Of faith and humility...

This is what I saw this afternoon, a few minutes of glory.

I remember how it is to go to work every day, there was a time when I gave the best of what I was at that moment; I worked extremely hard and for long hours, and at the end of the day I was exhausted; I spent years working like a dog, really.

It was 24 years ago and just had met Jesus, and I was jobless; before that I was sunk in darkness, making a lot of money; but months later I was totally unemployed.  I had worked in a bank, and finance, since I was 23, so I didn't know what it is to work with your hands; before that I used to work with my brain and a pen. God gave me a job digging trenches in the dirt, I almost died of heat stroke the second day, a guy at the job site had to spray me with a hose from top to bottom to cool me down; that day I knew that was not the way to go, but I didn't care, it was a job and my family needed to eat.

Later on, He gave me a job as a janitor, I worked with a crew of Mexicans (my point is that I was the only one who spoke English, which I thought it was weird) cleaning the Union Bank building downtown; and on my first day on the job I cleaned all the men's bathrooms, in all twenty something floors, I think it's 22 or 23 floors, I forgot, I had to clean all the toilets, the sinks, the floor, the doors, the mirrors, empty the trash cans, etc.  I learned a lot about humility that day, at the end of the day I realized that I was the only janitor who drove a $32k SUV; I was still carrying with me the traces of my old life. God humbled me very quickly.

I remember the feeling when I got home, my two little girls came running to hug me, they used to sit on my shoes and hold me by the legs, so I walked with both of them, one on each foot; I was totally satisfied, I worked hard, to the best of my ability, constantly thinking about Jesus and the bible; and He provided everything I needed.  Then God got me into carpet cleaning; I carried that 80 pound buffer up and down the truck, and up and down the stairs inside different size homes; that was brutal work; sometimes I had to go to the submarine station in Point Loma and clean one of the ships there, now that is an adventure just to get in the ship with all the crap I needed; then haul that machine in those almost vertical stairs, more like ladders, for three or four decks; it took all morning to clean that boat, and we only did the officer's areas; have you ever tried cleaning the floor with all the furniture bolted down to it?  Yeah, it is hard, I needed more humility.

I wasn't humble enough though, so I broke my left leg riding a motorcycle down in Ensenada; that trial only lasted one and a half years, but my faith got built up.  I couldn't work for all that time, I spent the first 5 months laying on a couch; that was a horrible time, I never thought I could experience pain that intense; it made me think a lot about Christ, I learned to trust Him more and I learned more humility, and compassion for those who hurt.  I still cannot explain how we made it with no money coming in, the Lord is so faithful to His word, it blows my mind.

I'm saying all of the above because I think about faith a lot, and I think about faith a lot because God is still teaching me about it, and about humility; faith is an incredible gift, it really is; it is supernatural.  The Spirit uses His word and faith to allow me to see more of who God is; no wonder Peter calls it 'more precious than gold that perishes'; as he says: 1Pe 1:7-9  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:  (8)  Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:  (9)  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

Do you see it? Our faith is a channel of praise, and honor, and glory to our Savior; the end of it being the salvation of our souls; that is enough reason to rejoice with inexplicable joy, which is to give full glory to Him, that is the purpose of the joy that can only come through the testing of our faith.  It appears to me that affliction is the only way to test this faith; but this testing is not to test to see if it is true or false, it is a test of endurance; it is a test to strengthen it.

Here is some of what Calvin thought about faith, I love the way he speaks, like in 'confidence in the divine mercy', and 'shake off the vice', check it out:

Chapter 2. Of faith. The definition of it. Its peculiar properties.

Continued

I. of C.R. Book 3,chapter 2,part b:

21. To withstand these assaults, faith arms and fortifies itself with the word of God. When the temptation suggested is, that God is an enemy because he afflicts, faith replies, that while he afflicts he is merciful, his chastening proceeding more from love than anger. To the thought that God is the avenger of wickedness, it opposes the pardon ready to be bestowed on all offences whenever the sinner retakes himself to the divine mercy. Thus the pious mind, how much soever it may be agitated and torn, at length rises superior to all difficulties, and allows not its confidence in the divine mercy to be destroyed.

Nay, rather, the disputes which exercise and disturb it tend to establish this confidence. A proof of this is, that the saints, when the hand of God lies heaviest upon them, still lodge their complaints with him, and continue to invoke him, when to all appearance he is least disposed to hear. But of what use were it to lament before him if they had no hope of solace? They never would invoke him did they not believe that he is ready to assist them.

Thus the disciples, while reprimanded by their Master for the weakness of their faith in crying out that they were perishing, still implored his aid (Mat. 8:25). And he, in rebuking them for their want of faith, does not disown them or class them with unbelievers, but urges them to shake off the vice. Therefore, as we have already said, we again maintain, that faith remaining fixed in the believer’s breast never can be eradicated from it. However it may seem shaken and bent in this direction or in that, its flame is never so completely quenched as not at least to lurk under the embers.

In this way, it appears that the word, which is an incorruptible seed, produces fruit similar to itself. Its germ never withers away utterly and perishes. The saints cannot have a stronger ground for despair than to feel, that, according to present appearances, the hand of God is armed for their destruction; and yet Job thus declares the strength of his confidence: “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.” The truth is, that unbelief reigns not in the hearts of believers, but only assails them from without; does not wound them mortally with its darts, but annoys them, or, at the utmost, gives them a wound which can be healed.

Faith, as Paul declares (Eph. 6:16), is our shield, which receiving these darts, either wards them off entirely, or at least breaks their force, and prevents them from reaching the vitals. Hence when faith is shaken, it is just as when, by the violent blow of a javelin, a soldier standing firm is forced to step back and yield a little; and again when faith is wounded, it is as if the shield were pierced, but not perforated by the blow.

The pious mind will always rise, and be able to say with David, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me” (Psa. 23:4). Doubtless it is a terrific thing to walk in the darkness of death, and it is impossible for believers, however great their strength may be, not to shudder at it; but since the prevailing thought is that God is present and providing for their safety, the feeling of security overcomes that of fear.

As Augustine says, whatever be the engines which the devil erects against us, as he cannot gain the heart where faith dwells, he is cast out. Thus, if we may judge by the event, not only do believers come off safe from every contest so as to be ready, after a short repose, to descend again into the arena, but the saying of John, in his Epistle, is fulfilled, “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (1John 5:4). It is not said that it will be victorious in a single fight, or a few, or some one assault, but that it will be victorious over the whole world, though it should be a thousand times assailed.

Have a nice Monday.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

Think about death and have a nice day...

This is a post I found hanging in there as a "draft" for months, when I finished reading it I knew the reason why I never posted it, yeah, you got it, it is too long.  But as long as it remains a 'draft' no one will ever read it except maybe me, and as I said so many times before, I write mainly to record what I think for the sake of those whom I love, which means that if you are reading this you are loved by me, at least in my twisted and weird way of loving; I want to make you think about The Lord God.  I wrote it one day when I was very intently thinking about dying, not in a morbid way, but in a pondering way; will today be my day to die?  So before that happens, I thought I would just make a note to it and then press the "publish" button, so here it is:

Think about death my dear.  It is coming your way, and it shall surely come even if you choose to ignore it.  Let us pretend that there is no God for a moment, this is assuming that you already believe in God, which I know is true; what do you think will happen after you die?  Deep inside of you, you know that it is impossible for God not to exist, every single human being knows there is someone greater than us, it will always be like that for it is God who writes it down in the human heart, everyone knows it when they look at the sky or at a baby.  And deep in your heart you know that you will continue to exist; if you don't really know that, then you either wish that you would cease to exist, or that you will continue to exist; and if you think that you will continue to exist, then you have to ask what will happen to you when you die.

