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Truth,
and the right ideas and right thinking that are
based on the truth, are essential for a successful
and meaningful life and for a good and healthy
society. Without truth, life for individuals and
for societies degenerates into chaos, nihilism,
meaninglessness, hedonism, perversion, followed
by collapse and then by eternal loss.
Truth
is knowable - not all truth, but enough truth
to enable a human being to lead a meaningful and
successful life that will result in eternal life.
Understanding essential realities is possible.
I will outline for you the way I think, and why
I think the way I think I pray that my thoughts,
and the way I arrived at them, will provide a
good and coherent philosophy for thinking and
living for us all. First, we must start with God.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
God is. There is one God. The wise man places
God at the very center of his thinking. God is
the foundation of his wisdom. It is the fool,
the man who may be smart, who may have a Ph. D.,
but can’t apply his knowledge properly,
who has said in his heart, “there is no
God.” If you don’t start with God
as the foundation of your thinking, your intellectual
and moral edifice won’t be constructed properly.
You won’t think right, and you won’t
live right. One wise man observed that the most
important thing about any man is not how successful
he is, or his social status, or how many friends
he has, or his family or career, or wealth, but
what deep in his heart, he thinks about God. Belief
in God is entirely reasonable. It is based on
very good evidences, logic, good arguments and
reasons . Let me give you three arguments:
The
Argument From Morality, Conscience, and Belief
in God Human beings are inherently moral.
I don’t mean that human beings are inherently
good, and generally make the right moral choices,
but rather that human beings intuitively have
an idea of what is good or right that seems to
be independent of us. Even when we don’t do what
is right, we know what is right. Where did this
sense of right and wrong come from? Only from
the values learned from the societies in which
we live? Also, there is a universal belief in
God or gods in every society among mankind. Even
after seventy years of atheistic communism belief
in God in the former Soviet Union couldn't be
stamped out.
Where
does this intuitive knowledge of God and morality
come from? Where does man's conscience come from?
Isn't it logical to think that there is a Supreme
Being who is moral, who created this moral order,
and gave us conscience and an intuitive awareness
of Himself? Rabbi Paul asserts: When the Gentiles
who do not have the Torah, do instinctively the
things of the Torah, these, not having the Torah,
are a Torah to themselves, in that they show the
work of the Torah written in their hearts, their
conscience bearing witness, and their thoughts
alternatively accusing them or else defending
them (Romans 2:14-15).
The
Argument From Existence and Personality The
universe exists. It is not personal: it has no
mind, will, or emotion. Either the universe always
existed, or it had a beginning. The discoveries
of modern science are indicating that the universe
isn't eternal, but in fact had a beginning. Either
we believe that an impersonal, non-intelligent
universe always existed, or that it created itself
out of nothing (which is logically inconsistent,
since by definition it’s impossible for anything
to create itself out of nothing, since nothing
can’t produce something), or a personal God created
the universe. Since there is mind, will, emotion
and personality in the universe, in the form of
human beings, it make much more sense to agree
with Moses that in the beginning the personal
Creator God created the Heavens and the Earth.
The
Argument From Intelligent Design Creation
declares that there is compelling evidence that
God exists: King David observed 3,000 years ago:
The heavens are telling of the glory of God;
and their expanse is declaring the work of His
hands. Day to day pours forth speech, and night
to night reveals knowledge (Psalm 19:1-2).
1,000 years later Rabbi Paul added: That which
is known about God is evident within them; for
God made it evident to them. For since the creation
of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal
power and divine nature, have been clearly seen,
being understood through what has been made, so
that they are without excuse (Romans 1:19-20).
There is no excuse for ignorance about God because
there is sufficient evidence all around us. Just
as we infer an intelligent designer for any product
in which we discern evidence of purposeful adaption
to some end, so too the universe is full of purposeful
design, order and regularity. There are "laws
of nature" that operate by precise mathematical
formulas, which tells us that there is an intelligent
Designer.
If you
were walking on a path through a forest and saw
a beautiful watch on the path that was in working
order and keeping accurate time, would you assume
that it came together over millions of years by
chance processes? Since the watch gives evidence
of intelligent design, you would correctly assume
that a watchmaker purposely made it. If a visitor
from outside the universe visited Earth, he would
likewise correctly assume that there was a Creator.
Since the universe is more complex than anything
made by man, the obvious and necessary conclusion
is that it must have a Powerful Designer and Creator
who is far greater than man.
Kerby
Anderson, the President of Probe Ministries, informs
us in a recent letter: There are “new advances
in the area of intelligent design. Astronomers
are discovering that we have a ‘just right’
universe. The discoveries remind me of the story
of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. One chair was
too big, one was too small, and one was ‘just
right.’ Scientists have begun to uncover
evidence that the universe is ‘just right.’
They have found 29 fine-tuned parameters to the
universe which are ‘just right.’ These
would include such things as the constants in
equations for gravity, electromagnetism, strong
and weak nuclear forces, and even the ratio of
proton to electron mass. If any of these parameters
were just a little off, the universe as we know
it wouldn’t exist!
