Faith

Stole from Jenny who probably stole from someone else!!

A science professor begins his school year with a lecture to the students, "Let me explain the problem science has with religion." The atheist professor of philosophy pauses before his class and then asks one of his new students to stand.


"You're a Christian, aren't you, son?"

"Yes sir," the student says.


"So you believe in God?"

"Absolutely.
"

"Is God good?"

"Sure! God's good.
"

"Is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?"

"Yes.
"

"Are you good or evil?"

"The Bible says I'm evil.
"

The professor grins knowingly. "Aha! The Bible!" He considers for a moment. "Here's one for you. Let's say there's a sick person over here and you can cure him. You can do it.
Would you help him? Would you try?"

"Yes sir, I would.
"

"So you're good...!"

"I wouldn't say that.
"

"But why not say that? You'd help a sick and maimed person if you could. Most of us would if we could. But God doesn't.
"

The student does not answer, so the professor continues. "He doesn't, does he? My brother was a Christian who died of cancer, even though he prayed to Jesus to heal him.
How is this Jesus good? Hmmm? Can you answer that one?"

The student remains silent.


"No, you can't, can you?" the professor says. He takes a sip of water from a glass on his desk to give the student time to relax.


"Let's start again, young fella.
Is God good?"

"Er...yes," the student says.


"Is Satan good?"

The student doesn't hesitate on this one. "No.
"

"Then where does Satan come from?"

The student falters.
"From God"

"That's right. God made Satan, didn't he? Tell me, son.
Is there evil in this world?"

"Yes, sir.
"

"Evil's everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything, correct?"

"Yes.
"

"So who created evil?" The professor continued, "If God created everything, then God created evil, since evil exists, and according to the principle that our works define who we are, then God is evil.
"

Again, the student has no answer.
"Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things, do they exist in this world?"

The student squirms on his feet. "Yes.
"

"So who created them?"

The student does not answer again, so the professor repeats his question. "Who created them?" There is still no answer. Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace in front of the classroom. The class is mesmerized. "Tell me," he continues onto another student.
"Do you believe in Jesus Christ, son?"

The student's voice betrays him and cracks. "Yes, professor, I do.
"

The old man stops pacing. "Science says you have five senses you use to identify and observe the world around you.
Have you ever seen Jesus?"

"No sir. I've never seen Him.
"

"Then tell us if you've ever heard your Jesus?"

"No, sir, I have not.
"

"Have you ever felt your Jesus, tasted your Jesus or smelt your Jesus? Have you ever had any sensory perception of Jesus Christ, or God for that matter?"

"No, sir, I'm afraid I haven't.
"

"Yet you still believe in him?"

"Yes.
"

"According to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your God doesn't exist.
What do you say to that, son?"

"Nothing," the student replies. "I only have my faith.
"

"Yes, faith," the professor repeats. "And that is the problem science has with God. There is no evidence, only faith.
"

The student stands quietly for a moment, before asking a question of His own.
"Professor, is there such thing as heat?"

"Yes," the professor replies. "There's heat.
"

"And is there such a thing as cold?"

"Yes, son, there's cold too.
"

"No sir, there isn't.
"

The professor turns to face the student, obviously interested. The room suddenly becomes very quiet. The student begins to explain. "You can have lots of heat, even more heat, super-heat, mega-heat, unlimited heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat, but we don't have anything called 'cold'. We can hit up to 458 degrees below zero, which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold; otherwise we would be able to go colder than the lowest -458 degrees.
"

"Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-458 F) is the total absence of heat. You see, sir, cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat we can measure in thermal units because heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.
"

Silence across the room. A pen drops somewhere in the classroom, sounding like a hammer.


"What about darkness, professor.
Is there such a thing as darkness?"

"Yes," the professor replies without hesitation.
"What is night if it isn't darkness?"

"You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is not something; it is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light, but if you have no light constantly you have nothing and it's called darkness, isn't it? That's the meaning we use to define the word.
"

"In reality, darkness isn't.
If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn't you?"

The professor begins to smile at the student in front of him. This will be a good semester.
"So what point are you making, young man?"

"Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed to start with, and so your conclusion must also be flawed.
"

The professor's face cannot hide his surprise this time.
"Flawed? Can you explain how?"

"You are working on the premise of duality," the student explains. "You argue that there is life and then there's death; a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought.
"

"It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life, just the absence of it.
"

"Now tell me, professor.
Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?"

"If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, young man, yes, of course I do.
"

"Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?"

The professor begins to shake his head, still smiling, as he realizes where the argument is going. A very good semester, indeed.


"Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you now not a scientist, but a preacher?"

The class is in uproar. The student remains silent until the commotion has subsided.


"To continue the point you were making earlier to the other student, let me give you an example of what I mean.
"

The student looks around the room. "Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the professor's brain?" The class breaks out into laughter.


"Is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor's brain, felt the professor's brain, touched or smelt the professor's brain? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, with all due respect, sir.
"

"So if science says you have no brain, how can we trust your lectures, sir?"

