Did God Create Sin?

Did God create sin?

Isaiah 45:7 I form the light and created darkness: I make peace and CREATED Evil: I the Lord do ALL these things.

This verse, in its context is referring to Cyrus - a type in Scripture of the Devil (Satan) whom God did create!

Did God create sin?

Perhaps this is best answered by asking what is sin?
In a perfect world sin would not exist.

This is because sin is a "nonentity reality" (a phrase I have coined).
Now, before you label me an heretic, let me explain. (I do believe in Sin!)

We know that God didn't create Dark, he created Light
You can't make Dark. Dark is simply the absence of light. Take away the Light and you are left with Dark.

Now I would like to suggest that God didn't create Cold, he created the Sun (Heat).
You can't make Cold. Cold is simply the absence of heat. Even a refrigerator gets cold because you remove the heat, not because you make Cold. Take away the Heat and you are left with Cold.

God didn't create Vacuums. A Vacuum is simple the absence of matter (e.g. air). Take away the Air and you are left with a Vacuum.

God didn't create Silence. A Silence is simple the absence of Sound. Take away the Sound and you are left with Silence.

There are many examples of this in nature.

In the same way God didn't create fear. (2 Timothy 1:7 - "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." Fear is the absence of Love. (1 John 4:18 - There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.)

Now back to our discussion of Sin. Sin is the absence of God. GOD DIDN'T CREATE SIN but when he gave man freedom of choice, man could then choose to live apart from God and His law.

This, then, is Sin - being apart from God and His Law. (1 Corinthians 15:56 "The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law." and 1 John 3:4 "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.")

Sin is separation from God (Romans 8:35, 39 " Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ... Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.")

Sin is so serious that it cost Jesus His life just to bring about a reconciliation between Man and God.

Lionel Hartley, Feb 8 2005

http://www.christian.net/messages.php?forum=515&topic=7597&page=0

The Miser and the Waterfall

Once upon a time there was a wise old miser who lived in a cave behind a waterfall. As he neared the end of his life, he sent word into the nearby town that whoever could carry a clean milk-jug under the waterfall without getting water in it would have it filled with gold. The next day, many townsfolk lined up at the waterfall with their milk-jugs. Many carried them in bags, but as the miser could not see the jug passing under the waterfall they got no gold. Others carried them upside-down, but an upside-down jug could hold no gold either. One smart person had filled his jug with water and frozen it overnight so that no water from the waterfall could land in the jug. But a jug with frozen water couldn't hold gold. Another had filled his with axle grease but it could not be filled with gold as it was no longer clean. However one person had filled his jug with sweet clean honey. When he came through the waterfall no water could enter the jug, and as the gold was poured in, sweet honey overflowed for others to share and enjoy.
--A dream by Lionel Hartley, 2003

The Mini-skirt Craze

The Mini-skirt Craze

A good friend of mine related the following true story to me.
In the 1970s when mini-skirts were a fashion craze, she was a young 'independent' girl, wanting to keep up with the latest fashion and wear a mini-skirt.
Her mother, concerned for the maintenance of modesty, had other ideas. She verbalised it this way, "Pamela, That's not a skirt -- it's nothing more than a velcro valance! If you insist on wearing a pelmet for your panties, then it's curtains for you!"

-- Lionel Hartley
(Note: a pelmet or valance is a decorative heading to conceal curtain fixtures at the top of a window casing.)

Written Communication hazards

There are times when even written communication is fraught with hidden hazards:

The mother  of a fellow student called Mary went on a busines trip to Japan. When the mother returned, Mary asked what hotel she had stayed at. She said that she didn't know the name of it as her employer had handled the bookings. However she had written down the name on a piece of paper. The only problem was that neither of them could decipher the Japanese pictographic writing. Mary brought the piece of paper to class for another student, who was fluent in Japanese, to translate. The Japanese student asked Mary where her mother had read the sign. "On the front door of the hotel," was the reply. "Well that would explain why the hotel is called 'PUSH.' (Pusshu)"
-- Lionel Hartley

(Nikki Scarlett writes, 'The company where I work services cargo access equipment on ships.
After each service job, a report must be filed listing the ship's name, location, and summary of the work performed.
One of our service engineers was writing his report on a recent job, but was unsure of the ship's name.  His boss told him to read the name off the stern of the ship.
The report came back with the ship name listed as: "Beware Of Propeller."')

Pacesetter Vs Pacemaker

Love in the heart is a pacesetter
It sets the rhythm of daily life
Romance in the heart is a pacemaker
It re-energises the relationship especially if the rhythm is out of step.
-- Lionel Hartley, Moral Responsibility, Stereo Publications, Christchurch, ©1966, p27.

