Thursday, December 19, 2013

The Book of Mormon


In case any of you were on the fence about whether to see The Book of Mormon or not, I have an excerpt from a review that will make any born-again Christian's blood curdle. Please read the last paragraph, as I don't even want to repeat what it reveals.

Excerpt from Lauren Yarger's review, New York theater critic...

If you are a Mormon and your religion and its history are important to you, stay home—there isn’t any part of it that isn’t mocked. Protestants aren’t immune either, even if this is the Book of Mormon. Jesus has a cameo. He calls one of the missionaries a derogatory name, and the crucifixion is depicted in a song as an example of “manning up.”
Probably the most difficult part of the show for me was a song called “Nasa Diga Eebowai,” in which the villagers express their philosophy of life. Translated, it means “F*** You, God,” and the rest of the lyrics are even worse. It wasn’t funny to me, and I did feel offended as the actors repeatedly sang the chorus while gesturing to the heavens with their middle fingers to the utter delight of an audience that roared with laughter.

Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O LORD, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name. -Psalms 74:18


Wednesday, December 18, 2013

The Book Of Mormon Review continues...


It has been brought to my attention that my criticism of the blasphemy in The Book of Mormon was out of context. Apparently the people in the play saying and gesturing to our Creator the most blatant rejection imaginable were Ugandan natives sought out by Mormon missionaries. My response was that it was wrong in ANY context where people are being that incredibly blasphemous among onlookers roaring with laughter. You wouldn't catch me at this show to save my life.  
Here is where it gets even worse…the person correcting me said that he came out of the show with a good message: That it doesn't matter what religion you are in as long as you are a good person and live a good life. YIKES! The show is even worse than I thought. I wish it would have left off as just a blatant rejection to God's saving grace. Instead it had to sneak in the greatest lie ever told - that being good gets you to heaven.
It is not our good works but the one great work of Jesus that sets us free. If it were not true, he would not have told us so!
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. -Ephesians 2:8-9

Lastly I would like to point out that I by no means mean to judge any one of you who have chosen or will choose to go see the play. I am just warning those who may be offended if they go. Apparently, even though "God's favorite musical" (NOT!) has been out for several years, there is such a high ticket demand for it that it will be running through September! 

Sunday, December 1, 2013

There's an Ocean Deep Inside the Earth - Is this News?

Every once in a while you run into a piece of news that just makes you smile. This article put out just over two weeks ago did just that for me. They have found a diamond that looks to prove that there is a large body of water under the earth. I’m afraid these scientists are ‘at sea’, and have yet to read Exodus 20:4. In another article (http://your-story.org/new-found-water-deep-beneath-earths-surface-mean-future-water-supplies-412884/)  Graham Pearson commented on the look of the gem and said that “It’s a fairly ugly diamond. It looks like it’s been to hell and back.” That’s probably because it has! And their last comment amuses as well… "And now we can imagine oceans beneath the oceans, where fantasy beings could exist.” As for me, in obedience to Exodus 20:5, I will leave these fantasy beings alone!

God Bless all of us!

Tamara

"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;" -Exodus 20:4&5
THERE'S AN OCEAN DEEP INSIDE THE EARTH
This story came from Motherboard, our tech website. Read more at Motherboard.tv. Ringwoodite was found within this tiny brown diamond. Image: Richard Siemens/University of Alberta
In what sounds like a chapter from Journey to the Center of the Earth, the chemical makeup of a tiny, extremely rare gemstone has made researchers think there's a massive water reservoir hundreds of miles under the earth.
The gemstone in question is called ringwoodite, which is created when olivine, a material that is extremely common in the mantle, is highly pressurized; when it’s exposed to less pressurized environments, it reverts into olivine. It has previously been seen in meteorites and created in a laboratory, but until now it had never been found in a sample of the earth’s mantle. 
Diamond expert Graham Pearson of the University of Alberta came across a seemingly worthless, three-millimeter piece of brown diamond that had been found in Mato Grosso, Brazil, while he was researching another type of mineral. Within that diamond, he and his team found ringwoodite—and they found that roughly 1.5 percent of the ringwoodite’s weight was made up of trapped water. The findings are published in Nature.
That water had to get in there somehow, and using analyses of its depth and its water makeup, Pearson suggests that there's water deep under the earth's surface—a lot of it. 
The finding “confirms predictions from high-pressure laboratory experiments that a water reservoir comparable in size to all the oceans combined is hidden deep in Earth’s mantle,” according to an analysis of Pearson’s findings by Hans Keppler of the University of Bayreuth in Germany. 
The earth’s crust, including the deepest parts of the oceans, reach depths of roughly 100 kilometers. From there, the upper mantle takes up about another 300 kilometers. Between there and the lower mantle is where this piece of ringwoodite was originally from—an area between 410 and 660 kilometers beneath the earth’s surface known as the “transition zone.” 
Scientists have long been divided about what, exactly, is in the transition zone. We’ve known that much of the upper mantle is made up of olivine, and as Keppler said, scientists have long thought that Earth contained reservoirs of water deep beneath the crust. But they weren’t sure whether the water existed as low as the transition zone—the area between the upper and lower mantles. While some say that much of the oceans’ water may have originated there, others have said it is likely completely dry.
Image via University of Alberta
Pearson’s finding changes that. In the paper, he says that there are two possible explanations for water within the ringwoodite.
“In one, water within the ringwoodite reflects inheritance from a hydrous, diamond-forming fluid, from which the inclusion grew as a syngenetic phase. In this model, the hydrous fluid must originate locally, from the transition zone, because there is no evidence that the lower mantle contains a significant amount of water,” he wrote. Essentially, the extreme pressure and chemical makeup at those depths spontaneously creates water. 
“Alternatively, the ringwoodite is ‘protogenetic,’ that is, it was present before encapsulation by the diamond and its water content reflects that of the ambient transition zone," Pearson wrote. In that model, the water and the ringwoodite are already there, and the ringwoodite absorbs some of the water. Either way you slice it, there is a lot of water in the transition zone: “Both models implicate a transition zone that is at least locally water-rich,” he wrote.
So how does a piece of ringwoodite that’s from at least 410 miles beneath the surface get up to a riverbed in Brazil? According to Keppler—and the fact that Pearson was looking for volcanic rocks—suggests that something, probably a volcanic eruption, quickly pushed it up to the surface. It was just a coincidence that Pearson was able to analyze it before the ringwoodite turned back into its non pressurized form. 
“It was a piece of luck, this discovery, as are many scientific discoveries,” Pearson said. 
And now we can imagine oceans beneath the oceans, where fantasy beings could exist.