Now the room is silent. The professor just stares at the student, his face unreadable.


Finally, after what seems an eternity, the old man answers. "I guess you'll have to take them on faith.
"

"Now, you accept that there is faith, and, in fact, faith exists with life," the student continues.
"Now, sir, is there such a thing as evil?"

Now uncertain, the professor responds, "Of course, there is. We see it everyday. It is in the daily example of man's inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil.
"

To this the student replied, "Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God's love present in his heart. It's like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light.
"

The professor sat down

Crib Recall

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssConsumerGoodsAndRetailNews/idUSN1341652820090113

Baby cribs recalled. Make sure you don't have this crib in your home. That's all for now!! Keep those babies out there safe!!!!

Weight Loss Journey

Did you know that what you eat and when you eat can affect the way you feel when you exercise? Exercising is hard enough as it is, I want to make sure I do whatever I can to make it a more enjoyable experience.

If you eat too much before your workout, it can make you feel tired or actually upset your stomach. This is because your muscles and your digestive system have to compete with each other for your energy resources. And if you don’t eat enough before your workout, this causes low blood sugar levels that can make you feel faint and tired.

If you want to get the most from your workout:

*Eat a healthy breakfast. If you plan to exercise within an hour after breakfast, eat a smaller meal or have a sports drink.

*Time your meals based on their size. Have your large meals three to four hours before you exercise. You can have small meals two to three hours before exercising.

*Do not skip meals. It can cause low blood sugar which will make you feel lightheaded. If you have no time before you workout and your choice is nothing or candy, eat the candy because it will improve your performance. Your best bet, however, is a banana or yogurt…

*Eat after you workout. You need to eat a meal that is high in protein and carbohydrates after you workout, preferably within two hours. It will replace your glycogen stores. Women especially need to eat after resistance training.

So, there you have it. If you are struggling with your workout, take a look at what you are eating before and afterwards. Your performance depends a lot on your food intake!

retrieved from the world wide web @ http://shrinkingjeans.net/ on 1/09/2009

I'm starting a new weight loss journey which I will be blogging about here to help myself and anyone else who wants to join in with me!! Hope this helps.

Starting weight-:( 185 :(
final goal weight- :) 140 :)
month 1 goal- 5 lbs
plan- replace soda with water
cut food portions by 1/3
take a brisk 30-45 min walk/day

If anyone wants to journal their weight loss with me. Just message me so I can keep up with you. I need some inspiration so everybody jump on board!!

This is my twin sister Jenny who is waaayy better than me!! Check it out!!

I'm not great, but I love to sing so here you go!!

Ungrateful

I'm sitting here at my computer looking at my new little blog setup and reading a few of the blogs that I follow, and I find myself thinking about a woman who's blog I have been keeping up with for some time.  I don't know her and she doesn't know me, but I found her from a website that I was on while I was pregnant with my daughter Avianna.  This woman has been trying for nearly three years to become pregnant and is still in the process.  She is such an inspiration to me.  She knows that all things are in the hands of God and she has such faith in him and what he will bring to her.  Every time I read one of her blogs I think how I would love to be like her.  I think she would be a great friend as well.  Anyways the point that I'm making is that I find myself complaining sometimes about such nonsense.  I struggle with my faith thinking that God has forgotten me and that I'm in such pitiful shape.  I don't know why I feel this way.  When I really sit down and think about it I'm as blessed as any person could be.  I have a loving husband that I have been married to for 7 years.  I have three beautiful kids.  I have a job.  My husband has a job.  We have a home, and we put food on the table and clothes on our children's backs.  What do I possibly have to complain about.  Sure we're super broke all the time, but these days who isn't?  I want so much to be like this woman and have no lack in faith but I just can't find mine.  I pray all the time that God will give me the faith I need, but I'm not sure if he's listening right now.  I haven't been to church in a couple of months.  For the most part because of my injuries during my fall chasing the little one, a little bit because I'm terrified of getting out of the house with all three little ones and having to try to chase one of them with my messed up knee.  I have three children and only two hands.  I can only do so much.  I'm ashamed to admit though that the rest is sheer laziness.  I would just rather stay at home in the bed.  Someone please tell me how to get past this.  I was raised in church my whole life and I believed as a child should believe, but the older I get the harder it gets.  I want to believe like a child again.  I don't want to question my faith.  I've seen so many people who are pulled back to God in times of tragedy and great need.  I don't want to have to go through great pain and grief to find my way.  Oh I don't know, I'm just rambling now.  Anyways to all those who know me and have been missing me at church.  I am going to try to get back soon.  Love you all.  Okay, I'm truly done blogging for the day.  Didn't realize I had so much to say.  Goodnight!!!

On another note!!

