Category Archives: My Faith

About my faith in God and my favorite Bible passages

Whatever is true, whatever is noble – think about such things

I would like to share one of my very favorite passages of the Bible. This is the apostle Paul writing in a letter to the Philippians:

Finally, brothers,
whatever is true,
whatever is noble,
whatever is right,
whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely,
whatever is admirable—
if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—
think about such things.

Philippians 4:8 (New International Version)

In my humble opinion, this is the ultimate example of “positive thinking”.

The world can be a very depressing place, and difficult to live in sometimes, if we concentrate on all the bad things that are happening around us.

But, no matter what is happening in the world, there are always true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy things happening, also. As Paul says, “think about such things”…

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Happy Fathers Day to my Father in Heaven

Today is Father’s Day. Jesus called God our “Father in Heaven” when he taught us how to pray: 

 “This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,
   hallowed be your name, 
 your kingdom come,
   your will be done
      on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts,
      as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
   but deliver us from the evil one
for yours is the kingdom
 and the power and the glory forever.
Amen.
(Matthew 6:9-13)

On this Father’s Day, and every other day for the rest of my life, I would like to thank my Father in Heaven for giving me everything that I have and for making me everything that I am.

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Genesis Chapter 1: The Six Days of Creation

Page Contents:

Genesis is my favorite book of the Bible, and Chapter 1 is my favorite chapter. This chapter describes the six-day process of God creating the heavens and the earth:

The First Day

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning– the first day.

The Second Day

6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning– the second day.

The Third Day

9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning– the third day.

The Fourth Day

14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights– the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning– the fourth day.

The Fifth Day

20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23 And there was evening, and there was morning– the fifth day.

The Sixth Day

24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” 29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground– everything that has the breath of life in it– I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning– the sixth day. (NIV)

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The true meaning of Easter: “He is not here; He has risen”

Quoted from the New Testament Bible book of Matthew, Chapter 28:

The Resurrection

1 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.
3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.
4 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
5 The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.
6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.
7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you."
8 So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
9 Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him.
10 Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."

11 While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened.
12 When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money,
13 telling them, "You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’
14 If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble."
15 So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.
17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.""
(NIV)

Bible Gateway Online Bible

Happy Resurrection Day to my fellow Christians!

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The Official 2010 US Census asks for my race. I am a member of the Human Race and none other.

We have to check little boxes with our “race” on the Official 2010 Census here in the United States.

I am sick and tired of people collecting “race” statistics and putting people into little boxes. Separating ourselves by “races” is divisive, in my humble opinion. When are we going to think of ourselves as one big group called people?

For all other forms when I have to fill in my “race” I draw a new little box, check it, and write in “Human”.

I asked my hubby about how he feel about me doing this on our census, and he brought up a good point. Each census form has our address preprinted on it. If we don’t fill out the form “correctly” he pointed out that somebody could come by and ask for a correction.

So, this one time, I’m going to lay down my principles and check each “race” box that pertains to me. Rats.

First off, the whole concept of “race” is artificial according to my beliefs. I believe that all people are of one blood– in one big literal family. The only reason we look different from each other is because we became isolated into different gene pools on different continents. After the global flood that Noah and his family survived, people spread out across the earth.  (yes, I believe this stuff)

Perhaps one day all people in the world will intermarry with each other. Then, some day their children will come back to the point where we are all brownish like Adam and Eve. Then, we might feel like we are in one big family again.

I’d like to recommend the book: One Blood: The Biblical Answer to Racism

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