Thinking about God, Jesus and The Big Questions

One of the things which helped me immensely after having kids was that it gave me a tiny inkling of what God has to put up with about us. My kids, when they were very little, would simply not understand why I didn't want them doing things that they thought were fun, like running out into the middle of the road.  I loved them so much that I didn't want them running out to play in the middle of the road, so I wouldn't let them.  I would pull them back every time they tried to do this.  To them, this didn't feel like love.  It felt restrictive to them. Yet, I only did what any loving parent would do to keep their child safe. I was frustrated that my children just couldn't seem to understand that I was doing this out of love and to stop them from getting hurt or killed.  Then I realized this must be very similar to what God has to put up with when dealing with us. And God has had to put up with all this (our ingratitude, incomprehension and disobedience) not j...

One beautiful day this summer, I was walking on a trail with my oldest son (aged 5).  It was so great to be outside and see the beautiful trees and flowers. This captivating sight led me to pose the question: "What does our world tell us about our Creator?"  First, to clarify, I'm posing this question from the believer's point of view.  I've already written a post saying that merely observing our surroundings will not, on its own, tell us whether or not we have a Creator .  However, if there is a Creator, then there is something we can infer about this Creator by observing our surroundings: Our Creator sees beauty and delight in non-uniformity, at least in the natural world. However, it is difficult for us to know which things appear are as the Creator originally wanted them, and which are a consequence of the Fall. Let's expand on these two points: 1. Our Creator sees beauty and delight in non-uniformity Trees have irregular shaped branc...