They have
also discovered another 51 fine-tuned parameters
for our galaxy, solar system, and planet. These
would include: the distance from the sun, the
size, temperature, and type of the sun, the Earth’s
size, axial tilt, rotation speed and moon. They
have even discovered the importance of planets
like Jupiter and Saturn in our solar system. Of
course, the probability of all these parameters
coming together by chance is astronomical. Scientists
calculating these probabilities are coming to
the stark conclusion that the presence of any
life in the universe is a highly improbable event.
Scientists
are also making similar discoveries in the area
of biology. Much of this has been documented in
a book by Michael Behe entitled Darwin’s Black
Box. Michael Behe (who is a biochemistry professor
at Lehigh University) introduced the concept of
‘irreducible complexity.’
“In
simple terms, this idea applies to any system
of interacting parts in which the removal of any
one part destroys the function of the entire system.
An irreducibly complex system, then, requires
each and every component to be in place before
it will function.
“As
a simple example of irreducible complexity, Behe
presents the humble mousetrap. It contains 5 interdependent
parts which allow it to catch mice: the wooden
platform, the spring, the hammer (the bar which
crushes the mouse against the wooden base), the
holding bar, and a catch. Each of these components
is absolutely essential for the function of the
mousetrap. For instance, if you remove the catch,
you cannot set the trap and it will never catch
mice, no matter how long they may dance over the
contraption. Remove the spring, and the hammer
will flop uselessly back and forth-certainly not
much of a threat to the little rodents. Of course,
removal of the holding bar will ensure that the
trap never catches anything because there will
again be no way to arm the system.
“Now,
note what this implies: an irreducibly complex
system cannot come about in a gradual manner.
One cannot begin with a wooden platform and catch
a few mice, then add a spring, catching a few
more mice than before, etc. No, all the components
must be in place before it functions at all. A
step-by-step approach to constructing such a system
will result in a useless system until all the
components have been added. The system requires
all the components to be added at the same time,
in the right configuration, before it works at
all.
“How
does irreducible complexity apply to biology?
Behe notes that early this century, before biologists
really understood the cell, they had a very simplistic
model of its inner workings. Without the electron
microscopes and other advanced techniques that
now allow scientists to peer into the inner workings
of the cell, it was assumed that the cells was
a fairly simple blob of protoplasm. The living
cell was a "black box" - something that could
be observed to perform various functions while
its inner workings were unknown and mysterious.
Therefore, it was easy, and justifiable, to assume
that the cell was a simple collection of molecules.
But not anymore. Technological advances have provided
detailed information about the inner workings
of the cell. Michael Denton, in his book Evolution:
A Theory in Crisis, states "Although the tiniest
bacterial cells are incredibly small, weighing
less than 10^-12 grams, each is in effect a veritable
microminiaturized factory containing thousands
of exquisitely designed pieces of intricate molecular
machinery, made up altogether of one hundred thousand
million atoms, far more complicated than any machine
built by man and absolutely without parallel in
the non-living world." In a word, the cell is
complicated. Very complicated.
“In
fact, Michael Behe asserts that the complicated
biological structures in a cell exhibit the exact
same irreducible complexity that we saw in the
mousetrap example. In other words, they are all-or-nothing:
either everything is there and it works, or something
is missing and it doesn't work. As we saw before,
such a system cannot be constructed in a gradual
manner - it simply won't work until all the components
are present, and Darwinism has no mechanism for
adding all the components at once. Remember, Darwin's
mechanism is one of gradual mutations leading
to improved fitness and survival. A less-than-complete
system of this nature simply will not function,
and it certainly won't help the organism to survive.
Indeed, having a half-formed and hence non-functional
system would actually hinder survival and would
be selected against.” From Irreducible Complexity:
The Challenge to the Darwinian Evolutionary Explanations
of many iochemical Structures (http://acs.ucsd.edu/~idea/irredcomplex.htm)
In an article titled, “Shapes, Numbers, Patterns,
and the Divine Proportion in God's Creation (Institute
For Creation Research, Impact No. 354 December
2002) Fred Willson, informs us that in God's creation,
"there exists a 'Divine Proportion' that is
exhibited in a multitude of shapes, numbers, and
patterns whose relationship can only be the result
of the omnipotent, good, and all-wise God of Scripture.
This Divine Proportion - existing in the smallest
to the largest parts, in living and also in non-living
things - reveals the awesome handiwork of God
and His interest in beauty, function, and order.
Mr. Wilson
begins with shapes, then discusses how a numbering
pattern and a ratio (the Divine Proportion) are
an inherent part of these shapes and patterns
and are ubiquitous throughout creation. He begins
with a shape with which we are all familiar. It
is the spiral commonly seen in shells. By taking
a careful look at that spiral (the chambered nautilus
is probably the clearest example) you will observe
that as it gets larger, it retains its identical
form. Since the body of the organism grows in
the path of a spiral that is equiangular and logarithmic,
its form never changes. The beauty of this form
is commonly called the "golden spiral."
