Broken Windows Chapter 11

If you are new to Broken Windows, thanks for reading. You may want to start here http://paulblais.blogspot.com/2011/11/introduction.html. I hope you have a good time with the book.

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Verge asks me if I wanted to stop at 7-11 which was right on our way home. Well, it wasn’t exactly on our way home. You had to walk about three blocks out of the way to get there. He also said he’d get me a candy bar.

“Hey,” verge said, “I owe you for the gum.”

Stink. In the back of my mind I was still seeing Mrs. Tender dialing the phone when I went into the VP’s office. I was so busted as soon as I cast a shadow in my yard. The longer I could postpone that, then the better. Plus, who the heck doesn’t like candy bars!

It was kind of cool to be hanging out with Verge. Somehow, being stuck in detention gave us a kind of camaraderie. You know, partners in crime, or something stupid like that. Even though we didn’t actually do anything wrong together, it was like we were both getting it from the adults. So it was cool.

We got to 7-11 and he told me to go over to the where the bottled drinks were and grab him a Snapple or something while he grabbed the candy bars. By the time I got back to the front Verge was already in line. There was a dude in front of him, and this really old man behind him.

“I don’t like that flavor,” Verge said as he pointed at the peach ice tea in my hand.

“What flavor do you like?”

“Forget about it. I’m not that thirsty anyhow.”

So I was about to go put it back, and Verge stops me and tells me to just give it to the clerk and that the clerk would put it back.

When it our turn, I handed the clerk the Snapple and told him that we changed our mind. Verge puts one candy bar on the counter and pays for it. I thought that was kind of weird that he was buying just me a candy bar and not one for himself also. Then I thought that he was buying one just for himself. And I started to feel awkward. Did I hear him correctly? Didn’t he say he was going to buy a candy bar for me also? Should I just go and get my own?

I hadn’t really finished working it out in my head when Verge turns to the door and starts to leave. I hesitated for a second and then just fell in step behind him.

Then I heard the old man that was behind us talking to the clerk in an old shaky voice that old people get. “That boy’s got more candy in his pockets that he aint paying for.”

To be totally honest, I didn’t really understand what the old man was saying. I mean not at first. I heard him and all, but it just didn’t make sense to me. Stink. I never stole a thing in my life. Not a penny. And I was thinking, why would he say that I took something when I didn’t?

The clerk then says, “Hey, you guys. Come back here!”

By this time we were already at the door. And Verge doesn’t stop. He doesn’t even look over his shoulder. He just keeps on walking. I am a bit stunned. I feel drawn to just keep up with Verge. It was like he had a rope tied to my neck and I couldn’t obey the command of the clerk. The door closed behind us.

Then I heard the door reopen and I can hear the sound of the clerk’s feet running toward us and he is yelling at us to come back. Verge says, “Lets go!” And he starts running.

Man, I don’t know what came over me. I could have totally stopped and just talked to the clerk. I wouldn’t get in any trouble because I didn’t have anything my pockets. I didn’t even really know Verge all that well. I just happened to be with him. It would have been so easy. So stinking easy to just let the clerk catch up to me.

But I ran. I ran as fast as I could right on the heels of Verge. We rounded the tree that was in the corner of the parking lot and kept on going. The clerk didn’t go any further than the tree. What was he supposed to do, keep chasing us and leave the stupid 7-11 all unattended? That would be really smart.

We kept running though, taking a few turns in the neighborhood so we could disappear. After a couple turns we slowed down to a walk as Verge looked behind us and saw that the coast was clear. Then he reaches into his pocket and pulls out two more candy bars and hands me one.

“You stole that?” I said. I was still catching my breath, and I just know my face must have been all scrunched up in disbelief. I must have looked like a total dweeb.

“Why do you think we were running? If that dumb ass old man hadn’t seen us, it would have been totally cool.” There were two things that kind of struck me. One was that he said “us”. There was no us in the stealing. It was Verge. The other thing was that the way Verge said this was that the close call was not the result of him doing anything wrong, but instead that the old man had done something wrong. “Why don’t old guys like that just keep their mouths shut.”