Obviously, if you think you will cease to exist, then the whole argument is completely irrelevant to you, as it would be to me, if that was the case I would not really think about walking in the paths of righteousness, I would not be writing this post either, I would despise the bible and anything related to religion or faith; to tell you the truth, I would be having fun somewhere, drinking and doing whatever else everyone is doing to mitigate the wear of the rat race; and I have already been there before; I call it the darkness of this world; and the reason I believe is because of that very reason, I needed to be rescued from the darkness, and that is what happened, God rescued me. That being said, you can stop reading this if you think you are a fool who says in his heart 'there is no god'.

The first question that comes to my mind in this scenario is why do we die?  Every human being knows that we live 'inside' our bodies, we know for sure that our bodies are not the real 'us', I learned that fact when I was about 5 years old; so it would be really hard to think that we just cease to exist. Human reason and experience, while subjective in and of themselves, indicate that we are more than our bodies, it is obvious to a normal person that we have a soul, we call that 'consciousness', an awareness of being.  That means we have a conscience that makes us different from any other living creature on earth.

Where did this conscience come from?  Conscience is the part of ourselves that instinctively tells us when we are doing something wrong or bad, or something right or good; it is not education but an internal voice that discerns what type of behavior we are engaged in in any particular moment of our existence.  Even a person who claims to not believe in God will have this internal compass.  The reality is that we have been created with this attribute, even when anyone decides to deny it or ignore it; have you ever heard the term "their conscience is seared as with a hot iron"?  Do you see my point?

So obviously, if we are entities that live in a material medium called 'body', and if we have a consciousness of right and wrong, and if we are by nature 'moral beings', then the next question has to be, why are humans like they are?  And ask again, why do we die?  So we have to step in to natural law; that is where we can observe the laws of the universe operating in ourselves and all around us, and according to these laws, we can observe that everything around us, and in our bodies, is constantly moving from a state of order into a state of chaos, it is there by design.

Entropy, or the 2nd law of thermodynamics, a physical law, or property of the universe, is in constant operation, and everything is in a constant life and death cycle, let's call this "the cycle of life"; all living organisms are characterized by this, they all have been born, or brought into existence, grown, reproduced, declined and died; that is a natural law for anyone to observe and verify; of course this has been put into a system of study called biology; so we can answer the question "why do people die?" in this way:  People die because all living organisms, like people, are part of this cycle of life, all humans must be here by birth or creation, or conception, or whatever you want to call it, and all of them will grow, develop, reproduce, or not, and die eventually.  Natural law clearly answers that all people must die, because the laws of the universe demand that they do.

Why is this so?  No one can answer that question without the aid of some system of belief, because the question then must be, why are these laws put into place, what or whom put them in there?  Why is the universe functioning the way it is?  Why do we have gravity, and electromagnetism, and energy, and heat, and pressure, and light, and so forth, and life and death?  All that science has been able to do is explain what these laws are and what they are doing, or how they work, but not why they are there in the first place.  The logical conclusion after scientific observation for many hundreds of years, is that the universe and all its laws display a very delicate balance of order and chaos co-existing every where, from stars to atoms.  The universe displays a state of order and disorder at the same time but with the tendency to go towards disorder, read the news and you will see..

This of course, does not answer the question completely because we have to deal with the part of us that lives in these bodies made with living cells that are constantly reproducing and dying.  Did you know that we are constantly shedding hundreds of thousands of dead skin cells?  All that dust that accumulates in your bedroom when it is totally enclosed is composed, in great proportion, of many dead skin cells, I'm just saying.  Remember that I can almost always get away with statements that may not be true if I add the words "I'm just saying" at the end.

Really, why this cycle of life?  If this cycle applies to all living organisms, then it must apply to beings that display a sense of being or existing, and if indeed the laws of the universe apply to our whole being, then the part of us that lives in these bodies, must also die.  But in this line of reasoning a wrench must be thrown into it, like another law of the universe:  the 1st law of thermodynamics.  The first law of thermodynamics states that matter cannot be created or destroyed, but only transformed by an exchange of energy.  So then you must ask, where did matter come from?  The human soul is not considered to be "matter", but it matters more than the body, I think.  I remember reading some study in which it was observed that when people die their bodies actually lose weight, trip out on that, is not much, I think it was like 8 or 9 grams, but it is an indication of something happening at the moment of death, isn't it?  As far as I know, the soul is immortal, no one can prove it is not, there is a big gulf fixed between that knowledge of the two states of being, between life and death.

Hubble was the first astronomer to observe the red shift in the light of the stars and came to the conclusion that the universe was in a state of expansion; something that Einstein had already figured out by doing math, but he changed his mind about it because it did not make sense to him, so he fudged his own math to make it stable; he was finally convinced when Hubble called him and invited him to observe by himself what Hubble had discovered at the Palomar Mountain Observatory.  What this meant was, and it still is, that the universe was originated from a single point, all the matter, space, and time in the universe was concentrated in a point the size of a grapefruit ; if the universe is expanding, then the expansion means that the whole thing was at one point all contracted in a single point, and they call this a "singularity".

This is where the "big bang" theory came from.  Before there was anything that there is, there was nothing, they say, so where did it all come from?  This of course goes beyond evolution theories, we are talking about the origin of the universe.  Scientists know that this is the only logical explanation for the expansion of the universe, but the question still remains, who or what initiated the singularity?

Based on the laws of physics, we know that if everything came from a single point in time and space (it is a fact that time and space were part of the singularity, it could be no other way because nothing would work as it is working without time and space, the very expansion of the universe points to that fact), and if matter as we know it cannot be created or destroyed but only transformed from one state of energy to another, then death is really only a transformation from one state to another, the life-death cycle is in this case a change in state from order to disorder.  So I ask, does this apply to the human soul too?  It has to if the natural laws are to be consistent with each other; or maybe not.

All I'm doing here is thinking and writing at the same time, and since I am not a scientist, what I think might not be true at all but just a bunch of imaginations of my heart, which is okay because I can write whatever I want and no one can stop me, except death, and maybe hunger, I think I need to eat something, I'm starting to lose it...

It is incredible what a quesadilla with chicken can do to you.  Yeah I feel better, thanks for asking.  We all need to eat so we don't die right?  Right, and that brings me to the next thought, which is that the only way to reverse entropy (or at least stop it temporarily) is by the input of information or work, in this case food to my stomach so I can keep on living, they call that negentropy or negative entropy.  Every system in the universe works the same way; and you can actually test this, just don't clean your toilet for a month and see what happens.

Or just live and do not organize or clean anything in your house, you will have a clear example of entropy at work; the only way to prevent that from happening is by the input of work, which relates to the information I mentioned above; which brings me to the next point.

In any system, "the creation of new information is habitually associated with conscious activity", which is a quote from a guy named Henry Quasler, quoted in a book called 'Signature in the cell' by a biologist called Stephen Meyer; I just made that up by the way, it sounds cool doesn't it?  It does, and it is true. And I'm kidding, I didn't make it up; I actually watched a tape of Dr Meyer giving a lecture on this. Every thing that man has created has been done based on information; meaning, all human creations exhibit an inherent intelligent design, where did the design come from?  From the human mind.  So we can argue that all things in the universe, and the universe itself, display an inherent intelligent design; as the delicate balance in all the universal laws demonstrate.