Ten Stages of Deadly Depression

Ten Stages of Deadly Depression

1.    Disturbance - Need for readjustment and reconsideration
2.    Disappointment - Need for reappointment and reconsecration
3.    Discouragement - Need for reaffirmation and rediscovery
4.    Disillusionment - Need for realignment and redetermination
5.    Deflation - Need for re-inflation, recrudescence and rejuvenation
6.    Despair - Need for reason, reconfirmation and renewal
7.    Doomsaying - Need for reappraisal and redefinition
8.    Desperation - Need for rescue and reconstruction
9.    Derangement - Need for reclamation, recuperation, rehabilitation and reconditioning
10.  Death - Need for resurrection (Divine intervention)

-- Lionel Hartley, Deliverance from Deadly Depression (Booklet),
Dayspring Health Services, Morisset, NSW, 1986

Creating a Positive Pleasing Personality

Creating a Positive Pleasing Personality.

As you will have already realised, to get the most out of life, you will need to be able to get along with people. This means that others will like you and want to do things for you.
Your personality is your attitude in action.
When you get along with people it is because they find your personality positive and pleasing.  How can we create a positive personality? Here are a few tips:

1. To make and keep a friend, Be a friend; be friendly.
2. Think what type of person you would like to have as a friend - how you would like to be treated, then be that type of person yourself for others.
3. People need to feel wanted, loved, needed, so help create these feelings in others.
4. Be kind to others - You may not feel you can love them, but at least you can be kind.
5. Learn to love yourself because others will often treat to you the way they see you treating yourself.
6. Let others impress you rather than trying to impress them.
7. Honesty often hurts, often makes us vulnerable, but honesty always wins in the end.
8. Deliberately do and/or say things to make others feel important: Praise, encouragement, support, co-operation, courtesy (please & thank-you).
9. Be enthusiastic - it is contagious, it motivates others as well as you, it builds bonds within relationships.
10. Call others by name, repeat it often in conversation.
11. Learn to listen. People are warmed more by how you listen than what you say.
12. Be positive, as positive attitudes are attractive to others. We like to be around positive people - negative people repel us (if we are negative, we repel others).
13. Be cheerful and pleasant. Smile often - smile with your eyes as well as your mouth.
14. Before you choose to argue, stop and place a value on your friendship.
15. Help others to like themselves. Remind them that you like yourself better when you are with them.
16. Show a genuine interest in others, listen as you invite them to talk about themselves. Seek their opinions, ideas, viewpoints.
17. If you can’t say something good about a person, keep silent.
18. Allow the other person to be “right” sometimes.
19. If you really must poke fun at someone, be sure it is you.

-- Lionel Hartley PhD, Deliverance from Depression (Booklet), Dayspring Health Services, ©1986

Destination Heaven

Destination Heaven
[In June 2001] my wife and I were about to enter a restaurant for lunch when our daughter contacted us on the mobile telephone. She would be taking a part in a programme that evening and asked if I could provide a short snippet for her to present as an ice-breaker for the programme. The theme was ‘outer space’, reflecting on our readiness for heaven. Because my wife and I were away from home, my library was inaccessible. So I penned the following free verse fragment in the restaurant while waiting for our meal to be served. It is an announcement supposedly heard over an airport public address system:

“Your attention please, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Welcome to Eternity Intergalactic Airport.
Please check in today for Destination Heaven.
Your tickets need to be in order before you board the flight.
And passports, visas and papers must be checked and all right.
Leave luggage & baggage at the boarding gate to Heaven- you won’t need it there.
And your passport of faith has been stamped with your fate (when you chose to accept the free airfare).
For your ticket is paid for by the Pilot’s own Son.
And He sent you His Holy Steward to help you to come.
So Ladies and Gentlemen, your attention please.
You all can be ready by the Company’s Grace.
So pack up your worries, invite your friends and take your ease.
The ticket is paid and we’ve reserved you a place.
All flights are in standby mode; you must be ready at all times.
And as we only offer one destination, passengers not ready must travel by another airline.”

-- Lionel Hartley, FreEzineMagazine, Issue Vol 2 # 6  June 2001

Marriage is not a word

Marriage is not a word, it's a sentence -- not a 'jail sentence' -- but a relationship encompassing entire lexicons.
-- Lionel Hartley ©

Sink into my arms...

"Men, be prepared to put your arms into her sink before you expect her to sink into your arms. (If you think dishwashing is women's work, read Matthew 23:25-26 which talks about men doing the washing-up and 2 Kings 21:13 which talks about men drying the dishes.)"
-- Lionel Hartley PhD, Thank God For Sex, Stereo Publications, 1976

Matthew 23:25-26  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. 26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.

2 Kings 21:13  And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down.