My poor poor Avi Grace...Last Thursday she started running a mid grade fever.  Throughout the night it got quite a bit higher.  I took her to the doctor's office on Friday and they said that she had a sinus infection.  They prescribed her amoxicillan.  Well apparently she is allergic.  Yesterday she started breaking out and today it looks even worse. Her little head is covered and her back and belly look terrible.  She hasn't slept well in days.  She actually is taking a fairly good nap right now...*shock*....anyways bless her heart she has just felt down right awful.  Her sinuses seem to be getting better though.  Onto other things.... In case there is anyone who didn't know.  I started homeschooling Kollin.  He has fairly extreme ADHD and his motor skills are a little behind.  He is a smart child, but he can not make himself focus on anything even in his speech therapy when it is just him, one other child, and his speech teacher.  This gives him a really hard time in the classroom.  It gives his teacher a really hard time too.  I'm afraid that he struggles making friends and in fact one kid in his class threatened to come shoot him and his family.  Think I didn't throw a holy fit!!!  Anyways, after that I said enough is enough I want him home where I can deal with him and give him one on one time until he is a little older and a little more mature and is able to deal with his difficulties a little more effectively.  He still gets to go to the school and receive his speech therapy there.  I was thankful for that because I was really concerned about that.  He doesn't have pronunciation problems he has a comprehension problem.  He uses a lot of his words wrong and he has a hard time with understanding commands that have too much instruction.  For example If you tell him to touch the fish tank, he has no problem with it, but if you tell him to touch the table that is behind the fish tank he will probably still just touch the fish tank.  Were working on it though and I hope that he will grow to become a well adjusted man one day.  He is one of the sweetest kids I know.  He loves on me like crazy and I just adore him.  Hunter is a rotten little devil...he's funny.  He gets great thrill out of saying no.  Mind you he is only three.  His newest thing is no no no...I'm sure you can imagine exactly how he says it too.  He also gets great thrill out of holding out on kisses.  He thinks it's a game.  If you ask him for love he says a very short no and then laughs.  If you just tell him you love him and kiss on him, he'll kiss back, but don't ask because then it becomes a control issue.  Hunter is having speech difficulties as well.  A lot of that stems from hearing issues.  He had to have tubes put in his ears due to lots of ear infections and he also failed his hearing test.  He passed it recently because of the tubes, but it has put his speech fairly behind, and he is going to start speech therapy soon himself.  I pray Avianna will not have these same issues, but if she does we'll just keep trucking along.  Well I think I have significantly updated on my kiddos and I really don't have much of a life besides them, so goodbye for now!!! 

Authority

Grrr...ya know, I do realize that there must be authority figures at work, but for goodness sakes. It seems that some of the things that they come up with are just silly excuses for them to exert their "power". One of the new rules at my work is that we can no longer have a drink or snack in our work area at all...okay I can understand that one we do work in the public eye so I really do get it, but now they want us to have absolutely no personal items in our work station whatsoever....I mean why? I get no pics of the family. I work in a financial institution and I don't want to cause any threat to my family by having any would be robbers see their pics and try to kidnap them in order to make me cooperate with their wants, but they want no trinkets, no drawings from your children, no anything. It just seems as if they are trying to suck out anything that might possibly allow us to have any enjoyment while we are at work. Why? Is it really so terrible to think that we might have a happy thought while we are there. They fuss at us all day long about getting personal with our customers, but how can we do that when they are taking our personal away. That's basically what they are doing. It seems they are just finding any excuse they can to let us know that we are nothing and they are everything...gee thanks for that. Okay, I am now done with my rant...I don't normally fuss about my job, but that just irked me!!!!

SUPERMOM

I found out not too long ago that I was a true Mommy. Not just a woman who carried babies in her belly, but a true loving Mother. Now this may sound silly to some, I mean who doesn't assume that they are? Well I didn't assume otherwise........well why do you feel the need to state it now, you may ask! Well as some of you may know. Not long ago, about three months ago actually, my middle son Hunter, who is three, decided that he wanted to check the mail. So while we are standing on the poarch he decides to take off down the stairs and runs for the road...low and behold what do I hear? You guessed it...it was a car coming around the curve. Oh, the fear I felt in my heart. I have never been so scared in my whole life. I ran after that little boy as fast as my feet would take me...mind you this is quite down hill....well, I was running so hard that when my right leg hit the road the impact was so hard that I felt waves go up my leg and my knee popped, after that I fell and rolled. I broke my elbow, misplaced the cartilidge in my knee, bashed my head against the pavement nearly passing out and had tons of road rash. The car did get stopped and my son was okay, but I have to tell you....that was the worst thing I have ever been through in my whole life. The reason that I say that I am a true Mommy is the sacrifice that I was willing to make. I mean everybody assumes that they would give up their lives to save their children, but you never really know until you're put in the situation. That day, when I stepped into the road, I truly believed I was going to die. I thought that Hunter was going to die and I thought that I was going to die. I just knew we were going to be run over, but I had to try. I always thought that yes I would die for my children, but I always wondered if when the time came I would be able to do it. The answer is yes. I'm no perfect mom...there are usually dishes in my sink. My carpets are as nasty and filthy as they come. I mean if you want to come visit me at my home, you would truly need to give me like a week to clean up. I am normally no super mom, but that day I was. It is a good feeling to know what you are truly capable of doing when put to the test.