Up to topBible References
EGW References
The earth was dark through misapprehension of God. That the gloomy shadows might be lightened, that the world might be brought back to God, Satan's deceptive power was to be broken. This could not be done by force. The exercise of force is contrary to the principles of God's government; He desires only the service of love; and love cannot be commanded; it cannot by won by force or authority. Only by love is love awakened. To know God is to love Him; His character must be manifested in contrast to the character of Satan. This work only one Being in a the universe could do. Only He who knew the height and depth of the love of God could make it known. Upon the world's dark night the Sun of Righteousness must rise, 'with healing wings.' Mat. 4:2.
--pg 22, Desire of Ages, pub 1890; emphasis mine.
Through nature, through types and symbols, through patriarchs and prophets, God had spoken to the world. Lessons must be given to humanity in the language of humanity. The Messenger of the covenant must speak. His voice must be heard in His own temple. Christ must come to utter words which should be clearly and definitely understood. He the author of truth, must separate truth from the chaff of man's utterance, which had made it of no effect. The principles of God's governmnet and the plan of redemption must be clearly defined. The lessons of the Old Testament must be fully set before men.
--pg 34, Desire of Ages, pub 1890 ; emphasis mine.
It is not the fear of punishment, or the hope of everlasting reward, that leads the disciples of Christ to follow Him. They behold the Saviour's matchless love, revealed throughout His pilgrimage on earth, from the manger of Bethlehem to Calvary's cross, and the sight of Him attracts, it softens and subdues the soul. Love awakens in the heart of the beholders. They hear His voice, and they follow Him.
--pg 480, Desire of Ages, pub 1890 ; emphasis mine.
Few give thought to the suffering that sin has caused our Creator. All heaven suffered in Christ's agony; but that suffering did not begin or end with His manifestation in humanity. The cross is a revelation to our dull senses of the pain that, from its very inception, sin has brought to the heart of God . . .
Our world is a vast lazar house, a scene of misery that we dare not allow even our thoughts to dwell upon. Did we realize it as it is, the burden would be too terrible. Yet God feels it all.
--pg 263-264, Education, pub 1903 ; emphasis mine.
Personal musings
God is the same yesterday, today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8) God also operates with singleness of mind and purpose (Deuteronomy 6:4; John 14:6-7) If those statements are true then consider this: when God was soley divine and the created angels. Christ became the Archangel. EGW even notes that apparently, the lines of distinction had even become blurred somewhat to lucifer's knowledge about who Christ was. Second, when we needed some one to understand, Christ became human--became flesh--for us. In fact John makes a big point of the experiential part of Jesus (I John 1:1). Do you see a pattern here? Hmmm?
Personality
Sanguines
- need praise
- need fun
- need change
- think: warm yellow (o sunny day)
Cholerics
- need control
- need assignments
- need latitude
- think: hot red (red hot chili)
Melancholy
- need appreciation
- need structure
- need precision
- think: cool blue (cool waters)
Phlegmatics
- need affirmation
- need stability
- need peace
- think: peaceful green (green peace)
Multiple Intelligence
Linguistic
- are word smart
- have good speaking & oratory skills
- learn best by reading
Spatial
- are picture smart
- have good visual perceptivity
- learn best by seeing & demonstrations
Logical/Mathematical
- are number smart
- have good reasoning skills
- learn best by experimentation
Bodily-Kinesthetic
- are body smart
- have good physical skills
- learn best by doing & acting
Musical
- are music smart
- have a good sense of rythm and harmony
- learn best by listening & music
Interpersonal
- are people smart
- have good communication skills
- learn best by discussions
Intrapersonal
- are self smart
- have good self awareness and musing skills
- learn best by self-reflection
Humor
HERE IS A PDF SUMMARY OF THE MI INFORMATION
- can be any personality or MI
- appreciate & notice the "quirks" of life
- ex: the turn of the word (linguistic; Jack Benny), the off-beat music (music; ), the distorted picture (spatial; Escher), the slapstick comedy (bod-kin; ), the social faux pas (inter; ), the flaw in logic (log-math; ), or the internal incongruency (intra; )
Click here to take a trial test
Lecture notes
Here is a list of natural phenomena which conflict with the evolutionary idea that the universe is billions of years old. Each item imposes a maximum possible age which is much less than than the required evolutionary age. Evolutionary scenarios must explain these serious discrepancies if we are to believe them. Each item fits in well with the Biblical time scale of 6000 years. Much more young-universe evidence exists, but I have chosen these items for brevity and simplicity. Some of the items on this list can be reconciled with an old universe only by making a series of improbable and unproven assumptions; others can fit in only with a young universe. The list starts with distant astronomic phenomena and works its way down to earth, ending with everyday facts.