This spiral
is visible in things as diverse as: hurricanes,
spiral seeds, the cochlea of the human ear, ram's
horn, sea-horse tail, growing fern leaves, DNA
molecule, waves breaking on the beach, tornados,
galaxies, the tail of a comet as it winds around
the sun, whirlpools, seed patterns of sunflowers,
daisies, dandelions, and in the construction of
the ears of most mammals.
This spiral
follows a precise mathematical pattern. We will
first look at this spiral in sunflowers. By looking
carefully at a sunflower you will observe two
sets of spirals (rows of seeds or florets) spiraling
in opposite directions.
When these
spiral rows are counted in each direction, you
will discover that in the overwhelming majority
of the cases that their numbers, depending upon
the size of the flower, will be of the following
ratio: if small, 34 and 55; if medium 55 and 89;
if large 89 and 144.
These
numbers are part of the Fibonacci numbering sequence,
a pattern discovered around A.D. 1200 by Leonardo
Pisa (historically known as Fibonacci). Each succeeding
number is the sum of the two preceding numbers.
The sequence of these numbers is 1, 2, 3, 5, 8,
13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, ad infinitum. This
numbering pattern reveals itself in various ways
throughout all of nature.
When the
smaller number of this pattern is divided into
the larger number adjacent to it, the ratio will
always be approximately 1.618; if the larger one
adjacent to it divides the smaller number, the
ratio will be very close to 0.618. This ratio
is only true for this set of numbers. This ratio
has been called historically the Divine Proportion
or Golden Ratio. This ratio has served mankind
in three ways: it provides beauty, function, and
reveals how marvelous God is.
Why did
Phideas, the Greek sculptor, and many others in
ancient Greece and Egypt use this ratio in designing
their works of art? Because this ratio has been
found to be remarkably pleasing to the human eye,
it produces what is called a Golden Rectangle.
If the short side of the rectangle is 1, the long
side will be 1.618. This rectangular shape was
used in the designing of the Parthenon in Greece
and as the basic shape for many of their numerous
pictures, vases, doorways, windows, statues, etc.
It appears in the Great Pyramid of Egypt. The
United Nations building is a golden rectangle.
Many of the things you use are (approximately)
patterned after the golden rectangle - credit
cards, playing cards, postcards, light switch
plates, writing pads, 3-by-5 and 5-by-8 cards,
etc.
Artists
such as Leonardo da Vinci, Van Gogh, Vermeer,
John Singer Sargent, Monet, Whistler, Renoir,
and others employed the golden proportion in their
works. They would "take a blank easel and
divide it into areas based on the golden proportions
to determine the placement of horizons, trees,
and so on." Why the golden proportion? Art
forms can be either of static or dynamic symmetry.
In static symmetry the lines have definite measurements
whereas in dynamic symmetry it is the proportioning
of the areas that is given emphasis. It implies
"growth, power, movement. It gives animation
and life to an artist's work . . . rather than
the effect of stillness and quiet"
of static symmetry. This is the appeal of the
golden proportion.
Another
area of great interest is the occurrence of Fibonacci
numbers in the spiral arrangement of leaves around
a plant's stem (called phyllotaxis). This spiral
pattern is observed by viewing the stem from directly
above, and noting the arc of the stem form one
leaf base to the next, and the fraction of the
stem circumference which is inscribed. In each
case the numbers are Fibonacci numbers. Examples:
In an elm the arc is 1/2 the circumference; in
beech and hazel, 1/3; apricot, oak, 2/5; in pear
and poplar, 3/8; in almond and pussy willow, 5/13;
and in some pines either 5/21 or 13/34.
Why did
God arrange them this way? This pattern assures
that each leaf will receive its maximum exposure
to sunlight and air without shading or crowding
other leaves.
Not only
do we discover this pattern in leaf arrangements,
but it is also found in the arrangement of flower
petals. Examples: a lily has 3 petals, yellow
violet 5, delphinium 8, mayweed 13, aster 21,
pyrethrum 34, helenium 55, and michaelmas daisy
89. With such a great variety of spiral ratios
in leaf and petal arrangement, no one has any
reason to get bored with God's creation.
When we
realize that the information to produce these
spirals and numbers in living things is stored
in the DNA, should we then be surprised to find
that the DNA molecule is 21 angstroms in width
and the length of one full turn in its spiral
is 34 angstroms, both Fibonacci numbers? The DNA
molecule is literally one long stack of golden
rectangles.
In the
area of very large phenomena when the time period
of each planet's revolution around the sun is
compared in round numbers to the one adjacent
to it, their fractions are Fibonacci numbers!
Beginning with Neptune and moving inward toward
the sun, the ratios are 1/2, 1/3, 2/5, 3/8, 5/13,
8/21, 13/34. These are the same as the spiral
arrangement of leaves on plants!
These
shapes, numbers, spirals, and the divine proportion
are ubiquitous in their presence throughout all
of creation. They are found in living and nonliving
phenomena. Their symmetry, beauty, and mathematical
preciseness are evident in every aspect of nature.
