Day 16 Devotion – Are Black People Descendants of Cain?

And the LORD said to him, “Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the LORD set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him. Genesis 4:15

Some groups, especially the Klu Klux Klan, teach that the mark put on Cain was dark skin and that he became the father of the dark skinned races. There is one simple and fatal flaw to this hypothesis. The flood of Noah occurred after the story of Cain and Able. Therefore, there should be no dark skinned people because they were all destroyed in the flood. It amazes me how ignorant people can be. Genesis chapter 10 is called the Table of Nations and shows how people dispersed over the earth. We see there that the dark skinned African peoples are descendants of Noah’s son Ham, not Cain. Even linguists refer to their languages as Hamitic tongues.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news to the Klan but the genetic studies mentioned in the previous devotion show that all humans can be traced back to a single dark skinned woman from Africa or at least the Middle East. You see, dark skinned people did not descend from white skinned people; white skinned people descended from dark skinned people. The Caucasian races are descendants of Noah’s son Japheth.
Let us not forget that in Old Testament days that God’s chosen people were the Hebrews, which usually are described as having olive colored skin. Aryanism, racism, bigotry or whatever you want to call it has no scientific muster to back it up. Actually throughout most of human history the light skinned races were considered barbarians by other people groups and it wasn’t until the Middle Ages and the influx of Christianity that Europe leaped forward culturally and industrially.
This is just one more example of how people misuse the Bible to try to justify their beliefs. The problem is that the Bible doesn’t say what they claim it does. If people would learn to read and think and take a freshman Western Civilization History class, these stupid sensations could be easily avoided.

Day 15 Devotion – Were Adam and Eve Real People?

And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. Genesis 3:20

Many people laugh off the story of Adam and Eve like no educated person could believe such a fairy tale. There is a scientific way to look for them, and that is through genetics. I think most people are aware of the 46 chromosomes that humans have with females having two X chromosomes and males having an X and a Y. Are you aware that there is other genetic material in your cells called mitochondrial DNA? The mitochondria are little structures inside the cell that function like powerhouses to generate energy for the cell to operate. Mitochondria have a small chromosome that controls their operation and multiplication. Because sperm only contribute their 23 chromosomes to a fertilized egg, this means that the mitochondrial DNA in your cells all came from your mother. We can then trace this back and have discovered that all humans on earth have descended from one woman. Likewise, men get their X chromosome from their mother so the Y chromosome is only donated by males and it can also be tracked back to one man. This actually supports the Bible’s version because if one human evolution version is true then humans evolved multiple times from an ancestor called Homo erectus. This is called the “Multi-regional Hypothesis”.
One thing that has caught geneticists off guard is that as they try to put a time on when this one man and one woman lived they do not match up. The single woman dates back much further than the single man. They assume this is within the range of error for the measurements. We need to consider one other factor that could explain this. Remember the story of Noah’s flood? Who survived? We have Noah and his three sons and all their wives. This means that all men on earth today trace back to one man, Noah, that doesn’t date as far back as Adam. The wives would have come from different families so as we trace back to one woman it would still point to Eve. The flood story actually explains why geneticists show the one man being much younger than the single female date.

Back Home

Well, we drove all the way back from Pennsylvania in one day. We were going to camp but it rained most of the way and my tent needs a pole replaced. Now it's back to rearranging the new home. Monday we went to Grove City, PA where there is a very large outlet mall. I wanted to do something that Trish would enjoy since I got to do my man things like canoeing, off roading and shooting and killing things. My brother and his wife Debbie served as tour guides. My mom road along and helped me entertain Jedi with ice cream and play grounds. My brother Rob met us there. You know how when you go on vacation it is fun to see things you don't see everyday? If you went to Yellowstone you might see grizzly bears, wolves and elk. If you went to the beach you might see dolphins. If you went the the Grand Canyon you might see the Grand Canyon. Well, at the outlets, Trish was excited to see a transvestite. She was tempted to ask him/her if she could have her picture taken with it. Well, that's the most exciting thing we saw on our vacation. I know you all are jealous.

Day 14 Devotion – Is the Garden of Eden Just a Myth?

Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” Genesis 3:1

Secular scholars look at the stories in the Bible as pure myth unless they find good evidence otherwise. One thing that helps is corroborating evidence from archaeology or another culture that the story is at least based on true history even if the details of what really happened may be in doubt.
Archaeologists have unearthed a metal engraving called the “Adam and Eve Seal” from ancient Mesopotamia. This makes it much older than the Biblical story of the Garden of Eden itself. Notice in the picture that there is a man on the right and a woman on the left seated by a fruit tree. Behind the woman you can see a serpent slithering up like it is whispering in her ear. This find, at the very least, shows that ancient Mesopotamian cultures linked the beginning of mankind to this kind of story. It cannot just be written off as myth, there has to be some elemental truth to this event.
Returning back to our idea on where the Garden was located, let me mention that climatologists have confirmed that a valley by Lake Urmia in Iran once had very mild conditions and was full of fruit trees. It also contained beautiful rivers, marshes and served as home to a high diversity of animals. Today the city of Tabriz sits in this valley and it is a barren desert on the outskirts of town. David Rohl discovered a group of people called the Kerubim on the east side of the valley.

So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the Garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. Genesis 3:24

The Garden of Eden is gone forever. There is no paradise hidden that we could still find on earth. The only way to the tree of life today is through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Graduation

Well, graduation is over. The ceremony at Nashville State Community College was May 12. It was only about an hour long, which was a treat. Two years ago at UAFS the ceremony was 2 hours and 45 minutes long. I used to sneak reading material in under my gown to keep myself occupied. Jedidiah had a preschool graduation on May 19. It was pretty cool and we look forward to him starting Kindergarten at his new school in Spring Hill.

We attended Thompson Station Church for the first time. I know I probably sound crazy because I talked about how much I loved my church in Dickson and was teaching a Baptist history class there and now here we are changing churches. Unfortunately with our move to Spring Hill it puts a little bit too far to commute. We visited the Sunday School class that one of my colleagues that teaches Anatomy and Physiology attends. We also know the education pastor because he used to be the youth pastor at Grand Avenue Baptist in Fort Smith. It is nice to see a familiar face when you visit a large church. If you are interested you can check out the link below and they have mp3 files you can download. Take care.

www.thompsonstationchurch.org

Spoiled Brat

I risk getting in big trouble here but my wife is a spoiled brat. I told her since we were leaving on vacation to wait until we got back to get our internet and phone hooked up. Well, I'm blogging from home this morning so you can see she submits to her husband real well. She even had both computers and both TVs hooked up so we don't have to compete with Jedi for access.


OK, now that I've complained let me say that Charter has lighting fast internet and we got a wireless connection so now maybe I'm a little spoiled too. I've gotten quite a bit accomplished so far around the apartment. Mostly I had to dig a little to find all the computer cables to be ready for our appointment this morning. I've carried in quite a few things and am putting them in place. Jedi's preschool graduation is tonight and we look forward to it because he will actually be wearing a cap and gown. We've seen pictures of him in it and he looks real cute. Hope y'all have a great day!

Day 13 Devotion – How many Creations were there?

And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. Genesis 2:18-20


Would it surprise you to know that theologians argue over how many creations there were? Do you only know of one? I mentioned in an earlier devotion the “Gap Theory” that believes the original creation was destroyed in a battle between God and Lucifer and the six days of creation are actually a re-creation. Some scholars say the description in Genesis 2 is so different from Genesis 1 that they must be different accounts. In Genesis 1 man and woman are mentioned together in creation but Genesis 2 paints a picture that some time passed between the creation of man and woman. This has led to a strange hypothesis that Adam had two wives. The story goes like this. Adam’s first wife from Genesis 1 was named Lilith and her and Adam had a big falling out so she left him and dwelt in caves. These caves were full of snakes that became her new family and she even interbred with them and became half-snake herself. Eve was then created to replace Lilith and this made Lilith jealous and she returned to Eden as the serpent that tempted Adam and Eve to cause their downfall and destruction. I promise I’m not pulling your leg here, this is a real hypthesis. Personally, one creation is satisfying enough for me.
I think it is noteworthy here that many scholars laugh at the Bible for claiming animals and humans were created from the ground. Evolution has caused this idea to sound preposterous. I find it amusing then that an environmental science textbook I have actually says that our bodies are remarkably similar to the composition of the soil and that as organisms die they are recycled into new ones through he soil. Sounds like Bible had the correct picture all along.

The Move is Over!

