HELP WANTED: YOUTH CONCIERGE

(YOUTH BUSYNESS FACILITATOR - YBF)

(It might be helpful before beginning to read this want ad to understand the def of concierge I am basing this on:  a usually multilingual hotel staff member who handles baggage and mail, makes reservations, and arranges tours; a bit more broadly in the business world – a person employed to make arrangements or run errands.  At its deepest root, concierge probably originated from Latin conserves meaning fellow slave (Merriam-Webster)).

Local institution desiring increase in number of teenage and tweenage attendees in weekly service seeks outgoing, active and popular young male age 21-25 willing to be father-figure to local youth.  Due to an ever-increasing lack of accountability and responsibility at the parental level in spiritually and physically shepherding their own familial flocks, this challenging opportunity is now available for you.

This job involves evening and weekend hours and 24 hour access to all by cell phone, texting, Twitter, Facebook, e-mail, AIM, etc. (Xanga is considered a plus).

Your main responsibility will be to arrange, offer, coordinate and chaperone events, camps, activities and other gathering.  Musical influence throughout is greatly encouraged.  (Touring vans are provided for offsite activities.)  Also you will be expected to indoctrinate these young people into the “Christian” pop culture aka our sanitized version of the world’s pop culture.  We realize the influence is the same … but it seems so much safer and cleaner.

Outreach encouraged exclusively to the kids of church members (our church and others).  Our experience is that lost kids with lost parents are really out of the scope of our responsibility and are quite unreachable and undesirable … especially smokers and skateboarders.

You must also have the personal and dynamic powers to influence and enlist mature adults for volunteer roles and then convince them to act as immature as the teens and tweens they will be playing with.

We strongly believe in age group segregation with same-age socialization and peer influence.  How they develop spiritually should be based on how they evolve out of this closed influence environment … survival of the fittest and all that.  Activities encouraging age group integration are strongly discouraged due to the discomfort and inconvenience it causes adults in our facility.   (And the teens and tweens are not typically too keen on interaction with the young children either.)  After all, you are being hired to baby sit … err, shepherd our children.

Much like mail room opportunities in corporate America, this opportunity is a ground floor entry position that could, based on the failures of those above you, possibly lead to future opportunities as associate, senior, executive, teaching, counseling, mature adults, yet-to-be-determined, etc. pastor positions or possibly even future youth pastor opportunities in larger churches with even more teens and tweens.

Money is no object for our church … unfortunately for you that is more wisely spent on mortgage and facilities upkeep.  But we are glad to bless you in this manner … remember you cannot serve two masters … church and mammon.

(We (The Staff Parish Committee) nearly forgot.  Some minimal telling of Jesus and other equally important Bible stories plus special emphasis teaching on moral and religious expectations would also be helpful for the self-improvement of these children.)

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If this job offering sounds interesting to you … please have your head and other mental and emotional facilities examined … and spend more time on your knees.

Yes, this is simply a product of my somewhat disturbed and creative mind.  Unfortunately it is not that far from the truth I have experienced as a volunteer in youth ministry for nearly 10 years, 2 years experience as secretary on a church council for a large and growing church and the experience of nearly 30 years as a failing familial flock shepherd.

And while this may sound somewhat mocking of youth ministry and the youth pastors that serve and love our kids, we should really see it as mocking of our parental failures and the church’s failure to do anything to help us overcome those failures. 

Instead, they simply chose to use our failures to create a new ministry …to the objects of our failures.  How much sense does that make?

Let your imagination run wild in determining who might be considered the baggage or more specifically the excess baggage in this job description based on the definition of concierge …

Thoughts, comments and personal experiences?

reading (blindly) and not seeing

Below are three passages that through many years of reading, I never really saw what was written … in recent years the Lord has opened my eyes to see things that repeatedly I had read but not seen.

Have you ever experienced that?  Do you have a few examples you would like to share?

Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. Yet He did not stretch out His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and they saw God, and they ate and drank. Ex 24:9-11 (NASB)

You might want to go back and read the beginning of Exodus 24 to see how they were prepared to see the God of Israel.

Or how about this one?

For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.  1 Cor 10:1-4 (NASB)

Expands upon your understanding of why Moses did not enter the Promised Land doesn’t it?

And my eyes were opened somewhat to this one in the last 24 hours

By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward. Heb 11:24-26 (NASB)

‘The passing pleasures of sin’ … that is quite a phrase to consider when personally dealing with sin, don’t you think?

