Creation in Biology Class

I am taking a Freshman Comp. class at college this semester, and we were told to write an argumentative essay of our choice. This is what I wrote and submitted to my teacher for the grade.

Millions of years ago, human beings evolved from some primordial soup. This belief is held and taught in biology classes across the globe today. But there is another side of the story that we are not taught, and that is creationism. Creationism is the belief that Almighty God created the universe, earth, and everything therein in 6 literal days, and rested on the 7th. Creationism should be taught and tolerated in public school biology classes throughout the world today because it is a belief like evolution and it is also a science.

Elementary to college age students have been told that the school system is tolerant towards all personal beliefs. Why then is Creationism an exception to that statement? It is as if the school system is saying we are tolerant of all, except Christian beliefs. Claiming toleration of all, but only be tolerant of some is not toleration at all. If the school system was all that concerned about being tolerant, then they would consider allowing creationism to be taught in their biology classes.

Many teachers and college professors would argue that creationism is a Christian belief, and therefore should not be taught in the school system. But isn’t evolution a belief as well? Evolution is taught in our classes as a fact, but the teachers and professors do not have any solid proof that what they state is fact. A scientific fact is something that can be tested over and over, and never change. By this definition, evolution becomes a hypothesis or belief.

One might say that creationism has no part in biology class because it is not science. But this statement is false. When people speak of creation in a biology class they are dealing with how a type of animal came to be. How an animal began is an intricate part of biology. Unfortunately, all our students are ever taught is an evolutionistic point of view.

As a building tells of a builder, so Creation tells of a Creator. What we see around us couldn’t have happened by some random chance. It isn’t possible.

Psalm 9:1- “Remember His marvelous works which He has done, His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth.” (KJV)

Psalm. 139:14- “I will praise You for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.” (NKJ)

Psalm 104:24
What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations. Oh, look—the deep, wide sea, brimming with fish past counting, sardines and sharks and salmon. Ships plow those waters, and Leviathan, your pet dragon, romps in them. All the creatures look expectantly to you to give them their meals on time. You come, and they gather around; you open your hand and they eat from it. If you turned your back, they’d die in a minute— Take back your Spirit and they die, revert to original mud; Send out your Spirit and they spring to life— the whole countryside in bloom and blossom.(The Message)

Creationism is a Christian belief that deals with how our universe began, and should have a part in our biology classes across the globe today. If the public school system wants to be truly tolerant of all beliefs, then they should give creationism a part in our biology classes.

The aroma of our lives

Back in March, the youth group leader of the church I attend asked a question that caught me off guard, but is an important one none-the-less.
“Does God have a sense of smell?”
In Genesis 8:20-21 we read that after the Flood, Noah built an alter, and praised the Lord by burning a sacrifice on it. In verse 21, we are told that God the pleasing aroma of the sacrifice.
Throughout the Old Testament, we read that when someone whose heart was right burned a sacrifice before the Lord; He smelled it, and was pleased.
God smells the aroma of your life as well.

2 Corinthians 2:15 says, “For we are the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.”

What kid of smell are you giving off?
Is your aroma pleasing to the Lord?

2 Corinthians 5:17- “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

Ephesians 5:1- “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children.”

If you have accepted Christ as your personal Savior, then you are a new creation, and you are called to become an imitator of Christ.
Your aroma needs to be pleasing to the Lord. Your actions, appearance, choices, and thoughts need to imitate that of Christ’s.

Ephesians 5:2- “…live a life of love just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

Your life becomes a sweet smelling fragrance when you live you life in love instead of bitterness. Christ chose you to be a shining light to the world. Are you representing Christ well?

Trusting In The Lord In Every Aspect of Our Lives

There is a verse that constantly comes to my mind when I think about the hard decisions I have to make, and about all the confusing things that this life brings. That verse is…

Proverbs 3:5-6–Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your pathes straight.

Sometimes life seems difficult, and at times unbearable. We as followers of Christ are commanded to trust in the Lord.
When I think of the phrase “with all your heart” I think of something along the lines of “with every part of my being. A willingness to die for, and give your all for”
According to the dictionary the word “trust” means reliance, implicit faith, to have faith in, to give credit to, to belive, hope, or to confide in.

So we are to give credit to, believe, hope, have faith, and confide in the Lord with all of our being. Not trusting in ourselves (because we are wicked sinners (Romans 3:23), and we’re in need of a savior (Hebrews 9:22) (1 John 3:16))), but in everything we do acknowledge the Lord and He will make our paths straight. He will lead us in the way that we should go.

Now the word acknowledge is a very interesting word. It simply means to admit as true, or to give thanks for. We as Christ followers are to give thanks to God, admitting that He is true in every aspect of our lives.

So in closing, I want to encourage you all to rely on the Lord with every part of your being; giving thanks to God.

Will We Go?

