Introduction
The time is right for a deeper article. The focus is on the everlasting, not on the temporal.
Atheists' Day
Apparently, Atheists' Day is an actual holiday for atheists. According to one website, it is on the first of April every year. According to an atheist website, however, the day is celebrated annually on March 23rd. I think that atheists are confused.
Mrs. Appalachian Irishman's 2008 Honda Civic acquired a ding on the right front passenger door at the top of the window frame. I noticed it late on 3/31/2021, while placing our new automobile insurance documents in her car and my truck, after she had gone to bed.
The next day (Thursday, 4/1/2021), before she left for work, I asked about the ding. She speculated that it had been there for a month or so. She had not been in or near the car, when the ding happened. She had noticed it without telling me. As usual, I've been checking our car, but I had missed seeing the ding. Well, the “Ding Leprechaun” must have done it.
Later, on 4/1/2021, when my wife was at work, and I was working from home, I heard a noise. I looked. Amazed, I saw that a 2021 white Nissan Altima had appeared in our driveway! It appeared from nothing or from thin air!
April fools! I am joking.
“The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God'” (Ps. 14:1; 53:1, KJV). That sounds harsh, King David. It is not harsh. It is inspired truth. April 1st is annual Atheists' Day. Atheists are foolish enough to say that they know that there is no God. An agnostic speculates whether God exists or not. An atheist is convinced in his foolishness that God does not exist.
From nothing, nothing comes. That is a basic point of logic and common sense. If there was ever a time when nothing existed, then nothing would exist now. Something exists now; therefore, something, or someone, had to have always existed (eternally).
The temporal realm (the universe) has not always existed. The Second Law of Thermodynamics as well as observation established this fact centuries ago.
Since the universe is not eternal, then someone must be eternal. That someone is God, in three persons, the Father, the Word (who became flesh as the Christ), and the Holy Spirit.
On the lower right of this website, there is the section Apologetics - Christian Evidences. I suggest, for deeper study, that you search the websites in that section for detailed proof that verifies the following: The God of the Bible exists. The Bible is God's inspired word. And God the Word became flesh as the Christ, who died for our sins and rose again, completing God's eternal scheme of redemption.
I have read, written, and spoken (publicly and privately) on these topics many times. I have offered to engage in formal debate with a local atheist. He backed away. If you would like to contact me, for a personal conversation, you are welcome to use the Contact Form (on the right column of the website).
A new car does not appear spontaneously in the driveway. Something did not come from nothing. The wise know and believe (faith based on fact, not a blind leap) that there is a God.
Good Friday
“It is finished,” Jesus stated as he died on the cross (John 19:30). Those three words are profound. God's eternal scheme of redemption was finished. Before he created the heavens and the earth, God had always known (as he is omniscient) that his plan to save humankind would be realized.
From creation to Adam and Eve's sin to the development of the nation of Israel to the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior, God's eternal plan took time. “It is finished” now. The plan is in place.
Free will grants two choices: accept the Good Lord's free gift offer and live accordingly, or reject it. Our Lord opened the door. Have you walked in? Many readers have. Some may not have. If you have not, please walk through the open door.
Resurrection Sunday
“Easter” could have originated as a name for a pagan god or gods, or it could have come about from an early German word for resurrection. See “Is the Name 'Easter' of Pagan Origin?" Answers in Genesis, by Roger Patterson, 4/19/2011, for a detailed article on this topic.
The Russian word for “Sunday” translates as “Resurrection.” I choose to call “Easter” “Resurrection Sunday.” The option is not a matter of faith. It is my preference.
It is verified. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ, arose! He is the eternal Word (as the triune God). He was born of a virgin. He lived as God incarnate. He was sacrificed as the perfect atonement for our sin (that entered the world when Adam and Eve succumbed to Satan's temptation). He arose! He lived again in the flesh for several days. He then ascended to heaven. He opened the door for us to join him there.
The atheist has laid an egg. He is wrong. I hope that he discovers the Way, the Truth, and the Life, before it is too late. I can help, if he asks.
Resurrection Sunday is not just an annual celebration. It is a daily celebration of life, everlasting life.
Conclusion
Temporal life (on earth) is a blink of an eye. We are everlasting beings. We were born (came into existence). We will die physically (our soul separates from our body). Our soul waits in a place of paradise or torment until Christ returns (to call everyone “out of the pool”).
The temporal will end. The living and the dead, the dead first, will receive everlasting bodies, and we will go home to our everlasting home in heaven, if we have accepted the Good Lord's free gift offer. If we have not, then we will go to everlasting punishment.
Everlasting life is, well, everlasting. I place the good and the bad in life into an everlasting perspective. As the apostle Paul stated, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor. 4:17, KJV).
Today is Good Friday. Happy Resurrection Sunday, two days from today! He arose. He lives. He lives in me. Does he live in you?
1 comment:
Amen, brother! I found your website and read some articles today. God knows why you didn't die in that wreck. Yes, Jesus lives in me! Thanks for your writings, especially on “deep stuff.”
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