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The God Particle

Scientists fear space and time could fly apart if too much energy is applied to the Higgs Boson, considered to be the fundamental basis for matter. Could this happen?

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[Darris McNeely] An article came across my desk this morning that said that it could be possible for space and time to collapse if a particular particle called the Higgs boson had too much energy applied to it. Interesting concept, the idea that the universe would collapse because of time and space just simply disappearing if too much energy took place on something that is called the "God Particle". Everyone's favorite physicist Stephen Hawking wrote a introduction to a new book that's coming out in few weeks that is talking once again about this particular piece of energy or matter that was predicted, and a few years ago was actually found, called the Higgs boson.
Now, this is a very interesting term – don't get scared, it's such a unknown term, the Higgs boson – but what the Higgs boson really is, in essence, is the very fabric of energy that holds together the universe. That's about as simply as I can put it. Scientists believe that at the moment of the Big Bang, when the universe came into existence, energy and mass were created and held together by something that they call this particular Higgs boson or what it has been more popularly called, the God Particle – the very fabric of space, of matter, that they predicted would be there a few years ago. And again, in 2012, because of a huge machine that they built over in Switzerland that applied a great deal of energy to electrons – and a great force field was created – they actually proved that it existed. Now, Professor Hawking is saying that if too much energy were applied to it, that it could get out of control and space and time would collapse.
It's a fascinating subject and topic, as is the study of cosmology, and what scientists do know about our universe and are discovering almost every day with articles like this. You know, one of the things that can put the fear into a headline – and people perhaps don't have a combination of reason and faith as their foundation – is that what if something like this did happen? What if scientists got out of control and just ripped the fabric of the universe apart. Is it possible?
Well, I suppose theoretically, according to their formulas, it could be possibly done as well as so many other drastic scenarios that they predict will eventually happen as the universe expands to a point where something else more drastic will happen, but that's where, quite frankly, the matter of faith comes in, and those who do believe that there is a Creator God behind this universe can take great comfort and encouragement, as well as design and understanding, in what God does say about His role in the creation of the universe and also keeping it together because that's really what this is all about here – the idea of, can man by his own efforts destroy the universe? Don't worry; we can't.
In Hebrews:1:3Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;, it makes a statement about God: "who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high" – speaking of Jesus Christ, "who upholds all things by His power." Something that science hasn't yet discovered is that power by which God does uphold all things. We don't need to worry that some unknown force or energy – something that science calls the God Particle, or Higgs boson – if put into an unstable state, would destroy the universe. We don't need to worry about that. God is in control, just as He was when it was all created. That's encouraging and that's comforting.
That's BT Daily . Join us next time.

Society's Five Rotten Apples: Part 2 - A Pill Without a Prayer

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Society's Five Rotten Apples: Part 2 - A Pill Without a Prayer

article by Mario Seiglie





Again we ask: Why is the world the way it is? What’s shaped our society and the kind of people we are? We’ve come up with all kinds of great things, like technology, medicine and governing constitutions. But the way we live is only getting worse and worse. Why?







Source: sxc.hu/MattoxAs if society’s first three rotten apples of Marxist communism, Darwinian evolution and Freudian psychology weren’t enough (read Part 1: Bad Philosophy and Corrupt Theories ), here are two more bad apples that have corrupted the hearts and minds of modern youth.



Society’s rotten apple #4: the sexual revolution by way of “the pill”

The birth control pill, invented in the United States in the 1950s, was approved for contraceptive use in the country in 1960. Before “the pill,” most women were afraid of having sex before marriage. After its availability, it became a cheap and convenient way to avoid pregnancy. And it helped launch the sexual revolution of the 1960s in much of the world.



In the wake of that immoral revolution, and in spite of the birth control pill, there are more unwanted pregnancies than ever before.



A recent news story titled “Out-of-Wedlock Births Society’s ‘New Normal’” pointed out some startling findings: “More children are now being born outside of marriage, according to a new study by the National Marriage Project and the Institute for American Values. The report focuses on what it calls ‘middle-America,’ the nearly 60 percent of Americans who complete high school but not college. Among that group, 44 percent of children are now born outside of marriage. That’s up from 13 percent in the 1980s. ‘America is at a tipping point, with unwed childbearing threatening to become a new norm,’ study co-author Brad Wilcox said. Research shows children born or raised outside of marriage are more likely to suffer from a range of social and emotional problems” (CBN News, Dec. 18, 2012).