Although absolute perfection is not found in all
of these (due to the effects of Adam' sin), their
very presence virtually everywhere and in everything
argues against their having occurred by blind
chance or evolutionary processes. The only rational
conclusion is that the Creator of the universe
is a personal, intelligent Being, who created
these things as a visible fingerprint of His invisible,
yet personal existence. Evidences that the
Bible is the Divinely Inspired Word of God
The powerful and intelligent Creator of the Universe,
who made man with the ability to communicate,
is Himself able to communicate. He can reveal
Himself to us, and speak to us, and make His desires
known to us. God has in fact communicated very
clearly to humanity through the divinely inspired
Scriptures, which includes the Tenach and the
New Testament.
We’ve
seen that through Creation, and through nature
we can know that God exists, and that He is Person,
and that He is powerful, and intelligent and creative.
But, we can know far more about God by means of
the Bible, both Old and New Testaments. There
are good reasons to believe that the Bible is
the divinely inspired Word of God.
One evidence that the Bible
is the divinely inspired Word of God is the fact
that it is one of the few books that claims to
be the Word of God. The phrases, “Thus says
the Lord,” or “the Word of the Lord”
are used hundreds of times. It claims to be the
uniquely inspired communication from our Creator
to us: All Scripture is inspired by God
(2 Timothy 3:16).
Another
evidence that the Bible is the divinely inspired
Word of God is its amazing unity. It was written
by forty authors from different backgrounds over
1,500 years and yet reads like it was written
by one author. One would expect that if a book
was truly the Word of God.
Another
indication that the Bible is the divinely inspired
Word of God is the fact that it has affected the
world more than any other book ever written. It's
the most widely published book ever written. It
has profoundly affected law, philosophy, politics,
literature, music, the arts and science. One would
expect that if a book was truly the Word of God.
Another evidence that the Bible
is the divinely inspired Word of God is its unique
ability to tell the future. The Koran doesn't
predict the future, and as far as I know, the
Hindu or the Buddhist books don't. The Bible is
the only religious book that accurately predicts
the future, years, centuries and even millennia,
in advance. In fact God claims, I am Adonai
(the Lord), that is my Name; I will not give My
glory to another nor my praise to graven images.
Behold the former things have come to pass, now
I declare new things; before they spring forth
I proclaim them to you (Isaiah 42:8-9, see
also Isaiah 44:6-8).
The
Lord claims to tell us the future ahead of time
for the express purpose of demonstrating that
He is the true God, so that we will believe in
Him. The Bible’s ability to predict future
events lets us know that God, who is not limited
by time, was in communication with Israel’s
prophets, with Yeshua and His Emissaries.
Archeology
has shown over and over that the Bible is historically
accurate. What the Bible says about persons and
events that it describes have been proved over
and over again to be true.
The Bible
reflects accurate scientific knowledge of the
universe. Some examples: the Earth is round (Isaiah
40:22); the Earth is suspended in space without
support (Job 26:7); the stars are countless (Genesis
15:15); the water cycle, sea currents (Psalm 8:8);
living things reproduce after their kind; many
insights into health, hygiene, diet, physiology
(such as the importance of blood, e.g., Leviticus
17:11, the eighth day after birth being high in
blood coagulant); the first and second laws of
thermodynamics (Isaiah 51:6) [examples taken from
page 18 of The Revised and Expanded Answers
Book, edited by Don Batten, Master Books,
1990].
The Bible
describes reality better than any other philosophy
or religion or worldview. It tells us why the
universe has laws, design, order, complexity,
simplicity, elegance, and beauty: because there
is a Great Designer. It tells us why there is
beauty, love, wisdom, justice, truth and personality:
these are not the results of chance processes,
and random activity, but they come from God who
has these attributes. It tells us why there is
evil, suffering, death, injustice in the world:
it’s due to mankind’s sin and resultant
alienation from God. It tells us why there is
beauty and ugliness mixed together, happiness
and sadness, order and chaos, pain and joy. It
tells us that life can be ultimately meaningful,
full of purpose and eternal significance.
The Bible was meant to be read
and understood by the average human being who
can read. It is understandable if the Golden Rule
of Interpretation is applied to it: “If
the literal sense makes sense, don’t seek
any other sense” - a non-literal sense.
There are non-literal passages (allegories, parables,
poetry, symbols, hyperbole, etc.), but those are
easily recognizable.
People
have heard that the text of the Bible has been
corrupted over the centuries, but the Hebrew Scriptures
have been meticulously transmitted, as the Dead
Sea Scrolls demonstrate. Thousands of New Testament
documents, some of them written very early, in
the First and Second Centuries, show that the
text of the New Testament has not been corrupted,
but has been faithfully transmitted.
The Bible
is true. It is accurate. It is real history.
It means what it says. Since God exists, and He
is personal, and able to communicate, and can
make His desires known to us, and has made His
desires known to us through the Bible, we have
an obligation to follow His expressed desires.
God and His Word should affect every subsequent
political and moral and religious decision that
we make.