Did you know this is the only passage in the great faith chapter (Hebrews 11) where Christ is mentioned?

On the one hand, it seems somewhat logical to equate the passing pleasures of sin with the treasures of Egypt.  On the other, it seems also somewhat logical to equate enduring ill treatment with the people of God with the reproach of Christ.  I’m still struggling with this one because I have yet to determine if the meaning of reproach here is intended to be criticism or disgrace/shame.  Right now based on Hebrews 13:13, I am leaning toward the latter believing that this disgrace/shame is from the world’s perspective not God’s.

Any thoughts on Hebrews 11:24-26 you’d be willing to offer and share?

For me personally, in those times when I suddenly do see, I realize that I have been blind and Jesus has suddenly given me the ability to see.  From Jesus’ perspective, I would still probably be considered legally blind (no pun intended), but my sight is improving and I long for the day it is 20-20.

For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind. John 9:39 (NASB)

In my lifetime, I have also been one who thought he could see but was made blind … as a Pharisee Saul thought he could see clearly, but was made blind and then had his eyes opened by the Lord.

Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; and leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank … So Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was baptized; and he took food and was strengthened. Acts 9:8-9,17-19 (NASB)

Consider …

At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, "I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight. All things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him." Luke 10:21-22 (NASB)

And note this particular role of the Holy Spirit …

These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you ALL things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. John 14:25-26 (NASB)

God emphasized this point thru the apostle John again …

As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about ALL things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.  1 John 2:27 (NASB)

Paul’s testimony seems to confirm that He was initially taught by this anointing (for three years) … rather than a flesh and blood teacher.

For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it; and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions. But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother's womb and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus. Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas, and stayed with him fifteen days. But I did not see any other of the apostles except James, the Lord's brother. Gal 1:13-19 (NASB)

Obviously, as revealed throughout the Scripture, God does indeed also use flesh and blood teachers.  But what is important for Christians to remember is that the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit is given to every believer and one of His promised roles is to teach us ALL things … have you met this Teacher?

Enough for today.

Thoughts and insights?

“Clesia” explained

If you read the short story I posted yesterday titled “Clesia” and you’re interested in a little background and insight, read on …  otherwise feel free to skip this post. 

If the story serves any purpose or provides any insight then the glory is all God’s.  If not, then you can blame me. 

People are constantly making God fit their expectations.  For a long time I have been on a journey of seeking out the Truth and learning to discern the false prophets and false teachers that Jesus warned us of.  There is no doubt that at times I get a bit radical but it is the result of strong convictions I believe God is laying on me.  In some churches, much goes on that has no Biblical basis but I’m not sure that those involved there realize it or even truly intend it to be that way.  It’s just how it’s always been or how they have been taught it should be. 

The passages of Matt 7:13 – 23, Matt 22:1-14 and Matt 25:31-40 pop up frequently in my Bible study.  And part of it is born out of the place I have frequently found myself: learning ‘about’ Christ and collecting Christ-things. And I’m afraid too many times in my busyness with church activities, I have paused to look up and could not see Jesus anywhere.  And I then realized I was not in the place that God desired me to be.  So maybe the story is a warning to myself as much as to anybody.  We often talk about wanting to hear ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.’  But we rarely talk of the concern we might have of hearing ‘Depart from me.’

We would like to think that when the enemy takes a step among us, it will be obvious.  But it will really be more like the 9/11 terrorists living among us.  There may be some little warning signs along the way but we’ll not be sensitive to them, we’ll probably ignore them and then one day just like the World Trade Center – fire, death and destruction. 

In Matthew 7:15 Jesus tells us to “Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing.”  In other words, they will look and appear to be sheep just like we are – they will fit right in the herd.  But then Jesus concludes “but inwardly are ravaging wolves.  You’ll recognize them by their fruit.”  We had a family discussion the other night about fruit and how you might truly discern the fruitfulness of a person.  But how many of us even think about being fruit-watchers?

The names in the story may possibly add a layer of understanding for you.  The Greek word for church is ecclesia.  Clesia then is basically just short of being the real church.  And the story bears that out.  Initially I did not give her friend a name but I thought a name could provide a bit more insight.  The name chosen:  Addley.  But basically I was just expanding upon the word addle.  And it has two different meanings:  confused and rotten.  The view we shape of church and Christ is most influenced by those we walk closely with.  If those you walk with are confused, you are liable to be equally confused.