I didn’t open the candy bar. I just held it not really knowing what I was supposed to do with it. It was stolen, for Pete’s sake!

“Why did you buy that one?”

“Dude,” Verge explained, “if you are going to take something, then always buy something. If you walk in and just pocket a few things and then leave, man, you are going to get busted. But, if you pocket what you want and then buy something else, you always get away with it. Except when some old man is sneaking around. What does he care for? He doesn’t even work there!”

“Eat your candy bar,” says Verge.

“But you stole it. You said you were going to buy a candy bar for me and then you stole it.”

“I didn’t say that I was going to buy you a candy bar. I said I was going to ‘get’ you a candy bar. I got you a candy bar. What do you care for? You didn’t steal it.”

It was true. I didn’t steal it. I was clear of all guilt, right? But it sure felt like I was the one that did the stealing.

Then it started to bug me, you know, the other candy bar. I mean he bought one stinking candy bar, and then he stole two more.

“Why did you take two candy bars?”

“Oh, this one is for Jack. I owe it to him.”

“What for?”

“It was part of the dare about throwing the gum. I told him that if he hit the Vice Principle, I would get him a candy bar.”

I didn’t eat my candy bar. I just put it in my coat pocket.

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The Crown of Creation

Genesis 1:26-31

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. Genesis 1:26-31

Man is created in the image of God. No other animal can have this claim. There are those that say that they can see God in nature. Wrong. They may be able to see His fingerprints, but not God. Nature is made of up of animals, run by instinct and plants that just grow. Man alone holds the honor to be made in the image of God.

How does the Bible describe God’s features? Matthew 6:26 calls Him, “Heavenly father”- not too old. Psalm 57:1 mentions “His wings”- he is part chicken. John 15:1 tells us, “I am the true vine”- now he is part vegetable. Isaiah 17:10 describes God as “the Rock”- Now he is part mineral. Is this a good description of what we look like? I don’t think so.

The rest of creation functions in one of two ways. A tree is merely just physical. It has no thought process. A dog is both physical and has a soul, meaning that he can think to some degree. But man has not only the physical body, and the soul, but also the spirit. We have a morality that is in us that is in the image of God. This is the part of us that was lost in the fall of man, but is brought back to life when we come to Jesus.

He created them “male and female”. One thing to notice is the number of people created. When creating the rest of creation, God created in mass. The vegetation was created and covered the earth, the creatures of the sea were created and instantly the seas were teeming with them. The sky and the land were filled with herds and flocks.

But, when creating mankind, He started out with two. One male, and one female. He still works this way today. In Psalm 138 we read,

“For You created my inmost being;
You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made”

This goes to show how much God cares for the individual. We are not just part of the herd. We are His special creation.

There is a distinct difference, “male and female”. Though we are both human, we are very different from one another socially, mentally, and physically. Sociologically speaking we tend to have little things that we do differently. If you ever get a chance to people watch on a high school campus, look at how the sexes tend to carry their books differently. The guys will cup the books in one hand and hang them down by their side, whereas the girls tend to cradle the books to their chests.

Here is a fun experiment to do. Stop reading for a moment and hold your right hand up and look at your fingernails. Really stop and do it. Now that you have done it, how did you look at your fingernails? If you are a gal, then you typically would have had the palm of your hand facing down away from you so you could look at your nails. But a guy will usually face the palm of his hand toward himself and curl his fingers in on top of the palm to look at his nails. Try this with the next ten people you see today and see if they don’t just naturally fall into the male and female way of doing things.

Mentally we find differences also. Men tend to rely on the left side of the brain, while women tend to use both sides. The end result is that women tend to be better communicators. You can see this in the sand box. Girl’s play tends to be conversational, while guys tend to be primitive, making guttural sounds and noises.

And then there is the physical aspect. All you have to do is look at the opposite sex and see that they are different. But more than the outer appearance, in every cell of our body we are different. Man has a different chromosome make up that is totally different from that of a woman. You see, God made male and female.

Then  God blesses them. The first blessing was for procreation. God wished for humans to multiply. We live in an age in which having children is not considered a great blessing. I read an article about Japan in which the birth rate is not high enough to replace the population. One town has gone as far as offering $5,000 for every child after three.