Religion
I believe
in the Trinity - Father, Son and the Holy Spirit
of the Father and of the Son. I believe that Yeshua
is Messiah, and Lord, and the Son of God, and
that He is fully God and fully man. Why do I believe
in Him? Because of the amazing Messianic Prophecies
in the Hebrew Scriptures, that are meticulously
fulfilled in Him. I believe in Him because of
His resurrection, which was described by many
eyewitnesses. I believe in Him because of His
impact on the world. I believe in Him because
of His impact on millions of others. I believe
in Him because of His impact on me.
There
is a Heaven, which is a very real place, which
can be gained, and there is a Hell, which is a
very real place, which can be avoided. I believe
that it is possible to live forever, in a resurrected
and glorified body, with God and Messiah, with
the saints and good angels, with everlasting happiness.
I believe that most of mankind will miss out on
life, and experience the Second Death in the Lake
of Fire.
There
are good angels who serve God and help us. There
are evil, fallen angels who oppose God and try
to destroy us.
I believe in Dispensationalism.
Dispensationalism recognizes that God has made
different demands of different peoples at different
times. It sees a progression in salvation history,
a progression in the revelation of God’s
will. Dispensationalism is based on two main principles.
First, it is based on a consistent, normal, literal,
everyday meaning to the Word of God, unless the
text tells you otherwise. The second key principle
of Dispensationalism arises from the first: there
is a consistent distinction in the Scriptures
between Israel and the Church, and although there
is a connection between the two, and there is
a relationship between Israel and the Church,
Israel and the Church are two separate entities.
Therefore, Israel means Israel and the Church
means the Church, and the Church does not mean
Israel, and Israel does not mean the Church. Dispensationalism
insists that every promise God made to Jewish
people which has not been fulfilled will be fulfilled,
and fulfilled literally sometime in the future.
History is headed toward a goal.
It has a beginning, a middle and an end. We are
getting closer to the culmination. There will
be a one world government, headed by an evil world
dictator, the anti-Messiah. The true Messiah,
Yeshua, will literally and physically return to
Earth, and set up His Kingdom, which will last
for 1,000 years. After that, this universe will
be destroyed. That will be followed by the Day
of Judgment, where every human being will give
an account of the things they have done, and the
things they should have done but didn’t
do.
I believe
that the Jewish people are the Chosen People,
chosen by God to help the world return to the
one true God; find salvation and redemption from
sin and death and alienation from God, who is
the Source of Life, Goodness, Happiness and Blessing.
The Jewish
people were chosen to bring the world the knowledge
about one God, and the Word of God, and the principles
of atonement and reconciliation with God through
Temple, Priest and the blood of the sacrifices,
which would ultimately culminate in the Messiah,
the Final Sacrifice, the truest Temple of God,
where God most fully dwells, and our High Priest
who brings God to us, and us to God.
The religions
of the world, apart from true Christianity and
Messianic Judaism, are evidence not of truth and
salvation, but of religious confusion and spiritual
death. The many religions of the world show how
confused we are religiously, how far we from God,
far from truth, and darkened in our religious
understanding.
Non-Messianic
Judaism is based on a broken covenant which cannot
save us. There is no Temple and there are no sacrifices
by which we can be brought near to God and experience
genuine atonement. While most of the Jewish people
reject Messiah, and we are far from Him and therefore
far from God and salvation, and not part of the
New Covenant, neither the Jewish people nor the
nation of Israel should be mistreated. Christians
should love and stand by Israel and the Jewish
people. I believe that the ongoing existence of
the Jewish people is another strong evidence of
God’s reality, and the inspiration of the
Holy Scriptures. I believe that the Land of Israel
belongs to the people of Israel.
Catholicism
has corrupted the Gospel, and is a false religious
system. If there are individual Catholics who
are saved, it is in spite of the Catholic Church,
not because of the Catholic Church. If there are
Catholics who are born-again, they will share
the truth about salvation based on the finished
work of the Messiah, salvation that comes to us
by grace alone, and is experienced through faith
alone, and based on the Scriptures alone. They
will tell share the truth with others within the
Catholic Church, and eventually find themselves
excluded from that institution.
I believe
that the majority of people who call themselves
Christians are not genuinely Christians, are not
born again, not indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and
not saved. As Moishe Rosen wittily observed, “Being
born into a Christian home doesn’t make
you a Christian, any more than being born into
a bakery would make you a bagel!”
Islam
is not a religion of peace. I am skeptical
that there is such a thing as “Moderate
Islam.” Islam wants to destroy Israel, and
what remains of Western Civilization, and eventually
take over the world.
Tolerance
does not mean that you have to accept all ideas,
religions, philosophies, worldviews, opinions,
lifestyles and practices as being equally true,
equally valid, equally beneficial. Tolerance means
being gracious to others, even when you disagree
with them and know they are wrong. Tolerance means
helping and cooperating where possible.
Morality
There
are physical laws that the Creator has designed
into the universe, and there are moral and spiritual
laws built into the universe as well. There are
absolutes. There are things that are right, and
things that are wrong. God has a right to tells
us, “You shall not” and “You
shall.” Since He is our Creator and our
Redeemer, and is far wiser and better than we
are, the essence of "right" is obedience
to what God has revealed.
