Being an Adult

Another quote from the kids:

Abigail (aged 3) out of the blue announced this morning: "I don't want to be an adult when I grow up."

Dad: "Oh? Why's that??"

Abigail: "I want to be a ballerina."

You Believe That Stuff???

One of the things that I promised the other day was that I would give you a bit of an explanation of why I believe in God, so I thought that now was as good a time as any to get started on that.

And, it seems to me that a good place to start is to point out a few things that I am not going to be trying to do:

• I am not trying to set up a Christian evidences site. There are many of those already available run by people who are far more capable at it than I am (I'll try to post a couple of links to some at a later date). All I am trying to do is explain to you (in summary) just some of the kinds of things that I have thought about that have lead me to believe that there really is a God out there.
• I'm not trying to force you to believe in God. Whether or not you believe in God is your business. Of course, if God does exist and if it is true that "He is a rewarder of those who seek Him" (as the Bible claims), then the question of whether or not He exists is more than just an academically interesting question. So if my telling you why I believe in God leads you to think about that question and ultimately believe in Him too, and if that turns out to mean that you also receive that reward, then that would be great - I believe that that reward is real and that it is offered to you just as much as it is to me so why wouldn't I want to tell you about it? However, even if you decide that you don't believe in God, I hope that what I have to say in these posts will help you to understand me a little better and at least see that there is some kind of foundation for my belief (even if you don't agree with it).

Another thing that I am not going to do is to try to get everything into one post - I'll create a series of posts that I will (no doubt) add to over time. To make it easy for you to view them all together I'll do two things:

• I'll label them all with "Why I Believe", and
• I'll try to remember to list them all here in the most logical reading order:
• A permissible hypothesis - should I even allow for the possibility of the existence of God as an explanation for the origin of the universe?
  
• Hello World - What are the chances of first life coming into existence?
• Special Conditions - The chances are zero unless the conditions are suitable for life to form.
  
• Random Writing - If we do get the first life we need to then progress towards more complex life.
• Starting from Scratch - Repeatedly changing something over time doesn't usually result in a great system.
• Changing in Parallel - Different parts of systems very often have to change in a coordinated way for the change to be successful
• A Lot of Positives - Even if positive mutations happened every generation would there be enough time for evolution?
• And more... - A few other points to consider and links to further information.
• Yes But... - What about the arguments that people make against the existence of God?
• Two Options. - It seems to me that there are two fundamental options that we need to choose between.
• My Choice. - My reasons for choosing the option that I do.

Sugar & Chocolate

Here's another quote from the kids...

Joanna and Mum were discussing the fact that too much sugar and chocolate is not good for you.

Joanna: "But I only want a little bit - a little bit after breakfast; a little bit after lunch and a little bit after supper!"

Say Something!

I think that I must be more of a perfectionist than I would like to admit. I keep thinking that I'll get cracking with this blog more effectively just as soon as .... . Trouble is that there's too many ...s!

So I thought that I should jump in a break the cycle and just say something! This, in fact.

I think that the problem is that there are a number of things that I would really like to do. On this blog, I mean - let's not even get into all the other stuff that's not even connected to this blog that I want to / have to do!

Here's some of them:

• Publish some of my other poems for you to have a look at
• Create some photos to go with some of those poems
• Post a song that I wrote
  
• Get round to finishing off a book that I have basically finished writing and popping it up as a PDF in a sort of "Beta" form to get feedback (can you have a book in Beta?)
• Give a bit of an explanation to those of you who don't believe in such a thing as "God" as to why I believe that there is (I feel that I at least owe you that much)
• Talk about some of the issues that I have been studying with various other Church members and friends lately

And I'll try to get to some of those soon. Honestly.

See you soon.

No, really, I mean it. Hold me to it, will you?

A Christmas Thought

Here's a poem for you on Christmas day:

IMAGINE FOREVER

Imagine a hand as small as your thumb
That can hold up the earth and light up the sun.

Imagine a face with tiny blue eyes
That saw angels dance at the birth of the skies.

Imagine plump toes on podgy soft feet
That have lead mighty armies down heavenly streets.

Imagine a little button-like nose
That gave breath to life and smelt the first rose.

Imagine a mouth that’s gentle and small
Yet uttered the words of creation’s great call

Imagine a baby with gentle soft breath
Who possesses the strength to overcome death.

Imagine a mother who cuddles and sings
And holds in her arms the King of all Kings.

Imagine the Lord of the Heavenly Hosts
Wrapped up in a manger ‘mid cattle and goats.

Imagine a child who may hunger and cry
But yet had the courage to come here to die.

A baby called Jesus, born in the hay –
Born long ago, but alive to this day.

He came here and lived in the humblest home
To give us the chance to sit near His throne.

Imagine the day when we’re called home on high
To see Him in glory in the great “by and by”.

Imagine “forever” in the warmth of the love
Of that gentle baby who came from above.

- Mark H (DelightInLight.com)

Note: This is one of a number of poems for Christian children that I have posted on this blog. If you want to see more of them, please have a look at this post: "Fun Poems for Kids"

You can also email a link to this post by clicking the mail icon below...

Words

Some words from Lucia (aged 22 months):

• "Up-a-lator" - translation: "escalator"
• "Negum" (her version of "welcome") - translation: "thank you"
  

Pet Fish

In a discussion with Kathleen about pets:

• Dad: "How's about a fish?"
• Kathleen: "That's a no. They don't even know you have them. All they do is swim around the tank and blow bubbles. It's hard to even say you have them!"