For example, the distance between the sun and the earth is very specific, a little farther away from the sun and the earth would freeze, a little closer it would burn and life could not exist at all, the same applies to the atmosphere, it is delicately balanced in its gas composition, and so on and so forth. It is evident everywhere. The really mysterious and unique thing about all of it, and I mean the design, is that it can only be perceived by human beings, no other creature needs to know or be aware of this amazing universe, only man.  My dog doesn't seat in the backyard with me to enjoy the sunset, he is not even looking at it, he is more interested in licking his paw; and the birds seem completely oblivious to the purple sky in which they were flying, have you ever thought about that?

Do you see where I am going?  Of course you do, since you are so bright, and fearfully and wonderfully made (just a biblical expression for "intelligently designed").  Who is the designer?  Someone who by necessity exists outside of the created order.  And I say 'of necessity' because no designer has ever become his creation, a car designer does not become a car and does not live in the elements that formed the car. Even the bible exhibits this design and delicate balance; as it is the only book that was written by 40 different people, in three different continents, over a period of 1,500 years, with the same theme in every page of every chapter of every book, the whole 66 books are perfectly intertwined, and in perfect harmony with each other:  God and what He has done and will do.

Gee, all this for a religious statement?  Yeah, sorry about that, I can't help it, I spiritualize everything. Ok, true, I'm not sorry.  The bible is the only document in existence that answers the question why do we die?  It not only answers that question, but it also answers "where did we come from", and "what happens after we die"; and not only that, it also answers the question "what is death?".  In biblical speak, death is separation from God, and the inverse is life, or communion with God, you know that already.

I'm going to stop here because I need to go to sleep soon, but I warn you, I will continue this diatribe -maybe that is not the correct word, let's just call it 'my trip about death'- in the next post.  I know, you already know everything I'm going to say but I still want to tell you what I'm tripping about, it should be fun, at least for me.

Have a nice weekend.

I lied.  That was not the end of the post, it's not even close to the weekend either, and it is not fun at all to write these things.  Ok, I'm lying again.  It is fun.  Maybe it is not fun for you, but for me it is a normal thing to think about death; I think it was the Puritans who said that the whole purpose of life was not only to live well, but also to die well; and death my friend, will come our way whether we like it or not.

The point of this post is to actually make you think about dying, thinking about death has a way of making a point in my life, and it is the point because death is an event that will occur at the end of our lives in this body, it actually causes it to end as we know it, and for us Jesus freaks, it causes the beginning of what we believe happens when you die, and we do not know when that event will occur.  If we knew in advance the exact moment of our death, we would live in a very different way, our thoughts and our actions would be of a totally different kind, right?  Maybe, but I don't think so.

We have a fallible nature, even in the best moments of our lives we are constantly plagued with defective thinking and defective acting; our pursuit of happiness is always centered in our ambitions, and the things we can obtain or achieve; we are self centered creatures by nature, it matters not how much education we receive, we will always be selfish, and sinful, even to the last breath we take; even though the bible clearly states that those who believe, or have faith in Christ, are created anew and positionally we are in Christ, and free; that is, we are no longer slaves to sin, which only means that now we can actually deny the desires of the flesh and of the mind, as is clear in Ephesians 2; that we do it or not is a different matter, and it all goes back to the human heart, of which we still drag the vestiges as a ball and chain until we die, Paul calls it 'this body of death'. Of course, we know that those who believe, and I mean really believe in the biblical sense, and that are born from above and are believers in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, are in the process of sanctification; which is the reversal of that spiritual entropy I mention later somewhere else.

If God is not real, then it really doesn't matter how we live, let us eat and drink and be merry for tomorrow we die, right?  Yeah, that's right, let's just be merry and not care about tomorrow, let's have as much pleasure as we can get, and as many toys and material things as we can hoard, that is all we have to look forward to if we think that there is no God.

But the moment we consider the possibility of the existence of a being that is all powerful and all knowing, and all wise, and all beneficence but also all justice, then terror must strike our hearts if we are honest with ourselves; why is this so?  Because of that conscience I mentioned above, too far above at the beginning of this post. We all know that if there is a God who actually created the universe and actually created human beings in His image, and intelligently designed everything there is, then we know that we are debtors to His justice; our conscience accuses us without mercy; and the only way out of that predicament is by being reconciled to Him.

As you know, we cannot reconcile ourselves to God even if we tried, it is impossible.  The ten commandments from the law of God are impossible to keep, we cannot even keep one single commandment, every person has broken them all, that is the sad reality, but as with all things, it is like that by design and the whole process has always been under God's complete control; but as you also know, God solved our problem by becoming one of us, in Jesus, to keep His own rules, and then took the consequence of sin, namely the wrath of God, upon Himself in order to take back that which was lost; and of course, only God can do that.

While a lot of people in this world think this is just a fantasy, there is also a lot of people who believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, you can call it dogma, you can call it religion, you can call it foolishness (as those who according to Paul are perishing), and whatever else your mind can come up with to try to deny the existence of God and His righteousness; but the moment of death will come one day to you, and what will you call it then? A too long blog post? I'm just saying.

The very presence of death and evil in this world gives testimony to the reality of the chaos that sin has caused throughout thousands of years of human history and experience.  Sin in a sense is spiritual entropy; and as with all entropy the only way to negate it is by the input of either information or work, in this case the work that was performed by Jesus on that cross of agony, and which includes His resurrection from the death.

Of course this is just an analogy that I need to make in order to make sense of my own thoughts, the reality of it all is that sin is an affront to an omnipotent and most holy God, it is a total disregard for what He desires, and therefore it is extremely contrary to His will, and I think I would be correct in saying that it is infinitely offensive to all that God is, love, light, holiness, righteousness, truth, perfection, etc; and for sure, an infinite offense to the infinite holiness of God, requires an infinite compensation according to His infinite justice; the result being eternal death.

The really bad thing about sin is that it is extremely deceptive and it always leads to death, it always promises something that does not last, and that does not satisfy, just like that Rolling Stones tune, 'I can't get no satisfaction, and I try, and I try, and I try', and no matter how hard one tries, it never comes.  What always comes in all cases is the moment of death; and death itself is the proof that sin is real.  If sin did not exist, then no one would die, ever.  The whole universe is infected by this disease of sin, because all living things die, and in all the billions of galaxies out there in the vastness of space of this expanding universe, even stars die; it is as if God himself wrote a big sign in the very fabric of the cosmos: 'sin equals death'.

There is hope though.  God promises that He will remake the universe, He will make all things new; at one point in time, time itself will stop, and all things will be brought under subjection under Him who subjected them in hope, as Paul says in Romans:

 Rom 8:18-23  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.  (19)  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.  (20)  For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,  (21)  Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.  (22)  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.  (23)  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

Such redemption implies the change of the body from imperfect, diseased and death bound, to a perfect, everlastingly healthful, and immortal body that is completely immune to sin and death, this is including the mind and the soul; no more entropy in any form will ever be displayed again anywhere; and that is something that I rejoice about.  In my case, this is a true and trustworthy statement; I eagerly wait for the redemption of this body that always hurts in some way.

I love the way Spurgeon puts it:  There is an essential difference between the decease of the godly and the death of the ungodly. Death comes to the ungodly man as a penal infliction, but to the righteous as a summons to his Father's palace. To the sinner it is an execution, to the saint an undressing from his sins and infirmities. Death to the wicked is the King of terrors. Death to the saint is the end of terrors, the commencement of glory.—Charles Spurgeon

Unfortunately (I know that is not the correct word, maybe I should say 'justly'), this is not true for every single human being, as you very well know; but herein lies the wonder of the amazing nature of God's grace.  I have no idea when I will die, I don't think anyone does; but what I know to be true is that I rejected God and His offer of mercy countless times, and then when the time was right I could not resist Him; no one can; Psa. 115:3  But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.  So before, I was afraid of dying, and now the fear is gone, now I'm eagerly waiting for that moment when I will finally see the King of glory.