The more
an individual or a nation lines itself up with
God's wise and true laws, the more success, blessing,
reward, happiness they will have, and the better
off they will be. The more an individual or a
nation rejects God’s laws, the more confused
and the more messed up they will be.
For example,
what human beings think about God affects their
behavior and their morals and ethics, or lack
thereof. If a person believes that this universe
began with an impersonal Big Bang, and will continue
for billions of years, and then experience either
a gradual heat death, ultimate entropy, so that
there is no activity, or that the universe will
start contracting, and all the galaxies will begin
to reverse themselves, and everything will return
to its beginning point - one singularity, where
perhaps it will form another impersonal Big Bang;
if a person believes he started off as a one-celled
organism, and is ultimately nothing more than
glorified slime mold, an advanced sea slug, a
meaningless bit of temporary matter, and that
when we die we die, because there is no after-life,
no God, and therefore no moral or spiritual absolutes,
no “thou shalt nots,” no Day of Judgment
when each human being will give an account of
his actions to His Creator, no Heaven to be gained,
no Hell to be avoided, no punishment, no rewards,
no eternal life that is possible, then a person’s
motivation to strive to do what is right will
almost always be less than what it should be.
With hundreds of millions having a worldview like
this, no wonder there are so much unhappiness,
so much mental instability, so many suicides,
crimes, murders, so much sexual immorality, so
many abortions, so much drug and alcohol abuse!
We are reaping the consequences of decades of
bad ideas about God, and morality.
Mankind’s
greatest problem is sin - not economics, not politics,
not terrorism, not war. We are dead in our sins,
alienated from God, estranged from the One who
made us, from the One who is the source of life,
goodness, blessing and happiness. We are in need
the most desperate need of redemption and salvation
that He alone provides.
I believe
that due to the Fall of Man, the Rebellion of
Adam and Eve against their wonderful and good
Creator, than mankind has been corrupted. Sin
has negatively affected every aspect of our being:
body, soul, spirit, mind, emotion, will, sexuality.
Wars, rape, suicide, stealing, murder, lying,
cheating, despair, boredom, a sense of meaningless,
a sense that things aren’t quite right (even
in the best of times), physical illness, mental
illness, the need for police, courts, judges,
jail, prison, locks, keys, all show this alienation
from God, this alienation from each other, from
nature, and from ourselves. Sin has caused all
this.
Mankind’s
greatest problem is sin, but sin can be overcome.
We can be reconciled to our Creator and overcome
sin in a two-fold way - by faith in God and offering
a God-ordained sacrifice. First, we must find
out who God really is, and really come to know
Him, and then we must place our faith in Him.
We must trust Him. We don’t invent our own
ideas about God; we don’t come up with our
own thoughts about who this Creator is, we must
come to know Him as He truly is. Second, an innocent
victim, a God-ordained sacrifice, must shed its
blood, and die in our place. In the Torah, animals
were sacrificed at the Temple in Jerusalem to
provide atonement. Now, atonement, redemption,
forgiveness, and reconciliation with God, overcoming
sin and becoming acceptable to the Almighty only
comes about through the sacrifice of God’s
Son - Yeshua the Messiah. He is the one and only
way of salvation for Jew and Gentile.
Apart
from a close, personal relationship with God,
and salvation through the Messiah, human life
will turn out to be so short, so insubstantial
and meaningless. But with a close, personal relationship
with God, embracing our wonderful Messiah and
Savior, who sacrificed His life for us, human
life will turn out to be everlasting, and eternally
good and significant.
Men and
women are equal in value in the sight of God,
and have equal access to God, and yet men and
women are different. There are distinct roles
for men and women. For example, women should not
be rabbis or pastors. The man should be the head
of the family. Men should be the ones that go
to war. Women should not be in combat. If women
are married and have children, their primary responsibility
is to stay at home and raise the children while
the men go off to work and support the family.
Sexuality
is a powerful drive within us, but it needs to
be restrained. We are not animals ruled by instinct,
that have to mate whenever the urge comes upon
them. The sexual drive is very strong, but it
can and must be submitted to God’s purposes.
We are to use our sexuality within marriage (and
marriage is to be between one man and one woman)
for pleasure and for bonding between husband and
wife, and for the production of godly children,
and Our sexual desires must remain within marriage,
which will help us build strong families, and
stable homes, and raise righteous.
I believe
that homosexuality is wrong, that is a perversion
of sexuality, that it is against the laws of nature
(male goes with female, male body parts go with
female body parts) and against the laws of God,
and that it damages the people who engage in it
- physically, and makes them less than what they
should be. It harms the society that tolerates
it.
Abortion
is our worst national sin. About 4,000 children
growing in the womb are killed every day. Abortion
is murder. It is the taking of a human life that
is already in existence and growing, and we don’t
have that right. You can not take a wrong and
make it into a right. There is no right to murder!