As Pascal says, we have a God-sized vacuum within us that only God can fill.  Frequently we try to fill that empty space with everything thing but God.  But the pseudo-church has the appearance of being of God.  If not careful, we can become a lot like that hungry fish who thought that minnow made of wood or that worm made of plastic looked real.  Only later he finds himself immersed in bubbling hot grease over a burning flame.  The example of the Bereans is a message to us to test the message, test the doctrine before embracing it.  Paul reiterates that point in 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22.  Many will go through that inviting and easy wide gate but they will be disappointed.

This story took about three days to come together.  For the first two days, the idol was named Chris Tje but I thought it would be way too easy for folks to get Christ Jesus out of that too soon in the story so I changed the spelling to Krys Tje.  That camouflaged it a bit and later allowed me to use just Krys like other one name idols.  Obviously, the references to fan club are indirect references to the pseudo-church.  The ORB was used just because it is a synonym for earth or world, I can’t remember which.  Just reflects that the focus of the pseudo-church is typically worldly and that all life revolves around it rather than the one they proclaim.  The message delivered is more about ‘do’ than ‘done.’

Hope that helps provide a bit of insight.
 

“Clesia” … a modern day allegory

This is a short story I wrote a number of years ago.  Based on today’s funeral of the King of Pop, it seems apropos to revisit this little tale!

Clesia had become fanatical since the moment her best friend Addley shared what she knew about the celebrity Krys Tje (pronounced te-jaa).  It seemed like everywhere she ever went there were mobs of people gathered to meet him.  And local fan clubs had started popping up everywhere. They talked about him, they read about him, they sang about him.  Her local club (they had decided to name it the ORB) even gathered once or twice a week to hear others speak about him.  In her newly elected role as treasurer, she collected dues every time they met. It really helped to cover all their meeting and traveling expenses.  The mailing list for the global fan club was also growing like crazy. Clesia did all she could to get her friends signed up and committed to the world-wide club.  Wait a minute, all her friends were already in the fan club.  They had so much fun together and there was always something entertaining to do at the ORB.

They talked about dying to marry him but that was a somewhat common occurrence among female fans and their idols. Elvis and Michael had both claimed the title of king in the past, but Krys held the present claim to that title.  In fact, he claimed that title had always belonged to him anyway. They wore his t-shirts, his jewelry.  His face and name and emblem were all displayed proudly on their cars.  It was so cool how his emblem was a non-capitalized ‘T.’  She didn’t quite understand the other emblem.  It was a three quarters version of the infinity symbol.  Magazines about him started popping up on newsstands.  There were pictures, there were even articles about him.  The odd thing about the pictures was that they were always sketches or paintings.  Not a single photographer had ever captured him on film.  Of course, movies were made about him all the time and the faces of the actors portraying him frequently showed up in her visions and dreams of him.  It was so exciting to learn all about him.  Clesia tried her best not to miss a thing that came out about him.  Going to all the fan club conferences was also a blast. She had one of the best collections of memorabilia around.  Mostly T-shirts, jewelry, CDs, DVDs, books, and magazines but she also had some audio speeches of some of her favorite fan club speakers along with a few nice posters and paintings.

A lot like that guy Bono, Krys was really an activist, a revolutionary.  There were books all about what he said would make life fulfilling, what he said would transform life as we know it.  He was just so right on.  The fan clubs were doing all they could to change the world for him.  Gosh, to think of speaking to him about all these things only jump started her creative imagination. To actually talk to him would have probably resulted in nothing short of a quick faint.

And then one day this incredible news came.  She couldn’t remember now if it was in the fan newsletter or if it had been at a club meeting, not that it really mattered.  Krys announced that he would be marrying a follower.  Of course it had said the plural, but she just figured it was a misprint.  She knew he was committed to monogamy.  But it didn’t say who the lucky bride would be.  Could it be her? Maybe Addley? Any of her friends?  She knew they had to be there.  And so they all started working extra hard in anticipation of the wedding day.

And then that glorious day finally arrived.  Things were kind of a blur … she really wasn’t sure how she got there.  Her friends were nowhere to be seen.  But just like all the big celebrity shindigs, there were lots of bodyguards and endless lines.  It was a bit unusual that the bodyguards were not dressed in black, especially for a wedding.  The swords were also a bit over the top.  At first there was this enormous herd – it was odd but for a moment the people seemed to take on the appearance of sheep and goats – the crowd was packed tightly together immediately in front of her but up ahead it was dispersing into two groups.  Most folks were being routed off to the right.  They seemed really disappointed. Actually, extremely anguished might be a better description.  The group on the left was really small but they seemed so elated.  She wondered where all her friends were.  And ‘Oh WOW!’ she caught a glimpse of Krys up ahead on a platform and he appeared to be sitting in some kind of ornate chair.  He was bigger and more spectacular than she could ever have imagined.  Could it be possible that she was his bride?