I'm almost done (yeah thank God); going back to the top, there is no need to pretend that there is no God, I don't think any one can pretend that; not believing only proves the reality of the power of God, because it is universally known that everything has two sides; there are millions upon millions of people who believe, or have believed in the past, and will believe in the future, and every single one of them has been changed, and will be changed, in an evident manner for all those around them to see; in other words, faith is the reality that points to the power of God to save people from His wrath; and if anyone out there ever thinks that this world has no proof of His existence, all they have to consider is the survival of that tiny nation in the middle east called Israel.  But I'm preaching to the choir, I hope.

At last, the end of this post.  Think about death, it is coming your way.  I think about it every day of my life, I am serious, I do; and I find it to be very motivating in searching for God and His righteousness, and a great help to put my priorities in the right order; it makes me pray a lot for those I love, and many times even for those I don't love; but one thing is definitely guaranteed by thinking about death, it causes me to rejoice in the fact that I have faith, and that my faith, a gift from God to me, assures me of His divine favor; and as Calvin says, I see God calm and serene, and propitious to me, His paternal favor erasing all my fears.

Psalm 116:15  Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.

Now you can have a nice day.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

Nothing to worry about...

Do you remember when you were a kid and had nothing to worry about?  I do.

I remember going to bed thinking about my awesome plastic car, in fact, I went to bed with it.  I made stickers for it, I cut tiny pieces of first-aid white tape and I wrote on them, I wrote words like "Champion", and "Holley", and "Goodyear" and stuck them all over my car, I saw those stickers on the F1 and Nascar races on T.V.  My dad was surprised I did that for some reason.  In my mind I had a Nascar car, and I was the driver.  I had a set of wooden blocks of various colors, remember those?  I made a garage for my car with those blocks and triangles.  Way before legos were invented, the only construction toys we had were made of wood, gee, almost all my toys were made of wood, plastic toys were high tech back then in the 60's.

I was really good at playing marbles, I could hit them out of the rim from six or seven feet away, I had a large collection of marbles, of many colors, this because I was always playing my friends out of theirs, I also had a wooden top, that was my favorite game.  Then yo-yos came into the scene, Duncan yo-yos, then the top of the line was Hot Wheels, I loved those tiny cars; my dad could never afford to buy me one, since that meant he had to buy one for every one.  I tell the story of that little red Corvette in another post, look it up in the blog, I think that was funny.  Nowadays kids play with iPads; that is a trippy thing.

It sounds like I am some kind of old fart sitting on a rocking chair, doesn't it?  It does to me, but I'm not that old and I don't even have a rocking chair.  When I was born, it had only been about 14 years since the second world war had ended; television was only in black and white, we had 5 channels to choose from, and there was nothing digital; we had to actually get up and walk to the TV to change the channel, yeah, with a rotary dial.

The phone in my house was a huge black monster with a rotary dial, the wire was covered with cloth material, at the end of the conversation you had to actually "hang up" the big handle that housed the mouth piece and the speaker on the body of the phone, that is where the phrase "hang up" came from, when you ended the call.  The black phone was made of 'high-tech' black plastic, I think it was plastic or maybe it was Bakelite or some kind of resin, yes sir, all phones were black, and I mean all phones.

The first car I ever drove (sitting between my dad's legs on the driver's side) was a huge 1951 Cadillac Coupe DeVille, I was probably 5 years old; later on I actually learned how to drive by myself in a 1953 Cadillac Sedan DeVille; I love those old cars, they were made tough, the sheet metal body was probably 3/16 of an inch thick, I'm not kidding, you could kick it (I did, I confess) and it would not even ding; the bumpers were real steel bumpers with real chrome, probably 1/4 of an inch thick, and of course these cars were made with pride in the USA.

I could probably write a book of all the things I have done, and all the things I have seen change, maybe one day I will write one; I hope I can sit for more than 20 minutes when it happens, if it ever happens since nowadays it takes me days to write a post for the blog.

Anyway, those were the times when I had nothing to worry about, I never cared that all my clothes were hand-me-downs from my older brothers, I actually thought it was cool, it was as if that meant I was getting bigger, and I liked that.  Most of my sweaters were actually made by my mother, she still does that, I still have a scarf she made for me a few years back for Christmas, what a blessing she is to me.

I have been blessed by God, He gave me a really nice family; we were 5 boys, my dad and my mom.  Poor woman, she had to deal with 5 crazy children all at the same time, plus she had to deal with my father, who was very strict about how things should be in the household.  He was a good man, as good as a man can be I guess, but not even him was good enough in the sight of God.

As a family, we never went to church; my dad was usually opposed to religion even though he really believed that God was real; he often talked to me about honoring God with my actions and my words, he often talked about being honest, about telling the truth no matter how expensive that would be, about loving my brothers, and obeying my mom; many times he talked to me about obedience with the belt in his right hand, and every single time he hugged me and kissed me after he had inflicted the leather belt on my butt.  I loved my father, I miss him dearly, I would give anything to be able to talk to him again. He loved his family, and he was very wise in my eyes.

Some of the best growing-up memories I have are about my father, I used to sit with him after dinner, and we talked, well, he did most of the talking, I just laughed a lot, he could be very funny, he made me cry from laughter many times, man I miss those times.

I didn't know this for a long time but my father's first wife was a born again believer, my oldest brother is my half brother, she died shortly after he was born; and my father was extremely upset with God for taking her away; I guess that is the reason he was so opposed to religion.  God had been calling him for a long time, and he finally was born from above a few years before his death, his sister lead him and my mom to the Lord, she was a Christian too, and I miss her too, I loved tia Emma.  Now that was a miracle, my dad was already in his sixties, I think.

I remember one day I was on my way to Del Mar to clean carpets, and I even remember the spot where this thought came through my brain "I'm not going to see him again", I was driving on the freeway right before the exit to Via de la Valle, I cried hard that day; a few days later I got a call from my mom saying he had passed away.  I was devastated, I had never experienced that kind of sadness before, and it was weird because besides being extremely sad, I was at total peace.  It was after the funeral  that Carlos my brother gave his life to Christ, he then also died six months after my dad.  Those were really hard times for me; I made it through only by the grace of God.

In the same way, I'm going through whatever it is I'm going through, one day at a time.  And I have no choice but to do that.  I believe everything the bible says about God, and I believe what He says in it, I believe all His promises, even the one that says that in this world I shall have tribulation.  So in a way, it is the same as if I was 5 or 6 years old again; but this time I worry about things and people; which means that I pray a lot.  I know you do too; if you have this faith then I know you are praying most of the day, sometimes without realizing you are doing it.

Sometimes I wish I could change people, and then I look at myself and see the impotence to change myself, and the amazing thing is that I am so different from the person I was before I met Jesus; and I am totally convinced that the change did not happen because I had anything to do with it, but His grace has been at work in me.  I am walking in a different direction than I was then, and He will preserve me from stumbling and will present me faultless before His presence with exceeding joy; so I know He will do that same work in those I love.

It is good to remember how far God has brought me thus far, it all reminds me that He has always been in my life, since I can remember, I always believed He is real, and that cannot be because of anyone else but God Himself, He is indeed a merciful father.