We must not vote for any candidate who is pro-abortion,
or favorably disposed to abortion or wanting to
keep the status-quo regarding abortion. Don’t
tell me that you like his other policies, or that
he will be good for the economy or good for the
nation. That same reasoning was used by Germans
who argued that Hitler was good for the nation.
But it came at the expense of 6 million Jewish
people who were murdered, along with millions
of others. I tell you that a man is not good for
the nation if comes at the expense of the weak
and helpless and innocent being murdered! I don’t
care how talented or charming he is, if he is
pro-abortion he is not fit to hold any public
office! If you vote for men and women who are
pro-abortion, or favorably disposed toward abortion
or want to keep the status-quo regarding abortion,
you are partners with them in murder, you share
in their guilt, and God will surely punish you.
Those women who have committed this crime, and
the men who pressured and encouraged them to do
this evil, and not supported them in their time
of need, can be completely forgiven - through
the blood of the Messiah, and if they confess
their sins.
God made
this world, and He place mankind in charge of
it. We are to be good managers of creation, and
treat it with respect. In that sense, each one
of us should be an environmentalist. We should
not waste, we should recycle where we can, we
should conserve where we can. But I also believe
that it is OK to eat meat.
Politic
When it
comes to government and politics, and how we order
society, I am a monarchist. My first loyalty is
to God the Father who is the High King of Kings,
and to King Messiah Yeshua. I am citizen of the
Kingdom of God. If a human government contradicts
God’s government, I must obey God rather
than man. But, until Messiah Yeshua returns to
Earth, where He will establish His throne, sets
up His Kingdom from His capitol city in Jerusalem
and rules over Israel and the nations with perfect
justice and righteousness, I prefer a democratic
form of republican government. I prefer the people
vote in good representatives who are accountable
to the people, and who will make good and wise
and godly decisions, so that we may lead a good
and peaceful life.
Government
is good and necessary, but needs to be limited,
and it needs to be constantly monitored. Humans
and their institutions are so easily capable of
being corrupted. Power corrupts and absolute power
tends to corrupt absolutely. There is only a thin
veneer of civilization that covers us. Under the
right circumstances, we can revert to the barbaric
(like the Nazis, like rape of Nanking perpetrated
by the Japanese on the Chinese). Human government
can become corrupt and oppressive and tyrannical.
Government constantly needs to be watched by an
active, involved and informed populace.
Christians
and Messianic Jews need to vote, and be actively
involved in the political process. Evil triumphs
when good men and women do nothing.
In the
United States, we have freedom of religion, and
freedom of expression, and our religious convictions
can and should be expressed within the political
realm. It is our right, and it our duty, to bring
God and His Word and His truths into all of our
moral and political and economic considerations,
and don’t let anyone convince you otherwise.
I am a
conservative. I want to conserve traditional ideas,
institutions and values. I believe that there
is much in Western Civilization, in the Judeo-Christian
culture, that is worth conserving. The liberal
movement accomplished many good things. I commend
liberalism for helping to liberate us from many
social and economic injustices, but I also believe
that much of current liberalism has gone too far.
It is trying to liberate us from things that are
right, liberate us from Biblical morality, free
us from God, liberate us from religion, free us
from absolutes of right and wrong. I believe that
there is a way of fighting for the truly oppressed
and for social justice without rejecting God,
without abandoning true religion and basic morality.
We are
terribly over-governed and over taxed. We should
slash and burn government programs, power and
spending. I want less government, less programs,
fewer government agencies and bureaucrats, less
taxes, less dependence on government programs
and handouts. I want more freedom, more personal
responsibility, more family and religious community
responsibility.
I think
that taxes need to be limited. If the Lord only
asks for 10 percent, certainly the State is not
entitled to more than that! And yet, the State
gobbles up 40 or 50 percent of our taxes, and
that makes you a virtual slave of the State. If
the State can’t live on 10 percent, then
it is doing functions that it should not be doing.
We should start from the premise that all forms
of government - federal, state and local, only
deserve 10 percent of our income. I’m in
favor of a 10 percent flat tax (get rid of the
IRS or greatly diminish it) or a 10 percent sales
tax that is distributed between state, local and
federal government.
Welfare
for any extended length of time is destructive.
It causes dependent behaviors, and breaks down
the family structure. Providing for the needs
of the poor is primarily the job of the family,
the church or synagogue, or private charities.
I believe in compassion, and sharing with the
poor, and I also believe that those who are able
to work, and don’t, shouldn’t eat.
I believe
that capital punishment is right and necessary.
God said that He would punish His Chosen People
if the allowed blood defile the Land of Israel.
It defiles the land to leave a murderer alive.
God has given the authority to inflict capital
punishment to human beings. It is a legitimate
function of government. But, we should make very
sure, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the man
is guilty. If we are not sure beyond a reasonable
doubt, let him serve life in prison without parole.
