God's creativity

Let us be thankful for God's wisdom, creativity and imagination. He thought of many things: information, beauty of form, sound, color, smell and taste; physical laws and constants, elementary particles and the structures that are made of them; life, diversity, and natural selection; communication, humor; faith, generosity, innocence. He let us live in a good, diverse, and well-planned world, with energy, oxygen, water, organic compounds, and other elements and compounds we need to live.

More could be said. The universe's creation involved the Father, Son and Spirit, working together.

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Some things that I have spotted that may be of interest to others:

Newsweek reports that humpback whales appear to use tools. Really.

Politifact fact-checks the acceptance speech of Kamala Harris.

NPR presents the latest guidance on COVID.

NPR also reports that medical researchers are finally beginning to use menstrual blood in diagnoses.

NPR also reports that Australia is trying to allow workers to disconnect from the company when working hours have passed, 

CNN reports that marmoset monkeys can send messages to a specified individual monkey. In other words, they use names for each other.

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Some things I have spotted that may be of interest to others:

The Guardian discusses Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, and what it has symbolized. The Berlin Wall, Melania Trump, and other items are mentioned.

Science Alert reports that Antarctica is rising and discusses some of the consequences.

The Wikipedia has an article on downbursts, where, it says, the wind pattern is opposite that in a tornado. 

Newsweek reports that Donald Trump hasn't paid Rudy Giuliani for legal services.

NPR tells us that, for the first time, a Pakistani won an Olympic gold medal. He was also given some valuable prizes, including a buffalo. The report tells why the buffalo is a valuable gift.

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 Some things I have spotted, that may be of interest to others:

An article in the Wikipedia tells about small satellites that are in orbit around some larger asteroids. 

NPR has fact-checked Donald Trump's recent press conference at Mar-A-Lago. It isn't pretty. They found over 160 lies, or serious distortions of the truth, in less than 90 minutes of the news conference.

Scientific American, and other outlets, report that the central stone of Stonehenge was moved from hundreds of miles away. How? We aren't sure.

ScienceAlert reports that the continent of Antarctica is rising, and discusses the likely consequences.

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Things I have spotted that may be of interest to others:

Project 2025 is an extensive document, proposing many changes in government. The 2025 is because it is a plan for action, if Donald Trump is returned to the presidency, for the first year of his second presidency. However, Trump is trying to distance himself from the proposals, claiming that he isn't familiar with the contents, and doesn't know who developed it. But CNN has done a deep dive, and found lots of connections between the document and the former President's advisors.

Snopes reports that Project 2025 plans to eliminate free weather information from the government.

A Conversation writer explains decaf coffee.

Anti-pornography (and slander, and more) in the Bible

A Psalm by David.

101:1 I will sing of loving kindness and justice.

To you, Yahweh, I will sing praises.

101:2 I will be careful to live a blameless life.

When will you come to me?

I will walk within my house with a blameless heart.

101:3 I will set no vile thing before my eyes.

I hate the deeds of faithless men.

They will not cling to me.

101:4 A perverse heart will be far from me.

I will have nothing to do with evil.

101:5 I will silence whoever secretly slanders his neighbor.

I won’t tolerate one who is haughty and conceited.

101:6 My eyes will be on the faithful of the land,

that they may dwell with me.

He who walks in a perfect way,

he will serve me.

101:7 He who practices deceit won’t dwell within my house.

He who speaks falsehood won’t be established before my eyes.

101:8 Morning by morning, I will destroy all the wicked of the land;

to cut off all the workers of iniquity from Yahweh’s city. (World English Bible, public domain)

Verse 3a has an admonition against willingly experiencing pornography. And there are some more admonitions. Verse 5a is against slander. Verse 4b covers it all, I guess: "I will have nothing to do with evil." If that doesn't cover it all, there's 2a, "I will be careful to lead a blameless life." But, in spite of the importance of the warnings, Perhaps the first verse of the Psalm, "I will sing of loving kindness and justice. To you, Yahweh, I will sing praises" is the most important command. If I spend time praising God, verbally or in other media, I won't have time to slander anyone, or to indulge in pornography, or commit other sins. 

Thanks for reading. Praise God!