- Galaxies wind themselves up too fast. The stars of our own galaxy, the Milky Way, rotate about its center with different speeds, the inner ones rotating faster than the outer ones. The observed rotation speeds are so fast that if our galaxy were more than a few hundred million years old, it would be a featureless smear of stars instead of its present spiral shape [1,2]. Yet our galaxy is supposed to be at least 10 billion years old. Evolutionists call this "the winding-up dilemma" and try to resolve it with a complex theory of "density waves" [1]. The wave theory has conceptual problems, and is not confirmed by observation. The same dilemma also applies to other galaxies.
- Comets disintegrate too quickly. According to evolutionary theory, comets are supposed to be the same age as the solar system, about 5 billion years. Yet each time a comet orbits close to the sun, it loses so much of its material that it could not survive much longer than about 100,000 years. Many comets have typical ages of 10,000 years [3]. Evolutionists explain this discrepancy by assuming that (a) comets come from an unobserved "Oort cloud" well beyond the orbit of Pluto, (b) improbable gravitational interactions with infrequently passing stars often knock comets into the solar system, and (c) other improbable interactions with planets slow down the incoming comets often enough to account for the..hundreds of comets observed [4]. So far, none of these assumptions has been substantiated either by observations or realistic calculations.
- Earth's continents erode too fast. Each year, water and winds erode about 25 billion tons of dirt and rock from the continents and deposit it in the ocean [5]. At that rate, it would take only 15 million years to erode all land above sea level. Yet most of the land is supposed to have been above sea level for hundreds of millions of years.
- Not enough sediment on the sea floors. The latest geologic theories say the ocean floors are 200 million years old At the present rate (fossil evidence excludes much slower rates) of sedimentation from the continents, there should be many kilometers of sediment on the ocean floor. Yet on the average, there is only about 800 feet [6]. This implies that the present ocean floors have existed less than 15 million years.
- The ocean accumulates sodium too fast. Every year, rivers [7] and other sources [9] dump over 450 million tons of sodium into the ocean. Only 27% of this sodium manages to get back out of the sea each year [8,9]. As far as anyone knows, the remainder simply accumulates in the ocean. If the sea had no sodium to start with, it would have accumulated its present amount in less than 42 million years at today's input and output rates [9]. This is much less than the evolutionary age of the ocean, 3 billion years. The usual reply to this discrepancy is that past sodium inputs must have been less and outputs greater, However, calculations which are as generous as possible to evolutionary scenarios still give a maximum age of only 62 million years [9]. Calculations [10] for many other seawater elements give much younger ages for the ocean.
- The earth's magnetic field is decaying too fast. The energy stored in the earth's magnetic field has steadily decreased by a factor of 2.7 over the past 1000 years [11]. Evolutionary theories explaining this rapid decrease, as well as how the earth could have maintained its magnetic field for billions of years, are very complex and inadequate A much better Creationist theory exists. It is straightforward, based on sound physics, a explains many features of the field: its creation, rapid reversals during the Genesis flood; intensity fluctuations (up and down) until the time of Christ, and a steady decay since [12]. This theory matches paleomagnetic, historic, and present data [13]. The main result is that the field's energy (not local intensity) has always decayed at least as fast as now. At that rate the field could not be more than 10,000 years old [14], as shown below:
- Multi-layer fossils straddle too many strata. "Polystrate" fossils, which penetrate more than one geologic stratum, are described in the accepted geologic literature .l For example, at The Joggins, Nova Scotia, many erect fossil trees are scattered throughout 2500 feet of geologic strata, penetrating 20 geologic horizons [15]. These trees had to have been buried faster than it took them to decay. This implies that the entire formation was deposited in less than a few years [16]. Yet evolutionary theory claims that the top strata were deposited millions of years after the bottom strata.