Thursday, February 14, 2013

The Gospel of Saint John


Among the diverse jobs I have been blessed to have held over the years was being a sketch artist at Cedar Point, the 'Best Amusement Park in the World'. Frequently, customers would ask the cashier to draw their caricature. Her response was always, "I'm just Joni, the cashier". Joni became endearingly known to us as "Just Joni". Ironically, she was one of the most creative of all of us. I would bet that her caricatures would have illustrated more insight into who people really were than any of our artist's renditions did. 

There is a Christian song that plays on the radio that has in it the lyrics, I'll give you the Gospel of St. John. Hits me like a wake up bomb. My initial thought when I heard it was, "Just John? What's the deal with his Gospel? I thought Paul was our guy, not to mention Jesus! " As God would have it, our Bible study recently announced that it was moving on to the inspired writing of John. I couldn't wait until the study to read it, so I didn't. 

Apparently, John knew a few things about opening statements…his grabs you by the collar and pulls you right in! He writes in John 1:1, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The word was God…that takes my breath away! This makes sense. How many times has a verse that previously meant nothing to us suddenly make perfect sense? What about when we stumble instantly upon a verse we weren't even sure we were looking for, yet it answers a question we didn't even ask yet desperately needed to?  And isn't it breathtaking when we can quote a verse and name it when we cannot even remember such things as the name of our favorite song?

After reading just John's first verse, I had to find out more about the author. John, one of the first apostles chosen, was the only apostle who was at the cross with Jesus. He was a loyal friend who Jesus loved, and entrusted to care for His beloved mother. When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! (John  19:26) John was the last apostle to die and the only one that was not murdered. 

So many of the verses that believers and unbelievers alike are most familiar with are from our Apostle John. Here are a few of them…

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6) 

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. (John 8:12)

I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. (John 10:11) 

This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:12-13)

And then there is this verse, if you are in your lifetime to read only one… For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)
What a blessing God's vessel John was to us. He preached the Gospel again and again into his nineties with so much vigor that the Roman emperor exiled him to an island called Patmos to quiet him. But God was not finished with him yet. This is where He gave John the great prophecy mystery, what is now the last book of the New Testament. The Revelation of Jesus Christ…Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy…And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. (Revelation) 

It is by no means my recommendation to read only a portion of the Bible. In fact, not only should we read it in it's entirety, but study it in depth. Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15) In fact we are even encouraged to become addicted! I beseech you, brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints) (1 Corinthians 16:15) In any event, if you are one of many who do not have the patience or time to spend reading God's word (or are simply too bullheaded to fit it in, like I was) just John will give you the gist.

Please remember, BIBLE BAIT is written by a novice Bible study student, not a Bible scholar. If something doesn't look quite right to you, dig into God's word. The one thing I promise you is that you won't get bored! Many thanks to my friend Renee Driscoll, who helps me keep Bible Bait Biblically correct.

Blogger Alan Wilhelm said...
If it wasn't for God directing John to write the Book of Revelation we would be ignorant of the spiritual impact of national and int'l events today.
Additionally, Rev 1:19 is the key to the book of Revelation.
19 "Therefore write the THINGS which you have SEEN, and the THINGS which ARE, and the THINGS which will TAKE PLACE AFTER these things.

thank you Tamara and thank you Apostle John.
Bearcat al
January 1, 2013 3:19 PM
 Delete 


Monday, January 28, 2013

How do I get to Heaven?


Have you ever wondered what God really wants of us in order to live out our eternity with Him? Sure, He wants us to be good people, but there is nothing we can do good enough to get into heaven, and nothing we can do bad enough to keep us out! He wants us all to believe on and trust in His one true son, Jesus. Please take two minutes to watch this video of 20 people joyfully confessing "The Prayer of Salvation", or "The Sinner's Prayer", and another minute to pass it on to someone you love.

Click HERE or on IMAGE to view 2 minute video.

"Amazing Grace" by Josh Wilson and Jeff Pardo Copyright: 2009 Meaux Hits (ASCAP) / Simple Tense Songs (ASCAP) admin. by Simpleville Publishing, LLC. 2009 Sparrow Records. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Please remember, BIBLE BAIT is written by a novice Bible study student, not a Bible scholar. If something doesn't look quite right to you, dig into God's word. The one thing I promise you is that you won't get bored!