Hey everyone. Sorry I've not been blogging much lately. We just got our last load moved from Dickson to Spring Hill yesterday and turned our keys in this morning. We did not go with the U-haul truck, we made numerous trips with borrowed trucks and trailers. I would like to thank my friend Dan. We wouldn't have gotten moved without him. Also, Brennan, Trish's nephew, let us borrow his truck as well. Now we should have everything unpacked and organized within three years, that's my goal anyway:)

We are back in Dickson today because it was Jedi's last day of preschool. We are doing what yuppies do and using free wifi at the local beanery. I really like the new apartment. It feels so much roomier and comfortable. I can't wait to have time to sit on my balcony. We are also leaving for vacation on Wednesday to see my family in Pennsylvania. I should be able to keep blogging now that the hectic pace is slowing down. Hope this finds you all well. God Bless.

Day 12 Devotion – Where was the Garden of Eden?

Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Hiddekel; it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates. Genesis 2:10-14



The location of the Garden of Eden has always been a mystery. One hypothesis says that the rivers mentioned here point to the Holy Land and maybe that’s why God called it the Promised Land. We know where two of these rivers are. The Hiddekel is the Tigris River and the Euphrates still goes by that name. Some say that another name for the Nile River was the Gihon and that Ethiopia was once called “Kush”. The river we are not sure about is the Pishon. If the Nile is intended here then this just points to the Middle East as a whole. Another thing to consider is that if the garden was destroyed by Noah’s flood then there is probably no hope of finding it.
My favorite historian is David Rohl and he wrote a book called “Legend”. In the book he looks for the Garden of Eden and finds some remarkable clues that it was located in what is now northern Iran. The verses tell us that there is a water source that splits into four headwaters for four rivers. Lake Urmia is in the region of the headwaters for the Tigris and Euphrates. David found two other rivers flowing from here toward the Caspian Sea that have ancient names very similar to Gihon and Pishon. Another clue is the word Bdellium or aromatic resin. Scholars agree that this is the Lapis Lazuli gem stone. Lapis is a blue colored stone that is found in Afghanistan. There is one other place where geologists have found it and that is this region around Lake Urmia. David also found a local region called Cush that fits the spelling better than Ethiopian Kush does. We will see more clues from here in later verses.

Day 11 Devotion – When did it Rain for the First Time?

This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground. Genesis 2:4-6

Picture: Lake Urmia is just west of the Caspian Sea in Northern Iran.

Young-earth creationists take this passage to its literal extreme and believe that the rain that caused the flood of Noah was the first time it ever rained on earth. As an old-earth creationist I obviously believe it rained many times in the billions of years before man was created. So, how do I reconcile this passage? I came across a neat historical note in a western civilization text book that the ancient Sumerians and other Mesopotamian groups believed that a dew rose from the early earth to water the vegetation. The Old Testament and especially Genesis were written during the time that these Mesopotamian beliefs were prevalent. God allowed the authors of the Bible to incorporate a lot of their culture into the writings of the Bible. Although this verse is not accurate from a meteorological standpoint it does certainly fit into the common belief of the time. Many liberal scholars claim that Moses was not the author of Genesis and that it was written much later in time. Phrases like this actually attest to the ancient nature of these scriptures and verify that the author knew what he was talking about because he was intimately familiar with the culture.

This phrase also gives us a clue as to the whereabouts of the Garden of Eden. We will spend more time on this later but the Sumerians believed that the source of this subterranean water that came up and watered the vegetation was located near what is called Lake Urmia. Lake Urmia is in extreme northern Iran and it serves as the headwaters for both the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Before we come back to this in a later devotion, take time to think about what you have been taught about the Garden of Eden. Have you ever wandered where it was? Mark on a map where you would guess it was located.

Day 10 Devotion – God’s Diet Plan

And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so. Genesis 1:29-30


You will notice here in the beginning that God gave permission to eat plant material but there is no mention of eating animals. We will see later that permission to eat animals is given to Noah following the flood. Is God really telling us here that his original plan for us was to be vegetarian? Is there any scientific evidence that a vegetarian diet is better for us? I have to admit that I was brought up as a meat and potatoes man so if I eat a meal without meat it seems strange to me. Americans suffer from diseases that are not seen in most other places in the world. The leading killers in the U.S. are not infectious diseases but diseases linked to lifestyle choices. The top killer in America is heart disease and a couple of other cardiovascular diseases are in the top ten. Diabetes and especially type II diabetes ranks very high as well. These diseases are linked very highly to heavy consumption of animal products. Animal food sources are very high in cholesterol and saturated fat. Colon cancer has also been linked to grilled meats, sausage and foods fried in polyunsaturated oils. It should not be surprising to us that the healthiest diet in the world that dieticians recommend is the Mediterranean diet. This diet consists of whole grains, fruits and vegetables. They also consume a lot of fish. Fish is excellent for us because of the omega-3 fatty acids that promote good circulation. Plant material is high in fiber, which promotes good intestinal movement and helps eliminate bad LDL cholesterol. Red meat is a good source of iron but it is recommended to only eat four to six ounces two or three times per week. This means that most Americans eat more than a week’s worth of meat in one sitting. Vegans do have trouble getting enough protein so just back off on your meat intake and increase your veggies.

