R
Robert_Sock
Guest
On September 20, 1996, my friend, Nickie was 13 years old. This translates to:
4,745 days old, or
113,880 hours old (one hundred and thirteen thousand, eight hundred and eighty), or
6,832,800 minutes old (six million, eight hundred and thirty-two thousand, eight hundred), or
409,968,000 seconds old (four hundred and nine million, nine hundred and sixty-eight thousand)!
Compare this last figure to there being more than 6,000,000,000 (six billion) people living in the world today. In other words, if Nickie gave birth to a child at the rate of one-per-second, from the very first second of her birth until her thirteenth birthday, her offspring would be about one-fourteenth that of the current population of our planet. Even if Nickie gave birth at the rate of one-child-per-second until she was 100 years old, her children would still be far fewer in number than the current population of the world!
Now, if your imagination is able, think about there being One God who connects us all – a loving God who has a plan – a plan for our eternal salvation! If it is hard to imagine that 6,000,000,000 individual living entities can possibly be interconnected by a single larger entity, consider that there are many billion individual neurons in each human brain – yes, each neuron having a life all of its own – and yes again, they are all interconnected!
Still difficult to believe? Well, imagine making a journey through the African jungle and coming upon a primitive tribe of people. Imagine this tribe not knowing anything about electricity or running water, never mind the “modern” world. Now imagine telling them about the existence of technology such as television, computers, cameras, telephones, medicine, and large cities. Would you expect them to grasp the meaning and implications of what you were telling them? Would you expect intelligent people living just a few hundred years ago to believe this stuff? Well then, might it also be presumptuous for us to assume that intelligence begins and ends with us simply because we do not yet understand God? Is it not wiser to at least consider the possibility that we too are primitive, and that a more intelligent world may really exist – such as a spiritual world that contains the living souls of our ancestors? Given the ease that we are able to save vast amounts of programming and data on our home computer, is it really that difficult to imagine that God can somehow save our souls into the Hereafter?
Next, ask yourself if you have the wit to figure-out how to manufacture a simple box of toothpicks? Do you think a group of otherwise “brilliant” professors, but all who lack any knowledge in mechanical design and manufacturing, could figure this out entirely on their own? How many trials and errors would it take any of us before we discovered an efficient method? Now ask yourself who among us has the innate wit to develop the techniques to: make a pencil or pen; create a light bulb; design and manufacture each and every component of a television set; devise a complete cellular telephone system; produce from raw material every type of item found within a modern city! Yes, there being six billion people explains why we are able to produce so much worthless junk, but was there ever a sufficient amount of natural wit within the human species for us to have brought our world to where it is at today? Indeed, is there any wit within us that was not God given?
Take a close look around, surely there must exist a God (and, of course, a powerful and deceitful evil spirit as well) that instructs, guides, and connects us! How else could six billion people, each with their own independent “freewill,” possibly maintain their existence? How else could our “modern” world ever have come about – over such a short period of time?
It is not the reality of God or the Hereafter that we should doubt, but our perceptions as to the reality of our world and our own self!
Each of us has been blessed with specific talents and knowledge. Some of our talent and knowledge may be shared with others through teaching or training, but for the most part, our individual talent and knowledge remains isolated from that of others. For example, the talent and knowledge of a typical surgeon is usually distinct from that of a typical plumber; and the talent and knowledge of a typical politician is usually distinct from that of a typical farmer.
Now imagine the vast knowledge and understanding, not to mention the much needed cooperation, that would be required to safely govern and guide our world without causing a major catastrophe! Would it be reasonable to assume that six billion isolated fragments of talent and knowledge could possibly work together to manage and guide their own world? – surely there must exist some kind of higher-ordered consolidation of knowledge. But who on earth has the mental capacity to analyze and accurately integrate the extremely vast amounts of knowledge that would be required within such a consolidation? When we speak about guiding the entire world (over six billion people who are always in disagreement about things) we are no longer talking about an occupation, but at the very least a godlike entity. To simply produce “experts” within each and every field who advise policy makers would not suffice here. And to think that all the necessary analysis and planning can be accomplished through government think tanks, without the guidance and influence of God, is absurd!