- Many strata are too tightly bent. In many mountainous areas, strata thousands of feet thick are bent and folded into hairpin shapes. The conventional geologic timescale says these formations were deeply buried and solidified for hundreds of millions of years before they were bent. Yet the folding occurred without cracking, with radii so small that the entire formation had to be still wet and unsolidified when the bending occurred. This implies that the folding occurred less than thousands of years after deposition [17].
- Out-of-sequence fossils scramble timetable. According to the evolutionary timescale, pine trees could not have appeared earlier than 350 million years ago. But fossil pine pollen has been found in the Grand Canyon Precambrian Hakatai shale, supposed to be about 1.5 billion years old and definitely before any land life was supposed to appear. The original research has been carefully repeated and checked under strictly controlled conditions by a committee of scientists who examined the fossil pollen with scanning electron microscopes and obtained independent evaluation by other experts[18]. Finds like this cast doubt on methods of age-dating and on the evolutionary timetable.
- Fossil radioactivity shortens "geologic ages" to a few years. Radiohalos are rings of color formed around microscopic bits of radioactive minerals in rock crystals. They art fossil evidence of radioactive decay [19]. "Squashed" Polonium-210 radiohalos indicate that Jurassic, Triassic, and Eocene formations in the Colorado plateau were deposited within months of one another, not hundreds of millions of years apart as required by the conventional time scale [20]. "Orphan" Polonium-218 radiohalos, having no evidence of their mother elements, imply either instant creation or drastic changes in radioactivity decay rates [21,22].
- Not enough helium in earth's atmosphere. All naturally-occurring families of' radioactive elements generate helium as they decay. If such decay took place for billions of years, as alleged by evolutionists, much helium should have found its way into the c atmosphere. Taking into account the slow rate of escape of helium from the atmosphere into space, and assuming no helium was in the atmosphere to begin with, it would take less than 2 million years to accumulate the small amount of helium in the air today[23]. This means the atmosphere is much younger than the evolutionary 5 billion years.
- Too much helium in hot rocks. A study published in the Journal of Geophysical- physical Research shows that helium produced by radioactive decay in deep, hot rocks.has not had time to escape. Though the rocks are supposed to be billions of years old, helium retention suggests an age much less than millions of years [24].
- Not enough stone age skeletons. Evolutionary anthropologists say that the, stone age lasted for at least 100,000 years, during which time the world population of Neanderthal and Cro-magnon men was roughly constant, between 1 and 10 million. All; that time they were burying their dead with artifacts [25]. By this scenario, they would# have buried at least 4 billion bodies [27]. If the evolutionary time scale is correct, buried bones should be able to last for much longer than 100,000 years, so many of the supposed 4 billion stone age skeletons should still be around (and certainly the buried artifacts). Yet only a few thousand have been found. This implies that the stone age was much shorter than evolutionists think, a few hundred years in many areas.
- Agriculture is too recent. The usual evolutionary picture has men existing as hunters and gatherers for 100,000 years during the stone age before discovering agriculture less than 10,000 years ago [25]. Yet the archaeological evidence shows that stone age, men were as intelligent as we are. It is very improbable that none of the 4 billion people mentioned in item 13 should discover that plants grow from seeds. It is more likely that men were without agriculture less than a few hundred years, if at all [27].
- History is too short. According to evolutionists, stone age man existed for 100,000 years before beginning to make written records about 4000 to 5000 years ago. Prehistoric man built megalithic monuments, made beautiful cave paintings, and kept records of lunar phases[26]. Why would he wait a thousand centuries before using the same skills to record history [27]? The Biblical (Hebrew text) time scale is more likely:
*Dr. Humphreys is a physicist at Sandia National Laboratories, Div. 1271, Albuquerque, NM 87185. The Laboratories have not supported this work, and they neither affirm nor deny its scientific validity.Video Additions
The video series add several interesting bits of information. For example, taking into account the constant nature of nuclear reaction, the current size of the sun, and its apparent decrease in diameter size (several feet every 100 years) if our solor system was older that 25,000 years life could not exist as we know it. Moreover, if it approached the million mile age into the billion of years, then our sun's girth would literrally engulf the earth and reach toward Mars. Probable age?: 10,000 years.
Also, the amount of lunar dust (approximatel 1/4 inch) implies and age of 8,000-10,000 years. Certainly not, with what we currently know or can explain taking into account limited lunar surface regeneration, anything beyond 25,000 years.
Note also the radioactivity absorbtion rates for mollusks (the calcium in the shells) and their depositing in the sea floor strata.
