Jill's
Personal Page
Birthdays
and Anniversaries for the Month of August/September
Happy
Birthday Jon
Happy 1st Birthday Jonny
Happy
8th Birthday Daniel
Happy Birthday Grandma
E
Happy
Birthday Nancy
Happy Birthday Ken
Happy
Anniversary Jon and Jill
Happy Birthday Zach
New
Arrival - Congratulations
Aiden Cook VanPelt (Jamie&
Kelli)
Brady
William Russin (Bill & Robin)
Favorite
Recipes: Chocolate Pudding Cake
Jon made this
easy cake for my birthday
Ingredients
Directions
1 box chocolate cake mix,
Mix and bake the cake according to directions
the kind with pudding in
the mix
using two 9" round cake pans
1 box of sugar free/fat free chocolate insant pudding mix
Remove from pans and cool
Carefully cut each cake
in half horizontally
Place one half on cake plate and spread pudding on top
Place second half on first and spread pudding on top
Repeat with third layer
When forth layer is in
place, spread pudding over entire cake
Decorate as desired
Bible
Verse for the Month
"Whether you turn
to the right or to the left,
your ears will
hear a voice behind you, saying,
"this is the way;
walk in it.."
Isaiah 30:21
Quote
of the Month
"Missionaries are
very human folks,
just doing what
they are asked.
Simply a bunch
of nobodies, trying to exalt Somebody."
Jim Elliot
Shadow of
the Almighty
Poem
of the Month
Nature's
first green is gold,
her hardest hue
to hold.
Her early
leaf's a flower,
but only so an
hour.
Then leaf subsides
to leaf,
so Eden sank to
grief.
So dawn goes down
to day,
nothing gold can
stay.
Robert Frost
Story
of the Month
“A
Good Argument”
The atheist professor
of philosophy pauses before his class and then asks one of his new students
to stand. "You're a Christian, aren't you, son?"
"Yes, sir."
"So you believe
in God?"
"Absolutely."
"Is God good?"
"Sure! God's good."
"Is God all-powerful?
Can God do anything?"
"Yes."
"Are you good or
evil?"
"The Bible says
I'm evil."
The professor grins
knowingly. "Ahh! THE BIBLE!" He considers for a moment.
"Here's one for you. Let's say there's a sick person over here and
you can cure him. You can do it. Would you help them?
Would you try?"
"Yes sir, I would."
"So you're good...!"
"I wouldn't say
that."
"Why wouldn't you
say that? You would help a sick and maimed person if you could...in
fact most of us would if we could...God doesn't."
[No answer.]
"He doesn't, does
he? My brother was a Christian who died of cancer even though he
prayed to Jesus to heal him. How is this Jesus good? Hmmm?
Can you answer that one?"
[No answer]
The elderly man
is sympathetic. "No, you can't, can you?" He takes a sip of
water from a glass on his desk to give the student time to relax.
In philosophy, you have to go easy with the new ones.
"Let's start again,
young fella. Is God good?"
"Er... Yes."
"Is Satan good?"
"No."
"Where does Satan
come from?"
The student falters.
"From... God..."
"That's right.
God made Satan, didn't he?" The elderly man runs his bony fingers
through his thinning hair and turns to the smirking, student audience.
"I think we're going to have a lot of fun this semester, ladies and gentlemen."
He turns back to the Christian.
"Tell me, son. Is
there evil in this world?"
"Yes, sir.
Evil's everywhere, isn't it?"
"Did God make everything?"
"Yes."
"Who created evil?"
[No answer]
"Is there sickness
in this world? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness. All
the terrible things - do they exist in this world?"
The student squirms
on his feet. "Yes."
"Who created them?"
[No answer]
The professor suddenly
shouts at his student. "WHO CREATED THEM?
TELL ME, PLEASE!"
The professor closes in for the kill and climbs into the Christian's face.
In a still small voice: "God created all evil, didn't He, son?"
[No answer]
The student tries
to hold the steady, experienced gaze and fails. Suddenly the lecturer breaks
away to pace the front of the classroom like an aging panther. The
class is mesmerized.
"Tell me," he continues,
"How is it that this God is good if He created all evil throughout all
time?"
The professor swishes
his arms around to encompass the wickedness of the world. "All the
hatred, the brutality, all the pain, all the torture, all the death and
ugliness and all the suffering created by this good God is all over the
world, isn't it, young man?"
[No answer]
"Don't you see it
all over the place? Huh?" Pause. "Don't you?" The
professor leans into the student's face again and whispers, "Is God good?"
[No answer]
"Do you believe
in Jesus Christ, son?"
The student's voice
betrays him and cracks. "Yes, professor. I do."
The old man shakes
his head sadly. "Science says you have five senses you use to identify
and observe the world around you. Have you seen your Jesus?"
"No, sir.
I've never seen Him."
"Then tell us if
you've ever heard your Jesus?"
"No, sir.
I have not."
"Have you ever felt
your Jesus, tasted your Jesus or smelt your Jesus...in fact, do you have
any sensory perception of your God whatsoever?"
[No answer]
"Answer me, please."
"No, sir, I'm afraid
I haven't."
"You're AFRAID...
you haven't?"
"No, sir."
"Yet you still believe
in him?"
"...yes. That takes
FAITH!"