**** 

Added July 12, 2024:

Pornography is a form of adultery, and slander is a form of false witness. Both of these are forbidden by the Ten Commandments.

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 Things I have spotted that may be of interest to others:

A discussion of the perils of Christian Nationalism, in Baptist News Global. 

Crosswalk reports that Southern Baptists voted against Christian Nationalism recently.

Stat discusses ethical questions about the results of the Human Genome Project.

NPR reports that a man tried to smuggle 100+ live snakes, of several kinds, into China. The snakes were hidden in his pants.

Thanks for reading!

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Things I have spotted that may be of interest to others:

A  discussion, in Naturalist Historia, pointing to more discussions, on how the immune system is related to origins.

Scientific American reports that leeches can jump.

Christianity Today on the question of Orthodox Jews serving in the Israeli military.

Snopes, the important fact-checking web site, supports Biden's claim that historians rank Trump as the worst President in US history. You can see how all Presidents, including Biden, are ranked by these historians, on this site.

LiveScience discusses the idea of what a species is. It's complicated.

Newsweek has compiled a long list of people who served in important positions in the Trump administration who have refused to endorse his current candidacy for President.

Thanks for reading.

Hymns and church songs with stones, rocks, or related ideas

 Rocks in songs and hymns

A previous post listed important Bible passages about stones or rocks, chosen from a few hundred occurrences in the Bible. This post lists songs and hymns that include the word stone, or the word, rock, or a related idea.

“Rock of Ages”

“The Lord’s Our Rock, in Him we hide”

“Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing” includes the phrase “Here I raise my Ebenezer.” This comes from 1 Samuel 7:12 “Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, “Yahweh helped us until now.”

“My Hope is built on nothing less” has this phrase: “On Christ, the solid rock I stand …”

“Behold the Sure Foundation Stone” -- note: I am not familiar with this one, but an on-line search turned it up, so I included it.

“A Wonderful Savior is Jesus, My Lord,” includes the phrase “He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock.”

Thanks for reading, and, possibly, singing or humming.

rocks and stones in the Bible

My Bible search tool tells me that there are about 140 occurrences of the word "rock" in the Bible, and about 330 occurrences of "stone." Here are some of the more important passages related to rock or stone.

In Genesis 28, Jacob, fleeing from his brother Esau, takes a rock for a pillow, and, when he wakes, sets that rock up as a pillar, and pours oil on it, and promises to give God from his goods.

In Exodus 28, the first instance of stoning to death as a punishment occurs. Stephen was stoned in Acts, and Paul was stoned and left for dead.

In Exodus 24, the Ten Commandments were engraved on two stone tablets, by God, Himself. Later, after Moses broke them in righteous anger, God made new tablets. These tablets were still in a sacred box, or ark, many years later.

In Exodus 28, twelve stones, as part of the garments of the High Priest, represented the twelve tribes. There are a number of other references to precious stones in the Bible.

In Exodus 33, God tells Moses that he can be hidden in a cleft of a rock, while God passes by.  

Leviticus 26:1 You shall make for yourselves no idols, and you shall not raise up a carved image or a pillar, and you shall not place any figured stone in your land, to bow down to it; for I am Yahweh your God.

Stoning to death was commanded several times in the Old Testament, or was given as the penalty if anyone were to commit certain sins.

In Numbers 20, Moses obtained water for the Israelites, in a sinful manner, by striking a rock.

Deuteronomy 27:1 Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, "Keep all the commandment which I command you today. 2 It shall be on the day when you shall pass over the Jordan to the land which Yahweh your God gives you, that you shall set yourself up great stones, and coat them with plaster. 3 You shall write on them all the words of this law, when you have passed over, that you may go in to the land which Yahweh your God gives you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised you."

Deuteronomy 32:3 For I will proclaim Yahweh’s name.  Ascribe greatness to our God! 4 The Rock: his work is perfect, for all his ways are just.  A God of faithfulness who does no wrong, just and right is he.

In Joshua 4, the Israelites were told to take stones from the bed of the Jordan River, which they were about to cross, and set them as a memorial to God's power.

1 Samuel 2:2 There is no one as holy as Yahweh, for there is no one besides you, nor is there any rock like our God.

David took 5 stones to use in his sling, when he confronted Goliath, according to 1 Samuel 17.