It seemed like hours yet at the same time it seemed like just a moment.  And she was about to get to the point where the crowd was being divided into two groups.  The first sign she caught a glimpse of said ‘FOLLOWERS TO THE LEFT.’  Her heart nearly burst with anticipation thinking about not only being at the wedding, but possibly even being the bride herself.  A few steps later she saw another sign,  ‘NON-FOLLOWERS TO THE RIGHT.’  She just could not believe why so many people refused to be fans of Krys Tje.  He was the ultimate, he was above them all.  She had always told them so.

And then she saw another sign.  She was confused.  It didn’t make any sense.  It said ‘FANS TO THE RIGHT.’  To the right?  No, that can’t be.  The other sign said she would be going to the left.  She was almost to the gate.  Surely there was some mistake.  She began to plead her case with the guard.  She started out calm enough, but got worked into a frantic state where she almost couldn’t see straight.  She was beside herself.  Out of the corner of her eye she saw Krys coming.  He would get this whole situation straightened out.  As he stepped within ear-shot, she said:

“I am your biggest fan!!!!!!”

He responded, “I did not want fans, I wanted followers.”

“But I know everything about you” Clesia bragged.

In a gentle voice he said, “I did not want you to know everything about me.  I did not want to be the object of your treasured memorabilia collection.  I did not even want you to sing about me.  What I did want was for you to know and love me personally and intimately with all your heart.”

“But your fan club … we are growing like crazy.  We are changing the very world we live in.  We are changing it for you!” she proudly proclaimed.

“My desire was not for you to change the world.  Do you really believe you can improve upon or even fix the perfect world that I created and that you and your sin are ruining?” He paused to let that sink in …

Then he added “You did what you wanted, not what I wanted.  What I did want was for you and those around you to be transformed by loving relationships with me.”

“But you are my idol!” she screamed.

For a moment there was a silent pause.  He remembered way back to a different time in a different place.  He and his follower Moses had just spent some serious time together.  Moses was headed back to his people.  The golden calf … why couldn’t they see?  An idol is powerless and yet takes the place of the all powerful one.  An idol is nothing more than the object of the desires of the people who worship it.  And as they so desire, an idol makes no demands of change and transformation upon them and their status quo lives.

“An idol is what you wanted and created in your icon Krys Tje.  A follower is what I, Christ Jesus, desired,” he said firmly.

Her control was already crumbling as she sensed the moment slipping away. She didn’t even hear Him reveal His real name.  “How could I get to know You?  I could never have gotten in touch with You.”

“Did you ever try?  If you had really read and understood the books I wrote to you, if you had sought out a quiet place and listened to Me, if you had just talked to Me; you would have realized the truth.  I listen to all the chosen who follow Me.  I listen to the words they speak to Me, the songs they sing to Me and I look into their hearts.  I also talk and carry on conversations with  them.  I even choose to live with them. I tell them the works to be done for My purpose and My glory.  For those who truly follow, I will guide their every step.  I love them.  I embrace them. I AM their Shepherd and their Savior.  And I indeed am THE King.  But of course, you wouldn’t know any of that because you never talked to Me. You never really sought Me out.  I was nothing more than a simple object of your affection.”  In so many ways he had tried to tell her that so many times; but she had always chosen to pursue her own plans, to be busy, to be pre-occupied.

“But … but …” she whimpered with a sigh of defeat.

With a tone of finality he said, “I never knew you.  Depart from Me.”

She would never see the wedding; she would never sit at the wedding feast.  Not only would she not be the bride, she would never even see the bride.

To think she could have talked to Him and Him to her.  She could have known Him personally.  And what was that He had said about living with his followers?

a day in Genesis 1

It is amazing how interesting, passionate and hostile, all at the same time, conversations regarding our origins can become, don’t you think? 

Sometimes in the midst of reading comments attached with an origins post, I sense I am in the midst of a political debate.  Sometimes it seems both sides are talking, but nobody can tell you what the other person or the moderator just said … they just know that is now their turn to speak.  Not always mind you … but sometimes.

Typically in writing of a literal six-day creation, one expects the objections of those who embrace and believe in evolution and not God. 