Global over-population is a big concern today. The problem with the idea that the earth is overpopulated is that is a little far fetched. If we were to gather all the people of the world together for a meeting and gave each person 9 square feet to stand in., you could put the entire population of the world in the state of Maine and still have over a third of the state left over. We are not in the huge crunch that people are saying we’re in.

God gave children to be a blessing in our lives. Psalm 127:3&4 says, “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,… Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them.” Don’t ever buy the lie that children are a burden or a pain. They are a gift from God. Don’t ever think that you are a burden or a pain. You are gift from God.

God also blessed humanity to have dominion over creation. But it seems that whatever God blesses, there seems to be an attack to subvert that blessing. In India we see that man is not the one who has the dominion, but rather the beast of the land. I recently read a study that said that India produces enough grain to feed their entire nation and still have enough to export. But, because the animals have such a high seat of honor, the cows on the street will be feed before the beggar in the gutter. This is what happens when man is away from God. The blessings of God get turned upside down.

God intended for man to rule over creation. Not in the destructive way that has been seen so visibly in the past century, but with care and concern. That is God’s desire.

You are the crown of God’s creation. Created to be more than just an animal. You are a child of God. The crown of His creation.

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Creation

Genesis 1:1-25

Matthew Henry wrote, “The scriptures, or writings of the several inspired penmen, from Moses down to St. John, in which divine light, like that of the morning, shone gradually (the sacred canon being now completed), are all put together in this blessed Bible, which, thanks be to God, we have in our hands, and they make as perfect a day as we are to expect on this side of heaven. Every part was good, but all together very good." And it is very good for us to be able to study the Bible. It is the best book ever written.

The Psalmist wrote “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” By studying this book you find direction for your life. You will also find the ability to overcome sin through it, “How shall a young man cleanse his ways? By taking heed according to Thy word.” Christian Johnson said, “A Bible that's falling apart probably belongs to someone who isn't.”

It is relevant for you today. For it speaks to you today. The book of Hebrews tells us that “…the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” AW Tozer said, “A new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is… a book which is now speaking.”

It is a book about people and for people. J. Vernon McGee said, “It is a very human Book, written by men from all walks of life, prince and pauper, the highly intellectual and the very simple.” At the same time it is a book about God and how to know God. McGee further said, :It is a God-Book. In the Bible God says twenty-five hundred times, ‘God said . . . the Lord has said . . . thus saith the Lord,’ and so on. God has made it very clear that He is speaking through this Book.”

When you come to the first book of the Bible, Genesis, we find that it is critical in understanding where we come from, and where we are, and how we got here.

The Beginning is God Genesis 1:1

God was before the beginning. Just read what verse one says. “In the beginning God created…” God was there. In order for Him to be the creator He had to be there. Genesis 1:1 assumes the fact that God was there. We don’t see a lot of examples or reasons or proofs; just a simple statement that God was the creator.

What was He doing during that time before He created? The Bible does not give us a lot of pre-creation information. But what it does reveal tells us a lot about God.

Once when Jesus was praying to the Father, He said, “You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” Love existed before time. The Father and the Son loved each other. Furthermore, there was glory. Jesus also prayed,” Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.” So we know that before anything else there was love and there was glory.

Not only was God there, and that He was loving, and full of glory, but He also was in the process of choosing. Ephesians 1:4 tells us, “Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” This verse reveals that God loves you. How often do we forget this. We tend to think that God loves others, but not me. Why do we do that? I think it is because we know ourselves. We know that we don’t pray enough, read enough, help old ladies across the street enough. We know we’ve got issues.

But God very simply wants you to know that He loves you. He has been thinking of you before time ever began. And now, finally, after all this wait, you are here and God wants to love on you.

“But you don’t understand, I’m such a failure,” you may say. That is ok. God had a back up plan before you ever blew it. I Peter 1:19-20 says, “He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world.” God had a plan to win you even though you would get lost. God was there at the very beginning, and God was thinking of of you.