Yes, we have a merciful Father in heaven that cares about what happens to you and me, He so much cares that nothing happens outside His total control of all things; are you suffering?  If you are not suffering right now be grateful you are in a period of rest, like a vacation; but be ready to suffer because you will suffer; the nature of this world dictates that we do at some point in time, and then another period of rest will come to make you ready for the next trial.

But our great Father will always make sure that you will be comforted in your suffering; and if indeed you are suffering right now, then rejoice, as the bible says, count it all joy my brethren when you fall into various trials, because the suffering is just testing your faith, which is much more precious than silver or gold that perishes.  God is to make sure that our faith does not fail, and He will be able to make us stand.

Be encouraged, lift up your weak hands to heaven and praise Him for nothing in the universe will be able to keep you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus; we have nothing to worry about indeed.

Have a nice day.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

Book 1, Chapter 16, Section 9, the last section on this chapter...

This is the last post about Calvin's chapter on the providence of God, I hope that you have been built up in your faith, maybe someday I will quote him again, but for now I think it is enough.

9. But since our sluggish minds rest far beneath the height of Divine Providence, we must have recourse to a distinction which may assist them in rising. I say then, that though all things are ordered by the counsel and certain arrangement of God, to us, however, they are fortuitous - not because we imagine that Fortune rules the world and mankind, and turns all things upside down at random (far be such a heartless thought from every Christian breast); but as the order, method, end, and necessity of events, are, for the most part, hidden in the counsel of God, though it is certain that they are produced by the will of God, they have the appearance of being fortuitous, such being the form under which they present themselves to us, whether considered in their own nature, or estimated according to our knowledge and judgement.

Let us suppose, for example, that a merchant, after entering a forest in company with trust-worthy individuals, imprudently strays from his companions and wanders bewildered till he falls into a den of robbers and is murdered. His death was not only foreseen by the eye of God, but had been fixed by his decree. For it is said, not that he foresaw how far the life of each individual should extend, but that he determined and fixed the bounds which could not be passed (Job_14:5). Still, in relation to our capacity of discernment, all these things appear fortuitous.

How will the Christian feel? Though he will consider that every circumstance which occurred in that person’s death was indeed in its nature fortuitous, he will have no doubt that the Providence of God overruled it and guided fortune to his own end. The same thing holds in the case of future contingencies. All future events being uncertain to us, seem in suspense as if ready to take either direction.

Still, however, the impression remains seated in our hearts, that nothing will happen which the Lord has not provided. In this sense the term event is repeatedly used in Ecclesiastes, because, at the first glance, men do not penetrate to the primary cause which lies concealed. And yet, what is taught in Scripture of the secret providence of God was never so completely effaced from the human heart, as that some sparks did not always shine in the darkness.

Thus the soothsayers of the Philistine, though they waver in uncertainty, attribute the adverse event partly to God and partly to chance. If the ark, say they, “Goes up by the way of his own coast to Bethshemish, then he has done us this great evil; but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that smote us, it was a chance that happened to us.” (1Sa_6:9). Foolishly, indeed, when divination fails them they flee to fortune. Still we see them constrained, so as not to venture to regard their disaster as fortuitous.

But the mode in which God, by the curb of his Providence, turns events in whatever direction he pleases, will appear from a remarkable example. At the very same moment when David was discovered in the wilderness of Maon, the Philistines make an inroad into the country, and Saul is forced to depart (1Sa_23:26, 1Sa_23:27). If God, in order to provide for the safety of his servant, threw this obstacle in the way of Saul, we surely cannot say, that though the Philistine took up arms contrary to human expectation, they did it by chance.

What seems to us contingence, faith will recognise as the secret impulse of God. The reason is not always equally apparent, but we ought undoubtedly to hold that all the changes which take place in the world are produced by the secret agency of the hand of God. At the same time, that which God has determined, though it must come to pass, is not, however, precisely, or in its own nature, necessary.

We have a familiar example in the case of our Saviour’s bones. As he assumed a body similar to ours, no sane man will deny that his bones were capable of being broken and yet it was impossible that they should be broken (Joh_19:33, Joh_19:36). Hence, again, we see that there was good ground for the distinction which the Schoolmen made between necessity, secundum quid, and necessity absolute, also between the necessity of consequent and of consequence. God made the bones of his Son frangible, though he exempted them from actual fracture; and thus, in reference to the necessity of his counsel, made that impossible which might have naturally taken place.

End of chapter 16.

I hope that these last posts have whetted your appetite for reading Calvin, if not, then at least read your bible, which is more important than any other book ever written.

As for me, I read every day, and this because I have all day to do it; but I understand that after working all day long you might not feel like doing anything, mostly when besides the work in front of you, you also have to deal with your mind and the desires of your heart, which in my experience can be even more exhausting than actual work; not to mention the failings of the body which constantly manifest themselves as pains and discomforts.  And then you have to deal with the freeway on your way back home, that is something I really don't miss at all, but just think the Lord is exercising your patience.

Anyway, God reigns over all things and over all events by His providence, and I am very glad that someone decided to write about it so that I could be comforted with the same comfort that he was comforted with.

Have a nice day.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

Book 1, Chapter 16, Sections 7-8

7. Nay, I affirm in general, that particular events are evidences of the special providence of God. In the wilderness God caused a south wind to blow, and brought the people a plentiful supply of birds (Exo_19:13). When he desired that Jonah should be thrown into the sea, he sent forth a whirlwind. Those who deny that God holds the reins of government will say that this was contrary to ordinary practice, whereas I infer from it that no wind ever rises or rages without his special command. In no way could it be true that “he maketh the winds his messengers, and the flames of fire his ministers;” that “he maketh the clouds his chariot, and walketh upon the wings of the wind” (Psa_104:3, Psa_104:4), did he not at pleasure drive the clouds and winds and therein manifest the special presence of his power.

In like manner, we are elsewhere taught, that whenever the sea is raised into a storm, its billows attest the special presence of God. “He commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves.” “He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still” (Psa_107:25, Psa_107:29 ) He also elsewhere declares, that he had smitten the people with blasting and mildew (Amo_4:9). Again while man naturally possesses the power of continuing his species, God describes it as a mark of his special favour, that while some continue childless, others are blessed with offspring: for the fruit of the womb is his gift. Hence the words of Jacob to Rachel, “Am I in God’s stead, who has withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?” (Gen_30:2).

To conclude in one word. Nothing in nature is more ordinary than that we should be nourished with bread. But the Spirit declares not only that the produce of the earth is God’s special gift, but “that man does not live by bread only” (Deu_8:3), because it is not mere fulness that nourishes him but the secret blessing of God. And hence, on the other hand, he threatens to take away “the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water” (Isa_3:1).

Indeed, there could be no serious meaning in our prayer for daily bread, if God did not with paternal hand supply us with food. Accordingly, to convince the faithful that God, in feeding them, fulfils the office of the best of parents, the prophet reminds them that he “giveth food to all flesh” (Psa_136:25). In fine, when we hear on the one hand, that “the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry,” and, on the other hand, that “the face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth” (Psa_34:15, Psa_34:16), let us be assured that all creatures above and below are ready at his service, that he may employ them in whatever way he pleases. Hence we infer, not only that the general providence of God, continuing the order of nature, extends over the creatures, but that by his wonderful counsel they are adapted to a certain and special purpose.

8. Those who would cast obloquy on this doctrine, calumniate it as the dogma of the Stoics concerning fate. The same charge was formerly brought against Augustine (lib. ad Bonifac. II, c. 6 et alibi). We are unwilling to dispute about words; but we do not admit the term Fate, both because it is of the class which Paul teaches us to shun, as profane novelties (1Ti_6:20), and also because it is attempted, by means of an odious term, to fix a stigma on the truth of God.