But I have never quite seen the debate over origins become simply a Catholic vs. Protestant one, but unless I have misinterpreted comments over the last week, that is exactly what it has become here.

Since the consensus of those who disagree with what I have written recently is that I am in error to interpret Genesis 1 literally, this post will just be throwing logs on the fire because I will continue to offer a literal interpretation based on the words of Genesis 1.

Oh well, let’s continue with what I have come to believe … and I have not entered into this belief without much consideration and much conviction. 

Warm-up exercise:  If you were going to confirm with someone that their concept of a day and yours were the same and you had to do so without reference to 24 hours being in a day (because no one knew what an hour was and the clock had yet to be invented), how would you do so?

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Are you finished?

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I hope you took the time to seriously consider how you would explain a day to someone.

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Before going too far, a number of my fellow Xangans have made the point that in Scripture the Hebrew word yom translated as day can have a number of meanings including long periods of time.  I am fully aware of that bit of information … in fact, in my Bible of preference, the NASB, according to the NASB-Greek dictionary yom is translated into 81 different words or phrases.  Obviously that could create a great deal of confusion unless you were looking closely at the context and the additional words used in conjunction with yom or day.  And I don’t believe most would disagree with that assumption.

More on yom shortly …

God must have thought that understanding the concept of a day in Genesis 1 was pretty important because by the fifth verse of the first chapter of the first book of the Bible, He explained His concept of a day thru Scripture.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day. Gen 1:1-5 (NASB)

So from God’s perspective for a day of creation and I assume a day in general, one day consisted of a light filled daytime and a dark filled nighttime, one day consisted of an evening and a morning … which probably goes a long way in explaining why the Jewish day begins at sundown or sunset.  Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your perspective, it does not appear that the definitions of the Hebrew words translated as evening and morning when used in conjunction with the word day, have application to long periods of time.

God must of thought there would be a lot of confusion over the word day to offer so much explanation. 

Take the word week for example.  It is referenced 28 times in all of Scripture ( 5 times in regards to the Feast of Weeks) and not one time is any explanation really offered specifically defining what a week is.  You really don’t get a sense of what a week is until you get to the resurrection account in the Gospels and discover the first day of the week follows the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week.  Yet I’m not aware of too many disagreements on what a week is … even though according to the Hebrew dictionary it can mean 7 days or 7 years if I picked up on some of the reference materials correctly …

Yes, I understand there are six days of creation or work and a seventh day of rest … but I don’t see anywhere in the Old Testament where a week is clearly defined in that manner.

As another example, study the use of the word month. It is referenced 299 times in all of Scripture … yet never, that I can find, is what a month is defined.

Also, while there are 907 references regarding the word year in Scripture, never once are the characteristics of a year defined … at least not that I saw in a quick review. Yet, once again, despite the lack of definition, I’m not aware of too many disagreements of what a year is either …

My belief and conviction is there just seems to be a divine assumption that man will understand and know exactly what a week, a month and a year are

So why did God go into so much detail defining what a day was before it was ever used? My personal belief and conviction … because he knew, God’s foreknowledge and all that, that one day there would be a big brouhaha over the word day so in the beginning He qualified exactly what He meant by the concept of one day.  This is my personal belief and conviction.

God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day. Gen 1:8 (NASB)

There was evening and there was morning, a third day. Gen 1:13 (NASB)

God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day. Gen 1:17-19 (NASB)

There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day. Gen 1:23 (NASB)

God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Gen 1:31 (NASB)

Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. Gen 2:1-3 (NASB)

So here is a question for you, in the rest of Scripture is there any place when a day is described by a number and/or qualified by evening and morning, that we debate whether it is anything other than a 24 hour day?

Outside of Genesis 1, yom is used with a number 359 times and each time it means an ordinary day.  It is used with the word evening or morning 23 times and each time it means an ordinary day.

And finally … in the fourth commandment, which God not only spoke but also wrote on a stone tablet, He himself correlated the days of His week of creation with the days of the week for the Hebrew.

Then God spoke all these words, saying … "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.”  Ex 20:1, 8-11 (NASB)

If I personally were to believe that the days of creation were anything other than 24-hour days, then to me this commandment would have be absolutely meaningless.  For me, this only works if in God’s spoken words He is comparing the same thing … unless he provides additional explanation.  Remember the Hebrews who were called into obedience to these commandments, did not have the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit to interpret the commandments for them.  What God intended need to be made clear in what He said.

So that’s my story and I’m sticking with it.

There is probably no real need to invite comments, but nonetheless, the comment section is now open.