Speaking of punishment, for many crimes, rather
than prison, which can make a man worse, I am
open to the idea of corporal punishment - like
is practiced in some parts of the world. The offender
is
given a certain amount of hits with a rod. It
doesn’t cause permanent damage. It’s
painful, it’s over, it’s done, it’s
fast, he learns his lesson. This has to be better
than 2 years, 5 years, ten years in a prison,
where homosexual perversion is rampant, and men
generally get worse - not better, and rehabilitation
rarely takes place. Did you know that the Lord’s
penal system did not include jails? There was
restitution for some crimes, corporal punishment
for others, and capital punishment for the worse
crimes.
Nationalism
causes problems, but Internationalism can cause
even greater ones. I am deeply suspicious of the
UN. The UN provides very little moral authority.
Two thirds of the member nations of the United
Nation are ruled by corrupt dictators. Something
like one third of all the UN resolutions that
have ever been made have been against Israel!
I don’t want the United States’ foreign
policy determined by that organization.
Economics
When it
comes to economics, I prefer a gracious and beneficent
kind of capitalism as opposed to socialism - the
forced redistribution of wealth. I believe in
the right to own private property, and that private
property rights must be respected. Since human
nature is fallen, we are selfish by nature, and
we work harder for our own interest. Capitalism
recognizes this, and harnesses it. Capitalism
is superior to socialism, providing that the capitalists
show concern and compassion for the worker and
for the poor. People need to be paid a fair wage
that they can live on and support their family
with dignity. Capitalism can become corrupted.
It needs to be restrained. When the wealth of
a society is unfairly distributed, so that the
many are poor and wretched, and the few are rich,
something is seriously wrong and must be rectified.
I aspire to be a compassionate capitalist.
I believe
our money should be backed by something real,
particularly gold and silver, and not by
mere words and promises. The problem with paper
money which is not backed by silver or gold is
that governments that won’t live within
their means will simply print more paper money,
which dilutes the value of the money already in
circulation. More money available to purchase
the same amount of goods and services causes inflation,
which is detrimental to a currency. Most paper
monies have become worthless over time, and I
think that will happen to the US dollar as well.
I am distrustful
of Fractional Reserve Banking, which by its very
nature, is inherently unstable. Banks take your
money, and lend it out to others, but they are
able to loan out more than they take in. They
only keep a small percentage in reserve, so if
there is a crisis, or people lose confidence in
the system, and everyone wants their money back
at the same time, it’s not possible
A little
debt may be OK, but too much debt brings financial
ruin. When you are in debt, it is the moral and
ethical and right thing to pay it off as soon
as possible. When you are in debt, buying non-essentials
and luxuries is immoral!
Passing
a huge debt onto future generations is immoral.
Parents are to save to help their children. They
are not to take from their children to waste on
their pleasures. Our nation has way too much debt,
and I blame both Democratic and Republican parties,
and every administration for the past 40 years.
I am particularly
disappointed in the current administration for
spending too much; and I blame us - the American
people, for allowing this situation to continue
and get worse. Debt levels are way too high -
national debt, state and local debt, corporate
debt and personal debt. I’m convinced that
we are headed for serious economic pain. If you
take today’s debt ($7.35 trillion immediate
debt, not including long-term liabilities) and
divide it by 280 million people you come up with
roughly $26,000 of for every man, woman and child
in this country. For a family of four that is
roughly $100,000 worth of debt per family.
According
to a recent article by Walter Williams, “the gimmicked
accounting standards (my comment: they are gimmicked
by not counting long term liabilities like Social
Security) as established during the Johnson era,
and as used today for official, unified budget
reporting, show a 2003 deficit of $374.3 billion...
Including accounting for Social Security and related
areas, the 2003 deficit balloons to $3,702 billion,
or $3.7 trillion. The accounting reflects no adjustment
for the new, more expensive Medicare program.
Beyond the $3.7 trillion deficit in 2003, however,
the numbers get even worse, because the shadow
deficit has been taking its toll ever since the
Johnson era. According to the Treasury's 2003
financial statement, the U.S. government has a
negative net worth of $34.8 trillion” (article
posted on the Prudent Bear Website (www.PrudentBear.com,
September 8, 2004).
Our economy
is not healthy. We have been living beyond our
means. We have been devaluing our money. We are
creating inflation. We have been propping up the
markets and the economy by artificial stimulation.
I believe that the United States is headed for
economic disaster.
Science
I believe
in Creation. I believe that the universe is relatively
young. There was a great flood in the time of
Noah, roughly 5,000 years ago. It explains the
fossils, and the fact that most of the Earth’s
land surface is made up of sedimentary rock. Oil,
coal, salt deposits, the billions of dead animals
and fish that became fossils, the Grand Canyon,
the sedimentary rock that covers most of the continents,
were all formed by massive water action at this
time.
Evolution
is not true. It is bad science. Species do not
evolve now, and have never evolved. Old species
die out. New species do not arise. God designed
his creatures with plenty of genetic information
to be able to adapt to various environments. Genetic
information can be lost over time, but it is never
gained.
This is
the way I think, and why I think the way I think.
May these thoughts, and the way I arrived at them,
provide a good and coherent philosophy for thinking
and living for us all.
Shalom,
Rabbi Loren Jacobs
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