But the dogma itself is falsely and maliciously imputed to us. For we do not with the Stoics imagine a necessity consisting of a perpetual chain of causes, and a kind of involved series contained in nature, but we hold that God is the disposer and ruler of all things - that from the remotest eternity, according to his own wisdom, he decreed what he was to do, and now by his power executes what he decreed. Hence we maintain, that by his providence, not heaven and earth and inanimate creatures only, but also the counsels and wills of men are so governed as to move exactly in the course which he has destined.

What, then, you will say, does nothing happen fortuitously, nothing contingently? I answer, it was a true saying of Basil the Great, that Fortune and Chance are heathen terms; the meaning of which ought not to occupy pious minds. For if all success is blessing from God, and calamity and adversity are his curse, there is no place left in human affairs for fortune and chance.

We ought also to be moved by the words of Augustine (Retract. lib. 1 cap. 1), “In my writings against the Academics,” says he, “I regret having so often used the term Fortune; although I intended to denote by it not some goddess, but the fortuitous issue of events in external matters, whether good or evil. Hence, too, those words, Perhaps, Perchance, Fortuitously, which no religion forbids us to use, though everything must be referred to Divine Providence. Nor did I omit to observe this when I said, Although, perhaps, that which is vulgarly called Fortune, is also regulated by a hidden order, and what we call Chance is nothing else than that the reason and cause of which is secret. It is true, I so spoke, but I repent of having mentioned Fortune there as I did, when I see the very bad custom which men have of saying, not as they ought to do, ‘So God pleased,’ but, ‘So Fortune pleased.’”

In short, Augustine everywhere teaches, that if anything is left to fortune, the world moves at random. And although he elsewhere declares (Quaestionum, lib. 83.) that all things are carried on, partly by the free will of man, and partly by the Providence of God, he shortly after shows clearly enough that his meaning was, that men also are ruled by Providence, when he assumes it as a principle, that there cannot be a greater absurdity than to hold that anything is done without the ordination of God; because it would happen at random. For which reason, he also excludes the contingency which depends on human will, maintaining a little further on, in clearer terms, that no cause must be sought for but the will of God.

 When he uses the term permission, the meaning which he attaches to it will best appear from a single passage (De Trinity. lib. 3 cap. 4), where he proves that the will of God is the supreme and primary cause of all things, because nothing happens without his order or permission. He certainly does not figure God sitting idly in a watch-tower, when he chooses to permit anything. The will which he represents as interposing is, if I may so express it, active (actualis), and but for this could not be regarded as a cause.

Have another nice day.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

Book 1, Chapter 16, Sections 5-6

5. Assuming that the beginning of motion belongs to God, but that all things move spontaneously or casually, according to the impulse which nature gives, the vicissitudes of day and nights summer and winter, will be the work of God; inasmuch as he, in assigning the office of each, appointed a certain law, namely, that they should always with uniform tenor observe the same course, day succeeding night, month succeeding month, and year succeeding year.

But, as at one time, excessive heat, combined with drought, burns up the fields; at another time excessive rains rot the crops, while sudden devastation is produced by tempests and storms of hail, these will not be the works of God, unless in so far as rainy or fair weather, heat or cold, are produced by the concourse of the stars, and other natural causes.

According to this view, there is no place left either for the paternal favour, or the judgments of God. If it is said that God fully manifests his beneficence to the human race, by furnishing heaven and earth with the ordinary power of producing food, the explanation is meagre and heathenish: as if the fertility of one year were not a special blessing, the penury and dearth of another a special punishment and curse from God. But as it would occupy too much time to enumerate all the arguments, let the authority of God himself suffice.

In the Law and the Prophets he repeatedly declares, that as often as he waters the earth with dew and rain, he manifests his favour, that by his command the heaven becomes hard as iron, the crops are destroyed by mildew and other evils, that storms and hail, in devastating the fields, are signs of sure and special vengeance. This being admitted, it is certain that not a drop of rain falls without the express command of God. David, indeed (Psa_146:9), extols the general providence of God in supplying food to the young ravens that cry to him but when God himself threatens living creatures with famine, does he not plainly declare that they are all nourished by him, at one time with scanty, at another with more ample measure?

It is childish, as I have already said, to confine this to particular acts, when Christ says, without reservation, that not a sparrow falls to the ground without the will of his Father (Mat_10:29). Surely, if the flight of birds is regulated by the counsel of God, we must acknowledge with the prophet, that while he “dwelleth on high,” he “humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth” (Psa_113:5, Psa_113:6).

6. But as we know that it was chiefly for the sake of mankind that the world was made, we must look to this as the end which God has in view in the government of it. The prophet Jeremiah exclaims, “O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps” (Jer_10:23). Solomon again says, “Man’s goings are of the Lord: how can a man then understand his own way?” (Pro_20:24). Will it now be said that man is moved by God according to the bent of his nature, but that man himself gives the movement any direction he pleases? Were it truly so, man would have the full disposal of his own ways. To this it will perhaps be answered, that man can do nothing without the power of God. But the answer will not avail, since both Jeremiah and Solomon attribute to God not power only, but also election and decree.

And Solomon, in another place, elegantly rebukes the rashness of men in fixing their plans without reference to God, as if they were not led by his hand. “The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord” (Pro_16:1). It is a strange infatuation, surely for miserable men, who cannot even give utterance except in so far as God pleases, to begin to act without him!

Scriptures moreover, the better to show that every thing done in the world is according to his decree, declares that the things which seem most fortuitous are subject to him. For what seems more attributable to chance than the branch which falls from a tree, and kills the passing traveller? But the Lord sees very differently, and declares that He delivered him into the hand of the slayer (Exo_21:13). In like manners who does not attribute the lot to the blindness of Fortune? Not so the Lord, who claims the decision for himself (Pro_16:33). He says not, that by his power the lot is thrown into the lap, and taken out, but declares that the only thing which could be attributed to chance is from him.

To the same effect are the words of Solomon, “The poor and the deceitful man meet together; the Lord lighteneth both their eyes” (Pro_29:13). For although rich and poor are mingled together in the world, in saying that the condition of each is divinely appointed, he reminds us that God, Who enlightens all, has his own eye always open, and thus exhorts the poor to patient endurance, seeing that those who are discontented with their lot endeavour to shake off a burden which God has imposed upon them.

Thus, too, another prophet upbraids the profane, who ascribe it to human industry, or to fortune, that some grovel in the mire while others rise to honour. “Promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down ones and setteth up another” (Psa_75:6, Psa_75:7). Because God cannot divest himself of the office of judge, he infers that to his secret counsel it is owing that some are elevated, while others remain without honour.

And have a nice day, again.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

Book 1, Chapter 16, Sections 3-4...

3. Figment of the Sophists as to an indolent Providence refuted. Consideration of the Omnipotence as combined with the Providence of God. Double benefit resulting from a proper acknowledgement of the Divine Omnipotence. Cavils of Infidelity.
4. A definition of Providence refuting the erroneous dogmas of Philosophers. Dreams of the Epicureans and Peripatetics.

3. And truly God claims omnipotence to himself, and would have us to acknowledge it - not the vain, indolent, slumbering omnipotence which sophists feign, but vigilant, efficacious, energetic, and ever active - not an omnipotence which may only act as a general principle of confused motion, as in ordering a stream to keep within the channel once prescribed to it, but one which is intent on individual and special movements. 