Day 9 Devotion – Image of God

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Genesis 1:26

Picture: Michelangelo's Creation of Man on the Sistine Chapel.

There is some strange grammar in this verse. Why is it worded in the plural “Let Us make man in Our image”? Some scholars interpret this as the first picture of the Trinity. The word for God here is a plural noun but it is used with a singular verb. God is singular in some ways and plural in others. The Hebrew word for God used in Genesis one is Elohim. Hebrew words that end in “im” are plural so Elohim is the plural of El. Jewish scholars have always been bothered by this since they are such strict monotheists. Other historians say that this is seen in some other ancient texts from Babylon and Assyria. Kings would often refer to themselves in the plural to emphasize their power. This is called the “majestic plural”. They would say the author is only trying to use grammatical license to show how powerful God is as creator. I believe there is probably a double meaning here and that double meanings are common in the Bible so both can be true at the same time.

Next, I would like to address the issue of dominion. Christians fall into two major camps on this word. One group says that God gave us control over the earth and we have a right to do what we want with it. They have no problem with progressing as quickly as possible and using the world’s recourses for profit. Another group would look at the earth as a gift to us from God that we are to be stewards of and manage wisely. They would be environmentally friendly and even participate in recycling without being fanatical about it. I personally fall into the second group. Many environmentalists try to attach moral and ethical attributes to the environmental cause and argue that we as humans are just another animal and we have no right to overexploit the earth to the point that we cause harm to other creatures, they have the same right to exist that we do. I say conserve resources for future generations.

April Showers Bring May Flowers

April sure was a rainy month and now that May is here it still hasn't stopped. The flowers were prettier in April than they are now so someone messed up the famous saying. It seems like Jedidiah has had pictures taken for almost everything lately so I will be sharing some of those. Here is one of his school spring pictures.


Saturday Trish, Jedi and I went into Nashville to meet my friend Jan. Jan and I went to Westwood High School together in Mesa, AZ and she was in my youth group at Valley Southern Baptist Church. She is now a minister to international students at Arizona State University (ASU Sundevils). Who says you can't be a Christian and a devil at the same time? :) Jan was there for a collegiate ministries conference. We went to Jack's barbeque in downtown Nashville for lunch. They have flying pigs on their sign. While eating and visiting with Jan I realized that a small group from Arizona had travelled together and I asked her who else came? She said a couple of folks from NAU in Flagstaff had come. NAU is my alma mater so I asked her if Marc Hill was there and she said yes. We saw some Arizona folks at the very restruant we were at so after eating we strolled upstairs and sure enough there was old Marc Hill. He was my Baptist Student Union director so I got to hug his neck too. Marc taught me lots of bad habits, most of them came from an old movie with Rick Miranus in it and they used a lot of Canadian slang such as "beauty eh?", "hoser" and "horking". Marc is truely the greatest hoser in all the world. It was a great visit and now I wish I could take another trip back to Arizona for a visit.

Day 8 Devotion – Creation Days Five and Six

Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.” So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” So the evening and the morning were the fifth day. Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Genesis 1:20-26


Picture: The picture here shows the sequence that animals and plants appeared in the fossil record. It is the same sequence as that shown in chapter one of Genesis and even shows man as the last to appear.


On day five we see that God created aquatic animals and what the translators call birds. Then on day six we see the land dwelling organisms with man being the last thing created. Notice that the general trend of creation is from more simple to more complex. This is the same order found in the fossil record. However, if these organisms on day five really are birds then there is a contradiction with science. If you look up all of the Hebrew words used here you will see that Moses used the most general terms he could. The word used here just means flying things and can refer to insects. Moses had plenty of words to use for birds if he wanted to. The Cambrian explosion shows us that all major animal phyla appeared suddenly in the sea, followed by flying insects. Next small creatures appear on land, followed by large four-legged animals and mammals after the dinosaurs went extinct. Man is the crown jewel of creation showing up most recently. How could Moses know this sequence if the fossils weren’t discovered until the 1900s?