2 Samuel 22:2b Yahweh is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, even mine; God is my rock in whom I take refuge; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge. My savior, you save me from violence.

There are several other times when God is called a rock, in the Old Testament.

1 Kings 5 - 7 describes the building of the Temple. Many stones were used in the construction.

In Ezra 5 and 6, stones were used to re-build the temple.

There is only one use of the word, stones, in the entire book of Psalms. It's in 102:14.

In Isaiah 2, sinners try to hide themselves from God, in the rocks.

In Matthew 4, Satan tempts Christ, suggesting that He turn stones into bread.

Matthew 7 has the parable of the house built on a rock.

Matthew has the parable of seed falling on rocky ground.

Matthew 16:15 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" 16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17 Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 I also tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. ..."

In Luke 19, Jesus says that if the crowd hadn't hailed his entry into Jerusalem, the stones would have cheered for Him.

1 Peter 5 says that believers are like living stones.

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Things I have spotted that may be of interest to others:

Scientific American discusses tattoo ink. We don't really know what's in it. 

Scientific American also discusses the discovery of irrational numbers. We don't know that history very well.

Science Friday and other outlets report that elephants have names for other elephants.

NPR reports that some woodpeckers peck on metal to make a lot of noise, and explains why they do this.

Ten Commandments in classrooms?

A state legislature has required that the Ten Commandments be displayed in all public school classrooms.

Leaving aside questions of separation of church and state, another question arises. Why the enthusiasm for posting the Ten Commandments, rather than the Golden Rule (Matthew 7:12a) “Therefore, whatever you desire for men to do to you, you shall also do to them,”? or the two Greatest Commandments?: 

Matthew 22:35 One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him. 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?” 37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ [Deuteronomy 6:5] 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ [Leviticus 19:18] The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” (This episode is also reported in Mark 12:28-33)

With Christ in the school of prayer, by Andrew Murray, excerpt 219

 This post continues a series of excerpts from With Christ in the School of Prayer, by Andrew Murray. This is posted, not because I'm a powerful prayer warrior, but because I'm not. Murray was. I thank the Christian Classics Ethereal Library for making this public domain work available. To see their post of the book, go here. The previous post in this series is here: Sun and Shield: With Christ in the School of Prayer, by Andrew Murray, excerpt 218 His book is based on Mark 11:22-24. As usual in this blog, long quotations are in this color, although I seem to have lost the ability to do that. Murray's book is based on Mark 11:22-24. 

And then follows our Lord’s prayer for a still wider circle.  ‘I pray not only for these, but for them who through their word shall believe.’  His priestly heart enlarges itself to embrace all places and all time, and He prays that all who belong to Him may everywhere be one, as God’s proof to the world of the divinity of His mission, and then that they may ever be with Him in His glory.  Until then ‘that the love wherewith Thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.’ The disciple of Jesus, who has first in his own circle proved the power of prayer, cannot confine himself within its limits:  he prays for the Church universal and its different branches.  He prays specially for the unity of the Spirit and of love.  He prays for its being one in Christ, as a witness to the world that Christ, who hath wrought such a wonder as to make love triumph over selfishness and separation, is indeed the Son of God sent from heaven.  Every believer ought to pray much that the unity of the Church, not in external organizations, but in spirit and in truth, may be made manifest.

Rivers in songs and hymns

I recently posted on the word "river," in the Bible. In this post, I'll remind readers that the word, "river," or a word related to rivers occurs in songs used in worship and praise. The theology of some of these songs may be questioned, but they have had, and will have, their uses.

Down by the Riverside. 

Shall we gather at the River.

When they ring the golden bells begins with "There's a land beyond the river ...," and has, as part of the chorus, "In that far off sweet forever, Just beyond the shining river, When they ring the golden bells for you and me."

"On Jordan's stormy banks I stand," written by Samuel Stennett.

"Like a River Glorious."

"When Peace, Like a River."

Oh, now I see the Cleansing Wave," which has "The cleansing stream I see, I see" as part of the chorus.

"Down by the River to pray" is much newer than the songs mentioned above. So is "Because He Lives," which includes the phrase, "I'll cross that river ..."

Thanks for reading. Sing, if you are so inclined.