God is deemed omnipotent, not because he can act though he may cease or be idle, or because by a general instinct he continues the order of nature previously appointed; but because, governing heaven and earth by his providence, he so overrules all things that nothing happens without his counsel. For when it is said in the Psalms, “He has done whatsoever he has pleased” (Psa_115:3), the thing meant is his sure and deliberate purpose. It were insipid to interpret the Psalmist’s words in philosophic fashion, to mean that God is the primary agent, because the beginning and cause of all motion. This rather is the solace of the faithful, in their adversity, that every thing which they endure is by the ordination and command of God, that they are under his hand. 

But if the government of God thus extends to all his works, it is a childish cavil to confine it to natural influx. Those moreover who confine the providence of God within narrow limits, as if he allowed all things to be borne along freely according to a perpetual law of nature, do not more defraud God of his glory than themselves of a most useful doctrine; for nothing were more wretched than man if he were exposed to all possible movements of the sky, the air, the earth, and the water. 

We may add, that by this view the singular goodness of God towards each individual is unbecomingly impaired. David exclaims (Psa_8:2), that infants hanging at their mothers breasts are eloquent enough to celebrate the glory of God, because, from the very moment of their births they find an aliment prepared for them by heavenly care. Indeed, if we do not shut our eyes and senses to the fact, we must see that some mothers have full provision for their infants, and others almost none, according as it is the pleasure of God to nourish one child more liberally, and another more sparingly. 

Those who attribute due praise to the omnipotence of God thereby derive a double benefit. He to whom heaven and earth belong, and whose nod all creatures must obey, is fully able to reward the homage which they pay to him, and they can rest secure in the protection of Him to whose control everything that could do them harm is subject, by whose authority, Satan, with all his furies and engines, is curbed as with a bridle, and on whose will everything adverse to our safety depends. 

In this way, and in no other, can the immoderate and superstitious fears, excited by the dangers to which we are exposed, be calmed or subdued. I say superstitious fears. For such they are, as often as the dangers threatened by any created objects inspire us with such terror, that we tremble as if they had in themselves a power to hurt us, or could hurt at random or by chance; or as if we had not in God a sufficient protection against them. 

For example, Jeremiah forbids the children of God “ to be dismayed at the signs of heaven, as the heathen are dismayed at them” (Jer_10:2). He does not, indeed, condemn every kind of fear. But as unbelievers transfer the government of the world from God to the stars, imagining that happiness or misery depends on their decrees or presages, and not on the Divine will, the consequence is, that their fear, which ought to have reference to him only, is diverted to stars and comets. Let him, therefore, who would beware of such unbelief, always bear in mind, that there is no random power, or agency, or motion in the creatures, who are so governed by the secret counsel of God, that nothing happens but what he has knowingly and willingly decreed.

4. First, then, let the reader remember that the providence we mean is not one by which the Deity, sitting idly in heaven, looks on at what is taking place in the world, but one by which he, as it were, holds the helms and overrules all events. Hence his providence extends not less to the hand than to the eye. 

When Abraham said to his son, God will provide (Gen_22:8), he meant not merely to assert that the future event was foreknown to Gods but to resign the management of an unknown business to the will of Him whose province it is to bring perplexed and dubious matters to a happy result. Hence it appears that providence consists in action. What many talk of bare prescience is the merest trifling. Those do not err quite so grossly who attribute government to God, but still, as I have observed, a confused and promiscuous government which consists in giving an impulse and general movement to the machine of the globe and each of its parts, but does not specially direct the action of every creature. 

It is impossible, however, to tolerate this error. For, according to its abettors, there is nothing in this providence, which they call universal, to prevent all the creatures from being moved contingently, or to prevent man from turning himself in this direction or in that, according to the mere freedom of his own will. In this ways they make man a partner with God - God, by his energy, impressing man with the movement by which he can act, agreeably to the nature conferred upon him while man voluntarily regulates his own actions. 

In short, their doctrine is, that the world, the affairs of men, and men themselves, are governed by the power, but not by the decree of God. I say nothing of the Epicureans (a pest with which the world has always been plagued), who dream of an inert and idle God, and others, not a whit sounder, who of old feigned that God rules the upper regions of the air, but leaves the inferior to Fortune. Against such evident madness even dumb creatures lift their voice.

My intention now is, to refute an opinion which has very generally obtained - an opinion which, while it concedes to God some blind and equivocal movement, withholds what is of principal moment, viz., the disposing and directing of every thing to its proper end by incomprehensible wisdom. By withholding government, it makes God the ruler of the world in name only, not in reality. For what, I ask, is meant by government, if it be not to preside so as to regulate the destiny of that over which you preside? 

I do not, however, totally repudiate what is said of an universal providence, provided, on the other hand, it is conceded to me that the world is governed by God, not only because he maintains the order of nature appointed by him, but because he takes a special charge of every one of his works. It is true, indeed, that each species of created objects is moved by a secret instinct of nature, as if they obeyed the eternal command of God, and spontaneously followed the course which God at first appointed. 

And to this we may refer our Saviour’s words, that he and his Father have always been at work from the beginning (Joh_5:17); also the words of Paul, that “in him we live, and move, and have our being” (Act_17:28); also the words of the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, who, when wishing to prove the divinity of Christ, says, that he upholdeth “all things by the word of his power” (Heb_1:3). 

But some, under pretext of the general, hide and obscure the special providence, which is so surely and clearly taught in Scripture, that it is strange how any one can bring himself to doubt of it. And, indeed, those who interpose that disguise are themselves forced to modify their doctrine, by adding that many things are done by the special care of God. This, however, they erroneously confine to particular acts. The thing to be proved, therefore, is, that single events are so regulated by God, and all events so proceed from his determinate counsel, that nothing happens fortuitously.

Have a nice day.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

Chapter 16. The world, created by God, still cherished and protected by Him...sec. 1-2

Sunset in Cozumel

Calvin builds me up, the more I read this book the more I love God and thank Him for His grace.  Think about it, The Institutes of the Christian Religion was written 500 years ago, and it is still relevant for our lives today; it is to me a very shameful thing to hear people rail Calvin as "someone who teaches doctrines of demons", as I heard so many times at Calvary Chapel; I am almost 100 per cent sure that they have never read any of his books, such is their indoctrinated mind.

They told me the same thing about R.C. Sproul, a man who is sure to be left to us as a legacy from our God.  I was a young convert when I saw some of his books at the Christian Store, and so I asked for counsel from the one of the elders at Calvary, these were his actual words: "stay away from that guy, he teaches doctrines of demons"; so I never read any of his books, until the Lord opened my eyes to see the truth; now I have about 20 of his writings.

 To these people that have never understood what Reformed Theology is, anything that glorifies man and makes him a co-worker with God sounds appealing to their ears, or as Calvin says, 'to their carnal senses', but there is nothing more blasphemous than to rob God of the credit He alone deserves.  I could go on for hours about this but I won't.

Now I ask, what is there in this world and in this life more important than to really know God as He has revealed Himself for our sake?  I cannot find anything more important than that, I looked hard and I couldn't find a single thing more glorious and more satisfying than to know Jesus and His designs for mankind.  But I know I'm preaching to the choir.

I know I have been quoting Calving for the last two or three posts, and I hope you are still reading my blog, if you got offended, there is nothing I can do about it, but if you are getting built up, then there is more to come, starting right now.  I'm posting Book 1, Chapter 16, sections 1 and 2 on this post (I quoted from these the last time I wrote); then I will post the rest of the sections in the following posts, until the whole chapter has been posted.