4,745 days old, or
113,880 hours old (one hundred and thirteen thousand, eight hundred and eighty), or
6,832,800 minutes old (six million, eight hundred and thirty-two thousand, eight hundred), or
409,968,000 seconds old (four hundred and nine million, nine hundred and sixty-eight thousand)!
Compare this last figure to there being more than 6,000,000,000 (six billion) people living in the world today. In other words, if Nickie gave birth to a child at the rate of one-per-second, from the very first second of her birth until her thirteenth birthday, her offspring would be about one-fourteenth that of the current population of our planet. Even if Nickie gave birth at the rate of one-child-per-second until she was 100 years old, her children would still be far fewer in number than the current population of the world!
Now, if your imagination is able, think about there being One God who connects us all – a loving God who has a plan – a plan for our eternal salvation! If it is hard to imagine that 6,000,000,000 individual living entities can possibly be interconnected by a single larger entity, consider that there are many billion individual neurons in each human brain – yes, each neuron having a life all of its own – and yes again, they are all interconnected!
Still difficult to believe? Well, imagine making a journey through the African jungle and coming upon a primitive tribe of people. Imagine this tribe not knowing anything about electricity or running water, never mind the “modern” world. Now imagine telling them about the existence of technology such as television, computers, cameras, telephones, medicine, and large cities. Would you expect them to grasp the meaning and implications of what you were telling them? Would you expect intelligent people living just a few hundred years ago to believe this stuff? Well then, might it also be presumptuous for us to assume that intelligence begins and ends with us simply because we do not yet understand God? Is it not wiser to at least consider the possibility that we too are primitive, and that a more intelligent world may really exist – such as a spiritual world that contains the living souls of our ancestors? Given the ease that we are able to save vast amounts of programming and data on our home computer, is it really that difficult to imagine that God can somehow save our souls into the Hereafter?
Next, ask yourself if you have the wit to figure-out how to manufacture a simple box of toothpicks? Do you think a group of otherwise “brilliant” professors, but all who lack any knowledge in mechanical design and manufacturing, could figure this out entirely on their own? How many trials and errors would it take any of us before we discovered an efficient method? Now ask yourself who among us has the innate wit to develop the techniques to: make a pencil or pen; create a light bulb; design and manufacture each and every component of a television set; devise a complete cellular telephone system; produce from raw material every type of item found within a modern city! Yes, there being six billion people explains why we are able to produce so much worthless junk, but was there ever a sufficient amount of natural wit within the human species for us to have brought our world to where it is at today? Indeed, is there any wit within us that was not God given?
Take a close look around, surely there must exist a God (and, of course, a powerful and deceitful evil spirit as well) that instructs, guides, and connects us! How else could six billion people, each with their own independent “freewill,” possibly maintain their existence? How else could our “modern” world ever have come about – over such a short period of time?
It is not the reality of God or the Hereafter that we should doubt, but our perceptions as to the reality of our world and our own self!
Code:
NoteNow imagine the vast knowledge and understanding, not to mention the much needed cooperation, that would be required to safely govern and guide our world without causing a major catastrophe! Would it be reasonable to assume that six billion isolated fragments of talent and knowledge could possibly work together to manage and guide their own world? – surely there must exist some kind of higher-ordered consolidation of knowledge. But who on earth has the mental capacity to analyze and accurately integrate the extremely vast amounts of knowledge that would be required within such a consolidation? When we speak about guiding the entire world (over six billion people who are always in disagreement about things) we are no longer talking about an occupation, but at the very least a godlike entity. To simply produce “experts” within each and every field who advise policy makers would not suffice here. And to think that all the necessary analysis and planning can be accomplished through government think tanks, without the guidance and influence of God, is absurd!
