Bookends of Time
By: Jim Virkler; ©2011 We are firmly embedded between the “bookends of time.” The “books” between the bookends contain a record of events in our temporal sphere–earth history from the creation event until the present as well as events yet to come before the end of this present age. The arrival of the New Creation…
Read MoreRoll Call
By: Jim Virkler; ©2011 Many people who lived five decades or more ago remember the popular hymn “When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder.” This title was requested more frequently than most during the “favorites” portion of hymn time. The verse 1 lyrics begin, “When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound and time shall…
Read MoreBest of All Worlds
By: Jim Virkler; ©2011 A popular current scientific buzz is an imaginative concept called the “multiverse” which posits that at the Big Bang multiple universes may have been generated. Perhaps, some scientists say, the number of universes is infinite. Some scientists hypothesize our own universe may possess all the “just right” requirements for life because…
Read MoreWhat Kind of World?
By: Jim Virkler; ©2011 How does the physical operation of Planet Earth’s systems and our cosmos fulfill God’s higher purpose? Do Earth’s physical systems and Earth’s life forms operate according to the foreknowledge of an infinite, omniscient God? Since the Fall of Adam in the Garden of Eden, are we operating under God’s “Plan B?”…
Read MoreSystem Breakdown
By: Jim Virkler; ©2011 “It’s a wonder more things don’t go wrong; It’s amazing anyone stays healthy five minutes!” This was the observation of my brother, my only sibling, who recently suffered a significant stroke. This profound insight does not diminish the lingering stroke symptoms, but it does help us put the wonder of our…
Read MoreContending for the Faith
By: Jim Virkler; ©2011 The brother of Jesus Christ wrote a one-chapter epistle in which he urges believers to “contend earnestly for the faith” (Jude 1:3 NASB). My personal preference for the translation of this verse comes from Eugene Peterson’s The Message: “I have to write insisting—begging!—that you fight with everything you have in you…
Read MoreRevelation vs. Reason
By: Jim Virkler; ©2011 Hymn time during a recent Sunday morning worship service featured “By Faith,” a popular new song by Keith and Kristin Getty. Verse 1 begins “By faith we see the hand of God in the light of creation’s grand design.” The subject of faith juxtaposed with creation’s grand design in only one…
Read MoreAsk The Birds
By: Jim Virkler; ©2011 “But now ask the beasts, and let them teach you; and the birds of the heavens, and let them tell you.” (Job 12:7 NASB) This unusual concept was a reply given by Job to his accuser, Zophar, who had proposed confidently that Job’s trials were punishment for his sins. Zophar and…
Read MoreSeasonal Rebirth
By: Jim Virkler; ©2011 A favorite question often asked is, “What is your favorite…?” Many deflect such a query with, “I like them all,” perhaps using the qualifier “for different reasons.” As autumn progresses in northern latitudes there is often trepidation at the approach of winter, sometimes fueled, as in the Midwestern US, by the…
Read MoreAttractive Belief Systems
By: Jim Virkler; ©2011 Blaise Pascal wrote “People almost invariably arrive at their beliefs not on the basis of proof but on the basis of what they find attractive.” William Dembski, intelligent design theorist, claims Pascal was “…not talking about people merely believing what they want to believe, as in wish fulfillment. Rather, he was…
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