Thought of the Week

Dust

Posted on by Shannon

Dr. Edwin Slessor said, “The greatest miracle of the Bible is its chemical accuracy.” The Book of Genesis says, “The Lord formed man of the dust of the earth.” (Gen.2:7) This statement is literally true.

In the general area where the beginning of civilization is thought to have taken place, a soil sample consists of 16 different chemical elements. All these are found in the body of man. How could the writers Moses, Job and David have known this? Yet before the science of chemistry was born this truth was declared as a fact. Christians have no difficulty believing these Bible writers were inspired by God. Continue reading →

Thankfulness, From Beginning to End

Posted on by Shannon

The New Testament is full of thankfulness, from start to finish. Each of Paul’s letters seem to begin with gratefulness for the church he was writing to, and they usually end with his thanks for individuals among them. See Phil.1:3-4 or Col.1:3, among many. Most of these churches had serious problems that threatened their undoing, but along with reproof the apostle found things about them for which he was thankful. And how about us? Perhaps there are things about our congregation that one could grumble about, but are we thankful for the many more things that are positive? Continue reading →

Doctor Luke

Posted on by Shannon

While Luke is only mentioned by name three times in the Bible, his reputation is huge. We would know very little about him if it wasn’t for his authorship of the gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts (in both, he does not name himself). He wrote them about 30 years after the church began (a.d.60-62), but what do we know about him before that? Continue reading →

The Power of Honesty

Posted on by Shannon

When the sons of Jacob returned home from Egypt they found a bonus in their sacks of grain. The money they had spent had been returned. Genesis 42 reveals this was part of the manipulations of their brother Joseph – now a powerful Egyptian official – to motivate them to return to Egypt. But they didn’t understand this, and they could have easily just put the cash back in their pockets. Continue reading →

A Descendant of Eve?

Posted on by Shannon

The scientific world was buzzing this week as the ancient bones of up to 15 skeletons were put on display at a South African university. Discovered in an almost inaccessible cave system requiring people to slither through tunnels no larger than 10 inches, the bones were removed and reassembled for study. Attending scientists believe the remains are that of man’s early ancestors, a branch of the human evolutionary tree, and named it “Homo Naledi.”

The strange thing about the skeletons is that they are ape-like in many ways (small brain, large shoulders, etc.), but also display human-like features. Some believe the skeletons are an ancient burial chamber. Early guesses peg the age of the bones anywhere from 10,000 years old to several million. Many newspapers and magazines are over the top with excitement, hinting that the theory of human evolution is further confirmed. Continue reading →