The professor smiles
sagely at the underling. "According to the rules of empirical, testable,
demonstrable protocol, science says your God doesn't exist. What
do you say to that, son? Where is your God now?
[The student doesn't
answer]
"Sit down, please."
The Christian sits...
Defeated.
Another Christian
raises his hand. "Professor, may I address the class?"
The professor turns
and smiles. "Ah, another Christian in the vanguard! Come, come, young
man. Speak some proper wisdom to the gathering."
The Christian looks
around the room. "Some interesting points you are making, sir.
Now I've got a question for you. Is there such thing as heat?
"Yes," the professor
replies. "There's heat."
"Is there such a
thing as cold?"
"Yes, son, there's
cold too."
"No, sir, there
isn't."
The professor's
grin freezes. The room suddenly goes very cold.
The second Christian
continues. "You can have lots of heat, even more heat, super-heat,
mega-heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat but we don't have anything
called 'cold'. We can hit 458 degrees below zero, which is no heat,
but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as
cold, otherwise we would be able to go colder than 458. You see,
sir, cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat.
We cannot measure cold. Heat we can measure in thermal units because
heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence
of it. Hence..."
A pin drops somewhere
in the classroom.
"Is there such a
thing as darkness, professor?"
"That's a dumb question,
son. What is night if it isn't darkness? What are you getting
at...?"
"So you say there
is such a thing as darkness?"
"Yes..."
"You're wrong again,
sir. Darkness is not something, it is the absence of something.
You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light but
if you have no light constantly you have nothing and it's called darkness,
isn't it? That's the meaning we use to define the word. In
reality, Darkness isn't. If it were, you would be able to make darkness
darker and give me a jar of it. Can you... give me a jar of darker
darkness, professor?"
Despite himself,
the professor smiles at the young effrontery before him.
"This will indeed
be a good semester. Would you mind telling us what your point is,
young man."
"Yes, professor.
My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed to start with and so
your conclusion must be in error..."
The professor goes
toxic. "Flawed...? How dare you...!"
"Sir, may I explain
what I mean?"
"Explain...oh, explain..."
The professor makes an admirable effort to regain control. Suddenly
he is affability itself. He waves his hand to silence the class,
for the student to continue.
"You are working
on the premise of duality," the Christian explains.
"That for example
there is life and then there's death; a good God and a bad God. You
are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure.
Sir, science cannot even explain a thought. It uses electricity and
magnetism but has never seen, much less fully understood them. To
view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death
cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of
life, merely the absence of it." The young man holds up a newspaper
he takes from the desk of a neighbor who has been reading it. "Here
is one of the most disgusting tabloids this country hosts, professor.
Is there such a thing as immorality?"
"Of course there
is, now look..."
"Wrong again, sir.
You see, immorality is merely the absence of morality. Is there such
thing as injustice? No. Injustice is the absence of justice.
Is there such a thing as evil?" The Christian pauses. "Isn't
evil the absence of good?"
The professor's
face has turned an alarming color. He is so angry he is temporarily
speechless.
The Christian continues.
"If there is evil in the world, professor, and we all agree there is, then
God, if he exists, must be accomplishing a work through the agency of evil.
What is that work God is accomplishing? The Bible tells us it is
to see if each one of us will, of our own free will, choose good over evil."
The professor bridles.
"As a philosophical scientist, I don't view this matter as having anything
to do with any choice; as a realist, I absolutely do not recognize the
concept of God or any other theological factor as being part of the world
equation because God is not observable."
"I would have thought
that the absence of God's moral code in this world is probably one of the
most observable phenomena going," the Christian replies. "Newspapers
make billions of dollars reporting it every week! Tell me, professor.
Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?"
"If you are referring
to the natural evolutionary process, young man, yes, of course I do."
"Have you ever observed
evolution with your own eyes, sir?"
The professor makes
a sucking sound with his teeth and gives his student a silent, stony stare.
"Professor.
Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot
even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching
your opinion, sir? Are you now not a scientist, but a priest?"
"I'll overlook your
impudence in the light of our philosophical discussion. Now, have
you quite finished?" the professor hisses.
"So you don't accept
God's moral code to do what is righteous?"
"I believe in what
is -- that's science!"
"Ahh! SCIENCE!"
The student's face splits into a grin. "Sir, you rightly state that
science is the study of observed phenomena. Science too is a premise
which is flawed..."
"SCIENCE IS FLAWED..?"
the professor splutters. The class is in uproar.
The Christian remains
standing until the commotion has subsided. "To continue the point
you were making earlier to the other student, may I give you an example
of what I mean?"
The professor wisely
keeps silent.
The Christian looks
around the room. "Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen
the professor's brain?"
The class breaks
out in laughter.
The Christian points
towards his elderly, crumbling tutor. "Is there anyone here who has
ever heard the professor's brain... felt the professor's brain, touched
or smelt the professor's brain?"
No one appears to
have done so.
The Christian shakes
his head sadly. "It appears no one here has had any sensory perception
of the professor's brain whatsoever. Well, according to the rules
of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science, I DECLARE that the
professor has no brain."
The class is in
chaos.
The Christian sits...
because that is what a chair is for.
*Blessed are the
pure in heart, For they will see God.*
- Matthew 5:8 –