This is not to say that contraception is wrong, as perhaps practiced by married couples in trying to determine when they have children. The problem lies in using a method of avoiding consequences as license to commit sexual immorality. We see the same problem with the promotion of other methods of contraception and protection from sexually transmissible diseases today.



The fact is, immorality eventually catches up with individuals and societies that condone and indulge in it.



Society’s rotten apple #5: the banning of school prayer

In 1961 the U.S. Supreme Court made the decision to ban prayer from American public schools. This idea has also spread around most of the world.



Randall Price, an archaeologist and religious writer, recently commented in his newsletter about the impact of this watershed decision and the 1973 decision to legalize abortion:



“These decisions affected our society’s moral consciousness . . . by making humanism the only religion sanctioned in the public education system and demeaning the value of human life. Over the years since these anti-values became a part of our national values, we have witnessed degeneration in our society, especially with our youth who never knew other values once were accepted and practiced under the law in our nation. We have also witnessed the government and the private sector increasing[ly] apply these anti-values in ways and to an extent that may never have been envisioned by the justices that rendered their original decisions (such as prayer and the mention of God at commencements and sports events and expressions of public faith . . .).



“However, while expressions of Christian values are prohibited or denounced, these anti-values are marketed wholesale through the entertainment industry (movies, TV, and video games) that saturates our culture with trivial violence and death, creating the illusion that wanton murder is just a game and the hero is the one with the ‘baddest’ weapons! This was one of the traits of the young man who murdered the teachers and children in Connecticut” (“What’s Wrong With Our Country?” World of the Bible News & Views, Winter 2012, p. 21).



As it often has after terrible tragedies like the school killings in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012, the following fictional letter exchange between a student and God made the internet rounds. It begins with a question: “Dear God, Why do you allow so much violence in our schools? Signed, a concerned student.” And this is the reply: “Dear Concerned Student, I’m not allowed in schools. —God."



Former governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee stated it well when he said: “We ask why there is violence in our schools but we’ve systematically removed God from our schools. Should we be so surprised that schools would become a place of carnage?” (interview on Fox News, Dec. 14, 2012).



Indeed, the expulsion of God from schools was followed by an accelerated rise in all manner of societal ills.



Sorting out the rotten apples

It’s important to realize that these five “rotten apples” have affected society in a profound way—their toxic corruption permeating it throughout.



The Bible describes the last generation before Jesus Christ returns to earth, and it’s not a pleasant picture. It should be obvious that these “rotten apples” have much to do with this.



Notice the apostle Paul’s prophecy of what things would be like: “You must understand this: In the last days there will be violent periods of time. People will be selfish and love money. They will brag, be arrogant, and use abusive language. They will curse their parents, show no gratitude, have no respect for what is holy, and lack normal affection for their families. They will refuse to make peace with anyone. They will be slanderous, lack self-control, be brutal, and have no love for what is good. They will be traitors. They will be reckless and conceited. They will love pleasure rather than God” (2 Timothy 3:1-4 [1] This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

[2] For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

[3] Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

[4] Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;





See All..., God’s Word Translation).



Doesn’t this define the world we live in today? Read the news or watch TV. The lack of moral and spiritual values is glaring.



So what can we do about it? The answer is: We can’t change society, but we can change ourselves—and even more so with God’s help.



Paul said it well in another passage: “So then, my friends, because of God’s great mercy to us I appeal to you: Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him . . . Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God—what is good and is pleasing to him and is perfect” (Romans 12:1-2 [1] I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

[2] And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.





See All..., Good News Bible).



Throw out the rotten apples. Learn the truth about the incredible future God has planned for you by reading our free booklet What Is Your Destiny? From your heart and mind follow God’s ways—the true values—and reject the “anti-values” of this present, evil world.