Also worth pointing out is that for each "branch" of life, for evolutionary evidence to exist, there ought to be (at the least) fossil remains of the intermediary steps. Certainly more diversity than what we see now. It is supposed to be a gradual process occurring over millions of years with literally billions of skeletal examples. Another fly in the general "species drift" (evolutionary term for going up the evolutionary ladder either by mutation or natural selection) is that while an advantage is occuring (say the evolution of an eye in a worm to a snake) the similance of a retina and nueral nerves would have happened to form in the worm. If you could come up with a natural selection reason for the reinforcement of this trait to go on, what would it be? To have an eye (complete, functioning, intact) is definitely an advantage that would aid in survival of the fittest. But each minute step along the way is a mutation as seen by the genetic structure--notice the outweeding of such "strange" occurances in nature today. Mutations are suppressed. They are not adaptations. Certainly the formation of the eye could not have occured in one fell swoop of a generation. Natural selection keeps species from drifting down (no up and coming weaknesses) but it is also at work in the drifting "up" as we define up. Up to us is down to mother nature.
Do other people need saving?
For some reason we've taken the text in Acts 4:12 a bit too literally. Even Christ says there are others in John 10:16. Ellen White adds:
Those whom Christ commends in the judgement may have known little of theology, but they have cherished His principles. Through the influence of the divine Spirit they have been a blessing to those about them. Even among the heathen are those who have cherished the spirit of kindness; before the words of life had fallen upon their ears, they have befriended the missionaries, even ministering to them at the peril of their own lives. Among the heathen are those who worhip God ignorantly, those to whom the light is never brought by human instrumentality, yet they will not perish. Though ignorant of the written law of God, they have heard His voice speaking to them in nature, and have done the things that the law required. Their works are evidence that the Holy Spirit has touched their hearts, and they are recognized as the children of God.
--Desire of Ages, pg 638, pub. 1890
So then how do Christians live socially?
- If i have been transformed by Christ (ie., enabled to be loving--remember the Heal Wheel?) then i can't help it! It's spontaneous
- My Church is an organized body of people with similar convictions far extending my care to the world community
- We DO hold valuable insights into the the character of God and plan, as modeled in Jesus the Christ, that can increase the likelihood of someone responding to God's appeal
Bible passages
EGW passages
The purpose of prayer may not be what you thought:
Prayer is not to work any change in God; it is to bring us into harmony with God.
Five Essential Qualities of a (up)lifting Prayer
- Respect (Luke 11:2)
- Praise (Psalm 150; Hebrews 13:15)
- Thanks (John 11:41)
- Petition (Matthew 6:8; Psalm 62:8)
- Deity's Address (Matthew 6:13)
Layout
Bible References
EGW References
Accustomed as they had been in Egypt to material representation of the Deity, and these of the most degrading nature, it was difficulty for them to conceive of the existence or the character of the Unseen One. In pity for their weakness, God have them a symbol of His presence. 'Let them make me a sanctuary,' He said; 'that I may dewll among them.' Exodus 28:8.
--pg 35, Education, pub 1903; emphasis mine.
Personal musings
Thought 1:
It is interesting to me that God's first declaration concerning Himself is that He is to be called the "I AM." (Exodus 3:14). This phraseology is sacred throughout Scripture and much has been made of it. Any greek student knows that the construction in Greek is an emphatic emphasis (ego eimi; note to windows users: you need the symbol font installed to see that in Greek) and rarely used--if at all--by any other than God. This is God's self-proclaimed title. Often, upon hearing it, we wonder "I AM what?" That's just it. Take your pick. He is the Rod of Jesse, the Bright and Morning Star, the Rose of Sharon, the Lily of the Valley, The Bread of Life, The Water of Life, The Resurrection and the Life, The Alpha and Omega, The Elder Brother, etc. God wants to leave the door wide open. He is all of those and more. He doesn't want to shrink down to just one of our ideas. He is all of them. He refuses to be boxed in. I think that's the issue with commandments 2 and 3. They refer to His name and our ideas of Him. He is saying, in essence, 'this is what I AM. Let Me be who I AM. Nothing more, nothing less. Don't pigeon-hole me into some shape or catch-phrase for I AM nothing if not everything.'