The Days of Creation- Genesis 1:1~25

I love when people come up with an idea and then make it. I don’t know where they get their ideas from, but I do know that when it comes to my mind, it is not nearly as fertile as many. Even my son can dream better than me. People get these ideas going like the paper clip. A secretary was frustrated to have her papers constantly falling loose. So thus the paper clip. And the list goes on from mouse traps to the next space shuttle.

But even with all the new patents that are being constantly made, a verse cries out from the Old Testament of the Bible saying, “There is nothing new under the sun.” When I read that for the first time I said to myself Ya right! What about the car. Da!!! I know now that what Solomon wrote was a piece of poetry, and thus must be given that poetic license. But, not too long ago I was in a book store that had a book called God Thought Of It First. So I picked it up and it went on to explain that everything that we make is just an elaboration on what God has already made. Have you seen the Garfield window toy? We put this thing called a suction cup on a stuffed orange cat and it holds tight to the window. But that was not a new idea created by some novelty shop, God made it first, and He put it all up and down the arms of an octopus. An airplane? There was first a bird. A jet propulsion unit? A giant squid. God made it all. Let’s take a look at God’s days of creation.

Days 1-2

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day. Genesis 1:1-8

The first recorded words of God. “Let there be light.” God brings light into our lives. Many of use get in such a fog that we are unable to see our hands in front of our faces. So much so that we make these terrible choices with our lives because we just don’t see things correctly. But God separated the light from the darkness.

Then God creates the firmament. There is a word that we don’t use every day. Simply put, it would be our atmosphere. But it was a bit more than what we have today. It would be kind of like an atmosphere on steroids. Most scientists believe that there was at one time a canopy of mist that once covered the earth. What this canopy did was water every inch of the planet so that it had a perfect climate to grow anything. Which is why we have fossil records of places in Canada in which tropical plants grew. We know that because in the stomach of the woolly mammoth scientists found undigested tropical plants.

The result of having this canopy covering the earth was the deflection of ultra-violet radiation from the sun. The rays from the sun is one of the greatest influences on the aging process (the number one cause of aging is having too many birthdays). Studies showed that if milk is protected from the radiation of the sun, it can be stored at room temperature for months on end. That is one reason why we have records in the book of Genesis of people living to such old age. Adam made it to 800, while Enosh lived to 905, and Methuselah reached the record of 969.

This is also a great explanation to the size of creatures like brontosaurus of the T-Rex. The word dinosaur means terrible lizard. The thing about lizards is that they are a creature that continues to grow till the day they die. At the time of this writing I have living in our home a green iguana. This reptile has a growth expectancy of about six to seven feet long, with a life expectancy of 12 years. What if this same creature could live for 500 years!

Days 3-4

And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day. Genesis 9-19

This is an interesting thing. Geologist will tell us that the dry land is a result of plates on the crust of the earth rubbing together pushing the earth up away from the center of the earth. This fascinates me because it lines up precisely with the Genesis account. Water covered the face of the earth and then God brings up the land. When science and the Bible intersect, we find that there is never a contridiction.

Next we see the vegetation is created. The account says, “the earth bring forth grass the herb that yields seed.” And what a great job it does at doing that. If you were to take just one kernel of corn and plant it and let it grow to maturity, then if you took all the corn that it produced and planted them and do the same, in a matter of just six years you would be able to cover the entire face of the earth with corn. I know that sounds corny, but it is true!

“…according to its kind.” This just happens to be the biggest problem for evolution. With all the billions of seeds that are planted every year for the centuries on end, the seeds have always produce exactly what was planted. Now if you were to plant that kernel of corn and up sprang a cheery tree, then you would have example of evolution. But that has never happened. Wheat seeds always produce wheat, rice seeds grows rice, orange seeds grows orange trees, and so on. This just doesn’t change. It is like they are preprogrammed to reproduce what they already are. Kind of like they are part of a design.

Next came the sun, moon and the stars. The lights of the skies. Which brings up an interesting question: Where was the light coming from before? Here we see the incredible power God revealed. He is not in need of anything to accomplish His purposes. If people stop praising Him, the Bible says that the rocks will cry out. When God says that He wants to do something in your life, you can know that He can take care of it.