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Changes in Christian Scholars' Perspective on God's Law

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Changes in Christian Scholars' Perspective on God's Law
Regard for God's law in mainstream Christianity has been remarkably inconsistent since the Protestant Reformation. On the one hand, the Ten Commandments have been considered the greatest moral law mankind has ever known. On the other hand, they have usually been regarded as too inconsequential or arbitrary to be obligatory for Christians.
These contradictory views of God's commandments became evident in the 16th century with the theological differences between Martin Luther and John Calvin, the principal founders of Protestant theology.
Calvin believed Christians should keep the Ten Commandments, even though he bowed to tradition by substituting the first day of the week for the seventh day in the Fourth Commandment. Calvin's view, though popular in past centuries, steadily lost ground during the 20th century.
Today most Christian denominations reflect, at least in practice, Luther's view toward the commandments of God. Luther incorrectly assumed that the apostle Paul had rejected the authority of the Old Testament just as Luther had rejected the authority of the Catholic hierarchy of his day. But Luther's perception of Paul's teachings was inaccurate.
Luther saw that Paul taught salvation by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8). But Luther took this teaching one step too far, and therein lies the source of his colossal error that later shaped the views of hundreds of millions of people around the world.
He taught that salvation is by faith alone. By this he meant that laws in the Old Testament, including the Ten Commandments, are not binding on Christians. He taught that a simple belief in Christ is sufficient for salvation—that faith alone is all that is necessary. As a result, Luther pitted the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments against each other. James D.G. Dunn, Lightfoot professor of divinity at the University of Durham, England, explains that Luther's first incorrect assumption was that Paul's personal experience in Judaism was identical to his own experience in the Catholicism of his day. Luther incorrectly assumed Paul was troubled by his personal relationship to God's law.
Dunn then explains: "The trouble with all this is that when Paul speaks explicitly of his own experience before he became a Christian there is nothing of all of this . . . In Philippians 3:6 he states quite simply that prior to his conversion he regarded himself as 'blameless as regards righteousness within the law.' In other words, there is no indication or hint of a period of guilt-ridden anxiety [in Paul], like that suffered by Luther."
"The second assumption Luther made," continues Dunn, "was that the Judaism of Paul's time was just like the mediaeval Catholicism of Luther's day, at least so far as the teaching about God's justice and justification were concerned. The second assumption was natural, given the first. If Paul had made the same discovery of faith as Luther, then he must also have been reacting against the same misunderstanding as Luther" (The Justice of God, 1994, pp. 13-14).
As a result of these inaccurate assumptions, Luther concluded that Christ's death abolished the laws of God in the Old Testament. He mistakenly deduced that Paul taught the same thing.
But that was not what Paul believed or taught. During the past 30 years Paul's obedience to the teachings of the Old Testament Scriptures have been categorically confirmed by many Christian and Jewish scholars.
Here are some comments from scholars on this subject from Removing Anti-Judaism from the Pulpit (edited by Howard Kee, emeritus professor of biblical studies at Boston University, and Irvin Borowsky, chairman of the American Interfaith Institute, 1996).
John T. Pawlikowski, a professor at the Catholic Theological Union of Social Ethics, Chicago, says: "The claimed total opposition to Torah [Old Testament teachings] which theologians, especially in the Protestant churches, frequently made the basis for their theological contrast between Christianity and Judaism (freedom/ grace vs. Law) now appears to rest on something less than solid ground" (p. 32). Also: "It is now becoming increasingly apparent to biblical scholars that the lack of a deep immersion into the spirit and content of the Hebrew Scriptures leaves the contemporary Christian with a truncated version of Jesus' message. In effect, what remains is an emasculated version of biblical spirituality" (p. 31, emphasis added throughout).
Robert J. Daly, professor of theology and a Jesuit priest, tells us, "Expressed bluntly from the Christian perspective, to be anti-Jewish is to be anti-Christian" (p. 52).
Frederick Holmgren, research professor of Old Testament at a Chicago seminary, explains the significance of the discoveries of these scholars: "Despite Jesus' conflict with some interpreters of his day, both Jewish and Christian scholars see him as one who honored and followed the Law." Holmgren also explains that "Jesus embraced the Torah of Moses; he came not to end it but to fulfill it (Matt. 5:17)—to carry its teachings forward. Further, to those who came to him seeking eternal life, he held it up as the essential teaching to be observed (Luke 10:25-28)" (p. 72).
These and other Christian scholars are changing their views of the status of God's laws in New Testament. One cannot help but hope that many others will be encouraged by their example to change their prejudices against obeying the Ten Commandments. However, it is most unlikely this understanding will be widely believed and accepted because "the sinful mind is hostile to God" and "does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so" (Romans 8:7, NIV).

