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
day for atheists. According to one
website, it is April 1st every year (unofficially).
According to an atheist
website, however, it was 3/23/21 this year. I think that atheists
are confused.
Mrs. Appalachian's 2008 Honda Civic has
acquired a ding on the right front passenger door, on the top frame
for the window. I had noticed it late, on 3/31/2021, while placing
our new automobile insurance documents in her car and my truck –
after she'd gone to bed.
On Thursday, 4/1/2021, before she left
for work, I asked about the ding. She speculated that it had been
there a month or so. She wasn't at or in the car. She had noticed it,
without telling me. I had been checking our car, over the last
several weeks, as I do at times. I had not noticed the ding before.
Well, it must have been the ding leprechaun that did it.
Later, on 4/1/2021, when my wife was at
work, and I was working at home, I heard a noise. I looked. Amazed,
I saw that a 2021 white Nissan Altima had appeared in our driveway!
It had appeared out of nothing, from thin air! April fools!
“The fool says in his heart,
'There is no God'” – Ps. 14:1; 53:1, KJV. That sounded harsh,
King David. It was not harsh. It is inspired truth. April 1st
is annual Atheists' Day. They are foolish enough to say that they
know 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 space time reality, called 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.
To the lower right of my website,
you will find my Religion/Apologetics references. I suggest,
for deeper study, that you search those websites, for detailed proof
that verifies: the God of the Bible exists, the Bible is his
inspired word, and the Word became flesh, as the Christ, who died and
rose again – completing God's eternal scheme of redemption.
I have read, written, and spoken
(publicly and privately) on the topic 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 personal conversation, my e-mail
address is on my website heading.
A new car does not appear,
spontaneously, in the driveway. Something did not come from nothing.
The wise KNOW and believe (faith by knowledge, not blind leap) that
there is a God.
Good Friday
“It
is finished,”
Jesus stated, as he died on the cross (John 19:30). The 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 mankind would happen, in time.
From creation, to Adam and Eve's sin,
to the forming 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.
Freedom of 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 of my readers
have. Some may not have. If you have not, please walk in.
Resurrection Sunday
“Easter” could have origin in a
name for a pagan god or gods, or it could have origin in an early
German word for resurrection. Answers
in Genesis has a detailed article on the topic. (See “Is
the Name 'Easter' of Pagan Origin? By Roger Patterson, 4/19/2011.)
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 was the eternal Word (as the triune
God). He had been born of a virgin. He lived. He was God incarnate.
He was sacrificed, as the perfect atonement for sin (that had entered
this world, by Adam and Eve succumbing to Satan's temptation). HE
AROSE! He lived in the flesh again, for several days. He then
ascended, to heaven. HE OPENED the door for us to join 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 for him. I can help him, if he would ask.
Resurrection Sunday is not an annual
celebration only. It is a daily celebration of life – everlasting
life.
Conclusion
Temporal life (on earth) is a blink of
an eye. We are everlasting creations. We were born (came to exist).
We will die physically (our soul separates from our body). Our soul
resides in either a place of paradise or torment – until Christ
returns (to call everyone “out of the pool”).
The temporal (time) 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, we will go
to everlasting punishment.
Everlasting life is, well, everlasting.
We are everlasting creations. I place the good and the bad in life
into everlasting perspective, as the apostle Paul has taught us: “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).
Happy Resurrection Sunday, upcoming, in
two days! HE AROSE. HE LIVES. HE LIVES IN ME. Does He live in you?