Recently, in one of my courses for school; I needed to read through the book of Isaiah. There’s a scene in Isaiah 6 that caught my eye…

King Uzziah just died, and now the Lord showed Himself to Isaiah…
“Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I (Isaiah) said, “Here I am. Send me!” Isaiah 6:8

Isaiah was willing to be sent. He was willing to go. Isaiah knew what it meant if he went for the Lord. It meant that he would have to give up everything that he held dear, and maybe even his very life.

Are we willing to forsake all else for the Gospel of Jesus Christ: Are we willing to give up the comforts of this world to go where the Lord leads us?

“He (Jesus) said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” Matthew 28:19

And now the final question is…

Will we go?

Trust God in Life

I’m confused. I don’t know what to do. I fear going forward…I’m determined not to fall back. I close my eyes to try and block what I see only to find out that the images in my head are just as clear as the ones I truly see. I try to harden my heart to the emotions I’m feeling, but only to find it’s no use.
The only thing I can do is trust in God. He holds my future. I don’t see nor do I understand what my future holds, but God does. And for that I’m thankful.
I’m tired. I’m always “on the go”. I want to stop and just give up, but I must run with endurance the race that is set before me. If I stop I will loose and fall. I have to plug along even though it’s hard.
So what if I’m confused? So what if I’m tired. So what if I feel I can’t go on? I’m an overcomer! I put my trust in Jesus. I have lived most of my life for myself and my own selfish ambitions. I will live whatever life I have left for God. He’s all I need. He’s all I should ever want…

Does that sound familiar to you? Do you ever feel that when it gets to hard that you want to quit?
I know that sometimes life gets hard. Sometimes you may feel like you want to just give up. DON’T. When things get hard, trust in God. When you’re confused, trust in God. When you’re tired, trust in God, and He will carry you through.
Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.”

Prayer As A Part Of Our Lives

I’ve recently been studying the Gospel of Luke during my quiet time with the Lord, and I came across this verse that really made me think.

“One of those days, Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.” -Luke 6:12

A normal person sleeps about 8 hours a night. Jesus spent at least 8 hours praying to the God of the universe that night. And I don’t believe this was some repetitious prayer that so many people repeat from memory.

How much time do we spend praying to the one who loves us so much that He died on the cross for us? I’d have to say that I don’t do it nearly enough.

Another thing that strikes me is the fact that He went to a lonely mountainside to pray. He went alone; no followers, no friends, no teachers of the Law, nobody. It was just Him and God; no distractions.

How many times do we as true followers of Jesus get distracted with all the noise around us? For most of us (including me) the answer is a lot. We tend to start praying then all of a sudden we hear something that catches our attention, and Jesus is forgotten. And then maybe a few hours later we remember that we never finished praying. “Oops, sorry, God. I won’t do that next time.” But odds are we probably will.

“When He (the Lamb of God) had taken it (the scroll), the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incenses, which are the prayers of the saints.” –Revelation 5:8

Focus on the last part of that verse for a moment. “…golden bowls full on incenses, which are the prayers of the saints.”
God loves us so much that when we pray to Him; He puts our prayers in a golden bowl. Our prayers must be really precious to Him if He does that with them.
Prayer isn’t just a quick thing you say before a meal, or bed. It’s a communication with God Almighty. He talks to us through His word (the Bible), and we talk to Him through prayer.
So why can’t we spend more than 5 or 10 minutes talking to Him, but we can spend hours talking to our friends?
He loved us enough to die for us. We can show our appreciation and love by spending more time in prayer with Him.

As a side note, I have a page on this blog called More Testimonies. I created this page because I believe Testimonies of how a person came to know Christ in a personal way are very powerful. At this time I have only 3 testimonies on that page, but if you or anyone else you know would like to share your testimony with those who visit this blog please just shoot me an email at revitalize_our_youth@yahoo.com. I will then post your testimony up on Revitalize Our Youth. Thanks!! God Bless!

Age Doesn’t Matter

How many times have you felt like you couldn’t do something God wanted you to do because of your age? Have you ever felt like you were too young? I know I have. Maybe you thought something like, “I can’t do that, Lord. I’m just a kid. I don’t have enough experience.”

Though out the Bible, God used people who’s hearts were turned towards Him; regardless of age.

When Goliath challenged the Israelites and God; the Lord sent a young boy named David to kill the giant. (1 Samuel 17) Why him? Because his heart was turned towards the things of God.

God called a child named Jeremiah to be the mouth (so to speak) of the Lord. (Jeremiah 1:6-8) Why Jeremiah? Because his heart was turned to God.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, was a young girl who God used in a mighty way. When God wanted to send His only begotten Son to the earth; He used Mary. God Almighty used Mary because her heart was turned towards Him. (Luke 1:26-28)

In the Gospel of John, it is recorded that a young boy gave his lunch of five loaves and two fish to Jesus Christ. Jesus took those loaves and fish, and fed 5,000 people with them. Why was the boy used? Because his heart was on God.

Do you see the pattern?

“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” -1 Timothy 4:12

God doesn’t care if you’re young. If your heart is on Him (like the young people I mentioned in this post) then He will use you.