As you read it, think about what Calvin is saying, and be blessed (I hope), and thank God for His mercy in preserving not only His word for thousands of years, but also Calvin's words for hundreds of years, and give Him glory.  In typical Calvin fashion, he names the chapter, describes what it contains and then brakes it down in sections, which are also described at the beginning of each chapter as an index, which speaks of what kind of mind he was gifted with.  Ok, enough of that, here is the introduction:

Chapter 16. The world, created by God, still cherished and protected by Him. Each and all of its parts governed by His providence.

The divisions of this chapter are,
I. The doctrine of the special providence of God over all the creatures, singly and collectively, as opposed to the dreams of the Epicureans about fortune and fortuitous causes.

II. The fiction of the Sophists concerning the omnipotence of God, and the error of philosophers, as to a confused and equivocal government of the world, sec. 1-5. All animals, but especially mankind, from the peculiar superintendence exercised over them, are proofs, evidences, and examples of the providence of God, sec. 6, 7.

III. A consideration of fate, fortune, chance, contingence, and uncertain events (on which the matter here under discussion turns).
Sections

1. Even the wicked, under the guidance of carnal sense, acknowledge that God is the Creator. The godly acknowledge not this only, but that he is a most wise and powerful governor and preserver of all created objects. In so doing, they lean on the Word of God, some passages from which are produced.

2. Refutation of the Epicureans, who oppose fortune and fortuitous causes to Divine Providence, as taught in Scripture. The sun, a bright manifestation of Divine Providence.

3. Figment of the Sophists as to an indolent Providence refuted. Consideration of the Omnipotence as combined with the Providence of God. Double benefit resulting from a proper acknowledgement of the Divine Omnipotence. Cavils of Infidelity.

4. A definition of Providence refuting the erroneous dogmas of Philosophers. Dreams of the Epicureans and Peripatetics.

5. Special Providence of God asserted and proved by arguments founded on a consideration of the Divine Justice and Mercy. Proved also by passages of Scripture, relating to the sky, the earth, and animals.

6. Special Providence proved by passages relating to the human race, and the more especially that for its sake the world was created.

7. Special Providence proved, lastly, from examples taken from the history of the Israelites, of Jonah, Jacob, and from daily experience.

8. Erroneous views as to Providence refuted: I. The sect of the Stoics. II. The fortune and chance of the Heathen.

9. How things are said to be fortuitous to us, though done by the determinate counsel of God. Example. Error of separating contingency and event from the secret, but just, and most wise counsel of God. Two examples.

1. It were cold and lifeless to represent God as a momentary Creator, who completed his work once for all, and then left it. Here, especially, we must dissent from the profane, and maintain that the presence of the divine power is conspicuous, not less in the perpetual condition of the world than in its first creation. For, although even wicked men are forced, by the mere view of the earth and sky, to rise to the Creator, yet faith has a method of its own in assigning the whole praise of creation to God.

To this effect is the passage of the Apostle already quoted that by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God (Heb_11:3); because, without proceeding to his Providence, we cannot understand the full force of what is meant by God being the Creator, how much soever we may seem to comprehend it with our mind, and confess it with our tongue. The carnal mind, when once it has perceived the power of God in the creation, stops there, and, at the farthest, thinks and ponders on nothing else than the wisdom, power, and goodness displayed by the Author of such a work (matters which rise spontaneously, and force themselves on the notice even of the unwilling), or on some general agency on which the power of motion depends, exercised in preserving and governing it.

In short, it imagines that all things are sufficiently sustained by the energy divinely infused into them at first. But faith must penetrate deeper. After learning that there is a Creator, it must forthwith infer that he is also a Governor and Preserver, and that, not by producing a kind of general motion in the machine of the globe as well as in each of its parts, but by a special providence sustaining, cherishing, superintending, all the things which he has made, to the very minutest, even to a sparrow.

Thus David, after briefly premising that the world was created by God, immediately descends to the continual course of Providence, “By the word of the Lord were the heavens framed, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth;” immediately adding, “The Lord looketh from heaven, he beholdeth the children of men” Psa. 33:6, Psa. 33:13, &c. He subjoins other things to the same effect. For although all do not reason so accurately, yet because it would not be credible that human affairs were superintended by God, unless he were the maker of the world, and no one could seriously believe that he is its Creator without feeling convinced that he takes care of his works; David with good reason, and in admirable order, leads us from the one to the other.

In general, indeed, philosophers teach, and the human mind conceives, that all the parts of the world are invigorated by the secret inspiration of God. They do not, however reach the height to which David rises taking all the pious along with him, when he says, “These wait all upon thee, that thou mayest give them their meat in due season. That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good. Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created, and thou renewest the face of the earth” Psa. 104:27-30.

Nay, though they subscribe to the sentiment of Paul, that in God “we live, and move, and have our being” (Act. 17:28), yet they are far from having a serious apprehension of the grace which he commends, because they have not the least relish for that special care in which alone the paternal favour of God is discerned.

2. That this distinction may be the more manifest, we must consider that the Providence of God, as taught in Scripture, is opposed to fortune and fortuitous causes. By an erroneous opinion prevailing in all ages, an opinion almost universally prevailing in our own day, viz., that all things happen fortuitously, the true doctrine of Providence has not only been obscured, but almost buried.

If one falls among robbers, or ravenous beasts; if a sudden gust of wind at sea causes shipwreck; if one is struck down by the fall of a house or a tree; if another, when wandering through desert paths, meets with deliverance; or, after being tossed by the waves, arrives in port, and makes some wondrous hair-breadth escape from death - all these occurrences, prosperous as well as adverse, carnal sense will attribute to fortune. But whose has learned from the mouth of Christ that all the hairs of his head are numbered (Matt. 10:30), will look farther for the cause, and hold that all events whatsoever are governed by the secret counsel of God.

With regard to inanimate objects again we must hold that though each is possessed of its peculiar properties, yet all of them exert their force only in so far as directed by the immediate hand of God. Hence they are merely instruments, into which God constantly infuses what energy he sees meet, and turns and converts to any purpose at his pleasure.

No created object makes a more wonderful or glorious display than the sun. For, besides illuminating the whole world with its brightness, how admirably does it foster and invigorate all animals by its heat, and fertilise the earth by its rays, warming the seeds of grain in its lap, and thereby calling forth the verdant blade!

This it supports, increases, and strengthens with additional nurture, till it rises into the stalk; and still feeds it with perpetual moisture, till it comes into flower; and from flower to fruit, which it continues to ripen till it attains maturity. In like manner, by its warmth trees and vines bud, and put forth first their leaves, then their blossom, then their fruit.

And the Lord, that he might claim the entire glory of these things as his own, was pleased that light should exist, and that the earth should be replenished with all kinds of herbs and fruits before he made the sun. No pious man, therefore, will make the sun either the necessary or principal cause of those things which existed before the creation of the sun, but only the instrument which God employs, because he so pleases; though he can lay it aside, and act equally well by himself:

Again, when we read, that at the prayer of Joshua the sun was stayed in its course (Jos_10:13); that as a favour to Hezekiah, its shadow receded ten degrees (2Ki_20:11); by these miracles God declared that the sun does not daily rise and set by a blind instinct of nature, but is governed by Him in its course, that he may renew the remembrance of his paternal favour toward us. Nothing is more natural than for spring, in its turns to succeed winter, summer spring, and autumn summer; but in this series the variations are so great and so unequal as to make it very apparent that every single year, month, and day, is regulated by a new and special providence of God.
End of Calvin.

Have a nice day.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com