones who follow Him diligently are safe--He wouldn't leave us to fend for ourselves, and He certainly wouldn't put us at risk of wandering ourselves. He simply wants every single one of His "sheep" to be out of harm's way and He will do what it takes to bring us home. God doesn't want to lose any of us!
As I said, when Jesus told this parable, He was expressing our Father's great and unfailing love for us; He wanted His followers to know that God will always seek us; we just need to seek Him back.
A friend once told me a story of a woman whose son was returning home after serving overseas. She was so happy to know that her son was coming home! However, she also knew that some mothers would not be able to feel that same joy, for their sons/daughters were not returning.
With that said, how much more excited is God when we make that decision to seek Him and come home?!
And how much more difficult do you think it is for God to know that so many of His sons and daughters will not be returning to Him?
Isn't there something we can do about that?? ;)
"Leaving 99" - Audio Adrenaline
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Who cares about Geology? GOD MADE ME!
I'm kind of tired of people using geology to prove evolution and tell me that the world is 4.5 billion years old. You can't use that argument against Creation with me because I believe that God created adult humans, adult chicken (Which came first: chicken or egg? Chicken!), adult plants... Who's to say He didn't create an adult earth too?!
Another thing:
People say that proteins can be formed under the right conditions. Well, I hate to be a bubble burster (okay, maybe not!) but did they ever consider Louis Pasteur's contributions to the world of science in the 1800's?
Before I tell you all about one contribution in particular, note that prior to it, another scientist "proved" spontaneous generation. He put all of the necessary components into a flask at the proper atmospheric pressure/temperature/pH/etc. for the time at which scientists believe life began. And, what do ya know? Life showed up in the flask.
HOWEVER:
This is where Pasteur came into the picture. The flask the other scientist was using was open to dust particles and other things that can simply fall into the experimental environment and contaminate the results (This can't be argued--after all, penicillin was discovered when a tiny particle of Penicillium fell onto an agar plate). Louis Pasteur developed a "swan-necked" flask that was open to the air (had to be!) but didn't allow microorganisms into the tube! This was possible because microorganisms may have been able to fall into the opening, but the special neck of the flask was bent in such a way that it also sloped upward, microorganisms don't climb. He used the same conditions as the previous scientist, same reagents/components/etc. and what happened?
Absolutely nothing.
That's right. You can't just stick all of the necessary components of life in a test tube (or in this case, a flask) and expect something to grow! People have even since tried putting all of the components of a living cell in a space together and nothing happened: no membrane formed, no replication, nothing.
Face it:
The cell theory itself says (as Robert Remak--and later, Virchow--noted), "Omnis cellula e celula" (cells arise ONLY from pre-existing cells)!!
Because of this tenet, even the most evolutionary-minded biologists recognize that there had to be a first cell in order to create further cells. Sure, those biologists might also have some twisted views on how that first cell came to existence, but they still know that cells don't just appear from nothing!
Okay, back to proteins!
Another thing about a protein is that they all have different sequences of amino acids. There are TONS of proteins that can be made within a cell from only 20 amino acids. Every time one particular sequence is made, it folds the EXACT SAME way as every single prior time that specific sequence was made. Even my cell biology professor who has been studying cells forever, teaches graduate-level courses in cell and membrane biology, and is doing research on cells and DNA says that no one knows why the same folding occurs every time! There is no apparent reason for it (except of course...GOD made it that way!).
Proteins are fascinating entities to life; one simple little change can make or break life. For example, a single replacement of one specific amino acid of a particular protein (I don't know which one) can be the difference between a healthy individual and someone with sickle-cell anemia.
I wish I knew more about proteins and all of the wonderful qualities they possess, but I'll have to stick to what I know for now. But if even I, an undergraduate biology student, can see that these things are SO complex that they couldn't have just appeared, why can't everyone else?
Alright, one last point. Are you still with me?!
Cell division.
The nucleus.
During mitosis, the nuclear envelope (surrounding the nucleus) completely dissolves itself, and then it reforms itself, after nuclear division, around the new nuclei!
How could something so incredibly complex as a nuclear envelope just BREAK itself down and BUILD itself back up somewhere else?!
This might shock you, but: NOBODY KNOWS!
There's so much we don't know, so much we just don't/can't understand. Maybe one day we'll figure out how these things happen, and we'll get a little more insight into the amazing things God's created here.
Until then, they're just mysteries.
And I'm happy to keep them that way for now! :)
Another thing:
People say that proteins can be formed under the right conditions. Well, I hate to be a bubble burster (okay, maybe not!) but did they ever consider Louis Pasteur's contributions to the world of science in the 1800's?
Before I tell you all about one contribution in particular, note that prior to it, another scientist "proved" spontaneous generation. He put all of the necessary components into a flask at the proper atmospheric pressure/temperature/pH/etc. for the time at which scientists believe life began. And, what do ya know? Life showed up in the flask.
HOWEVER:
This is where Pasteur came into the picture. The flask the other scientist was using was open to dust particles and other things that can simply fall into the experimental environment and contaminate the results (This can't be argued--after all, penicillin was discovered when a tiny particle of Penicillium fell onto an agar plate). Louis Pasteur developed a "swan-necked" flask that was open to the air (had to be!) but didn't allow microorganisms into the tube! This was possible because microorganisms may have been able to fall into the opening, but the special neck of the flask was bent in such a way that it also sloped upward, microorganisms don't climb. He used the same conditions as the previous scientist, same reagents/components/etc. and what happened?
Absolutely nothing.
That's right. You can't just stick all of the necessary components of life in a test tube (or in this case, a flask) and expect something to grow! People have even since tried putting all of the components of a living cell in a space together and nothing happened: no membrane formed, no replication, nothing.
Face it:
The cell theory itself says (as Robert Remak--and later, Virchow--noted), "Omnis cellula e celula" (cells arise ONLY from pre-existing cells)!!
Because of this tenet, even the most evolutionary-minded biologists recognize that there had to be a first cell in order to create further cells. Sure, those biologists might also have some twisted views on how that first cell came to existence, but they still know that cells don't just appear from nothing!
Okay, back to proteins!
Another thing about a protein is that they all have different sequences of amino acids. There are TONS of proteins that can be made within a cell from only 20 amino acids. Every time one particular sequence is made, it folds the EXACT SAME way as every single prior time that specific sequence was made. Even my cell biology professor who has been studying cells forever, teaches graduate-level courses in cell and membrane biology, and is doing research on cells and DNA says that no one knows why the same folding occurs every time! There is no apparent reason for it (except of course...GOD made it that way!).
Proteins are fascinating entities to life; one simple little change can make or break life. For example, a single replacement of one specific amino acid of a particular protein (I don't know which one) can be the difference between a healthy individual and someone with sickle-cell anemia.
I wish I knew more about proteins and all of the wonderful qualities they possess, but I'll have to stick to what I know for now. But if even I, an undergraduate biology student, can see that these things are SO complex that they couldn't have just appeared, why can't everyone else?
Alright, one last point. Are you still with me?!
Cell division.
The nucleus.
During mitosis, the nuclear envelope (surrounding the nucleus) completely dissolves itself, and then it reforms itself, after nuclear division, around the new nuclei!
How could something so incredibly complex as a nuclear envelope just BREAK itself down and BUILD itself back up somewhere else?!
This might shock you, but: NOBODY KNOWS!
There's so much we don't know, so much we just don't/can't understand. Maybe one day we'll figure out how these things happen, and we'll get a little more insight into the amazing things God's created here.
Until then, they're just mysteries.
And I'm happy to keep them that way for now! :)
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