Not Ashamed Of The Gospel

“I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes; first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.”-Romans 1:16

I recently read this verse in my quiet time with the Lord, and I had to ask myself, “am I ashamed of the Gospel? Am I willing to get out there and proclaim Jesus among my non Christian friends?” The Holy Spirit within me said “yes”, but my flesh said “no way!”It’s a spiritual battle. As a true follower of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit within us says, “I can do everything though Him (Christ) who give me strength.” (Philippians 4:13) Yet our flesh tells us, “What if they laugh at you? What if they don’t listen? You can’t go tell them; you’re not smart enough.”The Holy Spirit and our flesh are constantly at war with each other.
Let me ask you a question…
Are you ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? In other words, are you afraid to go tell you’re friends at school or work about the Lord Jesus Christ?
Let me tell you something…we don’t need to fear when we are on Jesus’ side.
There are Christians all over the world today who die just because they preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You know, all these people have one thing in common. They feared God more than the feared man. “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
-Matthew 10:28 I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Why am I unashamed of the Gospel? Because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes; first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.
I have a Bible study at my church every Wednesday. Well, my leader was sharing with us some things on witnessing. One of the things she said was this, “We don’t need to be afraid when we go out and witness because if it is the Lord’s will that they hear the Gospel, then they will.” *(not exact wording)*
It is only by the power and grace of God that any of us are saved. So with this in mind, we don’t need to ashamed of the Gospel.

Forgive and Move On

Recently a friend of mine walked away from the Lord. This person stopped coming to church, and stopped answering anyone’s emails from church.
A few of my friends and I began to wonder if Anonymous was alright. This happened back in November.
Well, a few days ago I received an email from Anonymous. In that email, Anonymous told me how much they hated me, how I need to leave them alone, and how ugly I was.
I’d be lying if I said that Anonymous’ words didn’t hurt me, but it was the words they didn’t say that hurt more. What I mean by that is that I read the unwritten words between the lines. The words that say, “I’ve walked away from God, I don’t care what He says, and I want to do whatever I feel like doing!”
Well, later on that night I was praying to God and asking Him what I should do concerning Anonymous’ words. These are some verses that came to mind….

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. We love because He first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And He has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.” – 1 John 4:7, 11, 19-21

I need to love Anonymous just as God loves us. I also need to continue to pray for them too.
A few days later, I had another friend say that they would probably beat up Anonymous because of the emails that I received.
I told them if I took to heart every mean and cruel word ever said to me; I’d be a very bitter person.
You see, God wants us to forgive and pray for those who do and say cruel things to us.
Ask yourself, what would Jesus do?
Did Jesus get mad and hit back when the guards slapped and beat Him before He was crucified? No!
Did Jesus hold a grudge against the Pharisees when they spread lies about Him?
No!
What did He do? He forgave and prayed for them.
Now that love!
Jesus never said the Christian walk was going to be easy. In fact, He said that the world would persecute us because they persecuted Him. John 15:20b- “…If they persecute Me, they will persecute you also…”We as true believers in Christ need to forgive and move on when people hurt us and say cruel things to us just like Jesus did.
That’s love.

Walk The Talk

If you’re going to talk the talk; you had better walk the walk.

You all have probably heard this saying (or something along those lines) before. But did you know that a lot of Christians don’t walk what they talk? (Or they just don’t care)
I know I haven’t always done what I talk. In fact, one time I had been talking to a dear friend of mine about the importance of Bible study. About half way through my sentence; I stopped. I realized at that moment that I was being very hypocritical. I was telling this person that it is important to have a daily quiet time with God, and here I was not putting aside time with God on a daily basis.
Later on when I had gone home that night; I prayed to God and asked Him to forgive me. I also asked Him to help me do what was right, starting with having a daily quiet time with the Lord.
That was about 8 months ago. There are days when I don’t start the day off right by not reading my Bible, and I feel absolutely horrible about it. But now it has come to a point that when I realize that I haven’t read my Bible; I stop with whatever I’m doing and read my Bible. I don’t do it because I feel like I have too; I do it because I want too.
We are being very hypocritical if we say one thing, yet do the complete opposite.
I like how Paul puts it in his letter to the Romans. “You, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?” Romans 2: 21-23
I don’t know about you, but I find that very convicting!
The Bible is very clear about what God thinks about hypocrisy.
Isaiah 1: 10-15—“Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah! ‘The multitude of your sacrifices- what are they to me?’ says the Lord. ‘I have more than enough of burnt offerings, or rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to appear before Me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of My courts? Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to Me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations- I cannot bear your evil assemblies. Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts My soul hates. They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood;’”Now that’s a sobering thought! The Lord hates it when we act like hypocrites. It tells us so in those verses.
But He offers forgiveness to all those who willingly come to Him and ask.
“Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of My sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land; but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword. From the mouth of the Lord has spoken” –Isaiah 1:16-20
No sin is too hard for God to cleanse. Whether it’s being hypocritical or lying; He can make you as white as snow.
It’s your choice. Serve God or serve yourself…what are you going to do?