Days 5-7

And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:20-25

God created living beings. One of the things that is absolutely amazing about animals is their instinct.  Who told them or taught them to do the things that they do? Take the salmon, for example. How does a salmon know to leave the relative safety of a stream to live a life at sea a thousand miles from land and then to return to the very spot from which it was spawned? The Golden Pluber spends its summers in the Allusion Islands and then flies off to Hawaii for the winter (which is where I ought to spend my winters). Who told it? And then what about the Monarch butterfly. It literally takes four (!) generations to complete one full migration from Mexico to Canada and back. And each generation of butterfly has never flown their path before. God’s fingerprints can be seen everywhere.

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God Created

Genesis 1:1

The Bible has in the opening sentence one of the most critical sentence ever written. There it is, as bold and as gripping as anything. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. What we see in this statement is an explanation of the origin of all things. Whether you believe it or not, there it is; making the incredible claim —  God is our creator.

Not a popular thought. Even with all the drama that this statement holds, we see that it is an idea that faces quite a bit of challenges in our day. The predominant notion in our society is the theory of evolution. It is very rarely treated as a theory, but rather as fact, which it is not.

You’ll find that much of the media treats evolution as an unquestionable fact. Not too long ago I was watching a children’s show about lions. In a 45 second blurb in the program the statement was made that the lion evolved from a house-cat-sized cat. If you ever tune into The Discovery Channel, you’ll find that it promotes nothing other than the idea of evolution.

The education system is not too different. Dr. Ralph Girard, professor of biology and dean of the graduate division at the University of California at Davis was reported to have said that teaching the theory of creation makes about as much sense as teaching about the stork. He asked if a course on reproduction should include the stork theory. Even in your public schools the evolution theory is treated as fact rather than speculation. In most science classrooms they have posted on the wall the evolution of man from ape.

When dealing with this subject, the origin of the universe, it is important to understand that there are only 2 possible explanations. Either life rose out of non-life, or it was created. D.J Futuyma said, “Creation and evolution, between them, exhaust the possible explanations for the origin of living things. Organisms either appeared on the earth fully developed or they did not. If they did not, they must have developed from preexisting species by some process of modification. If they did appear in a fully developed state, they must have been created by some omnipotent intelligence.” Those are the only two possibilities.

The reality is that evolution is not a sure fire as it is trumped up to be. The evolutionist theory of the origin of the world has become so intrusive that a person is considered to be foolish if they think otherwise.

Chuck Smith likes to compare the idea of evolution to The Emperor’s New Cloths. It’s the story of the Emperor that had been tricked by some con artists that sold the emperor a new set of cloths that were made of a very special fabric that only the wise could see. Not wanting to be found a fool, the king then marveled at the beauty of the fabric that was being presented to him. The Emperor’s officials also saw no fabric, but were afraid to admit it for fear of being labeled a fool. So they too marveled at the beauty of the invisible fabric. Eventually the Emperor was fitted with his new apparel and was paraded through the streets of his kingdom. Everyone had heard that only fools were blind to the cloth of the outfit, so the people oo’ed and aw’ed at the beauty of the Emperor’s attire. Everyone that is except a young child. She pointed and declared aloud, “The Emperor has no cloths!” 

The first question that rises when we read this verse is How long ago was this? or, How old is the earth? The creationist, or biblical perspective would say that the earth is rather quit young, perhaps around 10,000 years old. The evolutionist must, through necessity, have a very old earth, millions or billions of years old, in order to give enough time for the evolutionary process to take place.

Dr. Barn of the University of East Texas  did a study on the electromagnetic field (EMF) around the earth. Over a 150 years ago a Dutch scientist measured the level of the EMF around the earth. Then every year since that time the level of EMF has been measured. It was discovered that in that time the field has been deteriorating on a very constant rate, without variance. So we know exactly how much the field will measure next year or the next or the next.

He then turned the figures around and went back in time, assuming that the measurement has been a constant, which it has been for over 150 years, to see how strong the EMF would be at 25,000 years ago. He found that the EMF would have raised the earth’s temperature to 240 degrees, so that there could be no moisture on it. If we go back to 100,000 years the temperature would have been so hot that the earth would be a great mass of molten lava.