Thought 2:
It is interesting to note that while the Israelites were clamoring to see God (Exodus 32:1)--even though they couldn't stand His form (Exodus 20:18-21)--God was coming to their rescue (Exodus 25:8). There's a mountain of lessons right there alone! They couldn't seem to handle Him as He was/is. Apparently, the Sanctuary--while it is tremendous and packs a mountain of knowledge in a mustard seed of example--was a second plan. In other words, it was not God's first choice. This is consistent with everything else in the books of Moses. God first told them to love their neighbor but they couldn't quite grasp that so Moses wrote down the Levitical codes of conduct. It fleshed out the open frame of God's law (this is in turn consistent with what Christ reiterates in the Gospels about the whole of the law).
Thought 3:
The Sanctuary is an important doctrine and not to be tossed away. That is not what i am suggesting here, but rather that we not idolize it and make it everything. Let us not cast truth into stone and leave the truths of God unflexible and unyielding. i am sure the I AM would want it that way. But then again, we humans need to have something to hold on to . . . Do you see a pattern here? Hmmm?
What is the relationship between the 10 commandments, all the things I'm "supposed" to do and Jesus saying that love was everything?
Maybe this picture will help.
You see, the "Truth" is God Himself. Out of that comes 'Love to God' and 'Love to Man.' But what does it mean to 'Love God'? That is explained by Commandments one through four. Commands 5 - 10 deal with what it means to love your neighbor as yourself. Sometimes those 'laws' seem a little vague. So people, trying to be helpful mostly, came up with rules/standards that you should follow to help keep live the Truth. Notice i didn't say, 'keep the Commandments.' You don't keep the Commandments, the keep you! In other words, when you love someone very much you don't want to hurt them but instead want to do whatever healthy and in your power to help them. If you've ever wondered about how God wants to be loved then read the Commandments. That's it. If you try and follow them, you will find your relationship growing. And that's the point. You don't follow the Commandments to create/build your relationship. You follow them because you already have a relationship.
When you hear the word "church" what do you think of?
Maybe this picture will help.
What does the picture does the Bible give of Church?
Structure
Service
Mission
What are some of the elements of a worship service?
Some of the ideas were mentioned up above in the "service" section. But we might go on to be more specific with it.
Praise
- Singing
- Instruments
- Clapping
Petition
- Gratitude
- Invocation
Offering
- Money
- Service
- Souls
How do i do a word study?
i would recommend beginning with the following simple method:
Finally, jot down your thoughts in a study journal. Get down at least a couple of sentences. Don't make it a burden--trying to write a paragraph if that is hard for you--but get the work down on paper. Then try to be quiet and listen for 5 minutes to what God might impress you with. That's it!
Maybe this picture will help: (or DOWNLOAD A PDF file)
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Concordance Examples |
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note that Strong's concordance gives you numbers to identify exactly which version of that word is used. For example note that while in English "lifted up" is used in John 6:5 and in the passage we are considering (John 12:32) they are actually two different meanings. Note the difference in numbers. But John 3:14 uses the exact same verb so we know that John is making a literary connection between these two ideas. |
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note that Young's concordance does not give you numbers. You have to do a little more sleuthing. But you can quickly figure out for yourself the conclusions because all the words are grouped by similarity! |
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additional help on understanding the use of exhaustive concordances |
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How do i do an idea study?
i would recommend beginning with the following simple method:
PROBLEM: "What were the Doctrinal Reflections categories from class? i missed them all in my notes."
SOLUTION: Here they are. Try to pay more attention. I GUARENTEE YOU NOT ALL NOTES ARE ONLINE.
You will want to put these
in your Bible Journal. Each category gets a page. That's 24
pages.
This link will take you to a 3 column chart comparing the 3 main "groups" of world religions. It is really too big to put here.
Interesting look at Christian concepts embedded in the most ancient (and still in use) language on the planet. Dr. C. H. Kang finds roots of Biblical ideas in the very language of the Chinese. Fascinating read.
a PPT (Phil Chumbley) of some of the information. Video link to more indepth information.
This link will take you to a 3 column chart comparing the spiritual maturity that EGW progressed through in regards to the time at the end of quantified time. It is really too big to put here.
This link will take you to beginning treatise on a larger view of how dependent we are on God every moment. Which in turn has implications for understanding of Hell, God's Wrath, Joy, Free Choice, Love, and the purpose of our Living.
last updated March 2025