The evolutionist’s time frame does not line up.

Then there is the issue of dinosaurs. According to evolution, dinosaurs were roaming the earth some 100,000,000 years ago, while man didn’t arrive on the scene until some 3,000,000 years ago. But have you heard of the Puluxy River footprints?

In the Puluxy river in Texas there are hundreds of human footprints in the river alongside dinosaur footprints. These footprints weave in and out of the dinosaur footprints. Amazingly there are actual human footprints in the very same fossilized footprint as a dinosaur! How else do you have dinosaurs and man footprints together if they did not co-exist at the same time?

Have you ever seen pictures of the first moon landing? The spacecraft that NASA made was fitted with large landing pads. The engineers put those large landing pads on the craft based upon the idea that the moon was many millions and millions of years old. Having been that old, the moon had had innumerable amount of asteroids hitting its surface and would in turn have this thick layer of moon dust on its surface. The official estimation was that it could be up to 30 feet thick. Therefore, the designers of the Apollo went to great lengths to insure that the landing spacecraft would not be swallowed up in this moon dust. Thus the big landing pads.

But when the Apollo actually landed on the surface of the moon, do you know what they found? They found that the surface of the moon only had about 2 or 3 inches of dust on its surface. That works out to be about 10,000 years worth of dust build up. Many evolutionary scientists were very silent on this matter. It looks as though the king is naked.

The theory of evolution is not a slam-dunk idea. It has many weaknesses, and should be consider a belief system, rather than fact. The scientist Dr. Henry Morris points out that, “If one wishes to believe in evolution, it is a free country, but he must believe it strictly as a matter of faith; there is no scientific evidence for evolution that cannot be explained at least as well, and usually better, by creation.”

The Swedish botanist, Dr. Heribert Nilsson, who is also an evolutionist said, “My attempts to demonstrate evolution by experiment carried on for more than forty years, have completely failed. …It may be firmly maintained that it is not even possible to make a caricature out of paleobilogy al facts. The fossil material is now so complete that it is now possible to construct new classes, and the lack of transitional series cannot be explained… Deficiencies are real. The idea of an evolution rest on pure belief.”

Dr. Henry Morris does say though, “The absence of evidence for evolution does not, by itself prove creation, of course; nevertheless, special creation is clearly the only alternative to evolution.”

What this all means is that God had a plan for us and that we belong to him. We are not just an accident, but a lovingly planned creation of God. For, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

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The Reference

Did you know that without a point of reference that direction becomes completely meaningless? There is no north. There is no south. There is no east or west. Up is irrelevant. Down is lost. There has to be a point in which we refer to in order for direction to make sense. Thus, with out the point of reference being Jesus, then anything goes. I like the quote from Michael Moncur’s Cynical Quotations that says, Do not condemn the judgment of another because it differs from your own. You may both be wrong.

But, not when it comes to Jesus. He is the reference point. Each person will be judged according Jesus, not the rock-head that is writing to you.

Just before the death of actor W.C. Fields, a friend visited Fields' hospital room and was surprised to find him thumbing through a Bible. Asked what he was doing with a Bible, Fields replied, "I'm looking for loopholes."

There will be no loopholes, just a simple lining up to Jesus. The question will be simple, Pass or Fail.

Then what is the point? If I have to measure up to Jesus, then I am doomed, right? Right and wrong. Right if we go based upon our own selves. We all have chinks in our good image. We will not measure up. But that is the glory of salvation. The very moment we are converted we receive Jesus. Once Jesus is in our lives, we become Christ-like, formed and shaped into a new man.

…in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Ephesians 4:22-24

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Broken Windows Chapter 10

If you are new to Broken Windows, thanks for reading. You may want to start here http://paulblais.blogspot.com/2011/11/introduction.html. I hope you have a good time with the book.

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Detention was in the library. Someone must have thought that people in detention would naturally be quieter in a library. But that’s where we were stuck, in the library with dumb old books that nobody every really checked out.

There were like four other kids in detention. And guess who one of them was- Verge. We just nodded our heads at each other. He must have thought that I was there to get a book out of the library or something. But then when I checked in with the teacher who was there to baby sit us for the next hour, I kind of glanced around at the other guys, and I saw that Verge was a little surprised.

I sat down by myself. Fact is, the baby sitter told me to find a seat at one of the study tables, but not next to anyone else. We were allowed to pick books off a shelf if we wanted to, but there was no talking allowed, and only one person at a time could get a book. I didn’t really want to read a book, so I just sat there for the whole hour doing not much of anything.

Actually, I remember doing one thing. I would stare at the clock on the wall and see how long I could hold my breath. The first couple of times I would do it for just a minute. But then the tricky part was letting the air out without making this big stupid noise and get everybody looking at me. Then I’d rest and do some quiet heavy breathing for a little bit, and then I’d do it all over again. I’d try to hold my breath just a little longer each time. Dude, I got up to a minute and a half! I’m not even joking. A minute and a half. Stink.

Finally detention was over and the baby sitter said we could all go. Fact is, he let us out ten minutes early. I don’t think he was being cool to us at all. He was just as sick of being stuck in the library as we were. He just wanted to get back to his stupid life and go home and watch TV or go to a bar or some other stupid thing like that. I didn’t care. I just got off ten minutes early.

On my way out the door Verge was right behind me. He knew I was a preacher’s kid and all. He had known me ever since he moved from Florida for stink’s sake. He just had to know what the preacher’s kid had done to land in detention.

“Hey, Randy. Why were you here today?”

I didn’t really want to get into it, but I told him anyway.

“I call the math teacher ‘Einstein’.”

“Why?”

“Because he is a total idiot.” Then I kind of gave him a run down of what had happened. I even told him how I was already kind of mad about how Wiggle Butt had made me late.

Verge lived in the general direction of my house so we kept waking together off the school campus together.

“Dude. I totally know who threw the gum at him.” Verge was all excited about this. “It was a friend of mine, Jack. Jack Fricker. You know him, right?”

I knew Jack. He was a goofy guy that kind of knew to school. I think he had been expelled from his old school, and our school took him in. And he was in my math class.

“I totally dared him to throw his gum at Johnson!” Verge said while he started to laugh. “It was so classic! You couldn’t have done a better shot if you were Michael Jordon. We were around the corner, and Jack stepped into the hall and just hucked at Johnson. Then, splat! Right on the back of the head.”

“Well, he thought I was the one that did it,” I said.

Then Verge tells me how they had jumped out of sight and peeked around the corner and saw him talking to me. Then he says how he thought that I was the one that got blamed for it and that was why I was in detention.

He thought it was totally hilarious. Fact is, I kind of thought it was pretty funny too. I mean, who goes around throwing gum at the vice principles that dress up in stupid bow ties? It was pretty funny.

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What Makes You Happy

George Burns, though not a philosopher, made an interesting point about helping others.

If you were to go around asking people what would make them happier, you'd get answers like a new car, a bigger house, a raise in pay, winning a lottery, a face-lift, more kids, less kids, a new restaurant to go to--probably not one in a hundred would say a chance to help people. And yet that may bring the most happiness of all.

I don't know Dr. Jonas Salk, but after what he's done for us with his polio vaccine, if he isn't happy, he should have that brilliant head of his examined. Of course, not all of us can do what he did. I know I can't do what he did; he beat me to it.

But the point is, it doesn't have to be anything that extraordinary. It can be working for a worthy cause, performing a needed service, or just doing something that helps another person.

Now that is great advice. But the basis of his comments did not originate with him. It was God who first had that idea. Recorded in the New Testament we find that Paul the Apostle wrote a bit more succinctly than Mr. Burns.

Do not merely look out for your own personal interests,

but also for the interests of others. Philippians 2:4

Looking past our own world and interests is exactly what you are called to do. It could be as simple as helping out in the children’s ministry at your church, or visiting a sick friend. Perhaps you could provide for a missionary, or mow someone’s lawn. The point is, look past yourself, and see what you can do for someone else. More than likely, it will make you happy.


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