'The LORD Our God Is One'

From http://www.el-paso.ucg.org/

'The LORD Our God Is One'
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!" This simple declaration by Moses in Deuteronomy 6:4 has caused considerable consternation to many who try to understand who and what God is.
Reading here that God is one, most Jews for centuries have ruled out the possibility that Jesus of Nazareth could be the Son of God, on the same divine plane as God the Father.
Early Catholic theologians, reading the same verse, struggled to formulate in the doctrine of the Trinity a God consisting of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, who were all distinct persons yet at the same time a single triune God.
How, then, should we understand this verse?
One of the primary principles for understanding the Bible is that we must consider all the scriptures on a subject. Only then will we come to a complete and accurate understanding of the matter.
Other biblical passages clearly tell us that two distinct individuals, the Father and Jesus Christ the Son, are both God (Hebrews 1:8; John 1:1, 14). Therefore we should consider whether this verse is commenting on the numerical oneness of God, or something else entirely.
The Hebrew word translated "one" in Deuteronomy 6:4 is echad. Its meanings include the number one, but also such associated meanings as "one and the same," "as one man, together [unified]," "each, every," "one after another" and "first [in sequence or importance]" (Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, 1951, p. 25). It can also be rendered "alone," as the NRSV translates it here (William Holladay, A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, 1972, p. 9). The exact meaning is best determined by context.
In this case, several interpretations could be both grammatically correct and consistent with other biblical statements.
In Deuteronomy 6:4 Moses may have simply been telling the Israelites that the true God, their God, was to be first—the highest priority—in their hearts and minds. The young nation had risen from slavery in a culture in which the Egyptians deified many gods, and they were poised to enter a land whose inhabitants were steeped in worship of many supposed gods and goddesses of fertility, rain, war, journeys, etc. Through Moses, God sternly warned the Israelites of the dangers of abandoning Him to follow other gods.
This interpretation—that God is to be the Israelites' first priority—is strongly supported by the context. In the very next verse Moses continues, "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength."
This passage is at the heart of a several-chapters-long discussion of the benefits and blessings of wholeheartedly following God and avoiding the idolatrous practices of the people whom they would drive out of the Promised Land. Jesus Himself quoted Deuteronomy 6:4-5 as the "first and great commandment" in the law (Mark 12:28-30; Matthew 22:36-38).
The translation "alone" fits this context as well. That is, the true God was to be Israel's God alone; the Israelites were to have no other.
Another view of this passage is based on the root word from which echad is derived, achad. This word means "to unify" or "go one way or other" (Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible). In other words, echad can also mean in unity or a group united as one.
In several verses echad clearly has the meaning of more than one person united as a group. In Genesis 11:6 God says of those building the tower of Babel, "Indeed the people are one [echad] . . ." In Genesis 2:24 He says, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one [echad] flesh."
When we read of a large group of people being one or a man and wife becoming one flesh in marital union, we understand that multiple individuals are involved. We do not assume that separate individuals, though united in spirit and purpose, have physically merged to become a single being.
God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son are clearly of one mind and purpose. Jesus said of His mission, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work" and ". . . I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me" (John 4:34; 5:30).
Describing Their relationship, Jesus said, "I and My Father are one" (John 10:30). Christ prayed that His followers, both then and in the future, would be unified in mind and purpose just as He and the Father were. "I do not pray for these [disciples] alone," He said, "but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us . . ." (John 17:20-21).
No matter which translation we accept—whether "The LORD our God, the LORD is first," "The LORD is our God, the LORD alone," or "The LORD our God, the LORD is one!"—none limits God to a singular Being. And, in light of the scriptures we've seen and others, it is clear that God is a plurality of Beings—a plurality in unity. In other words, God the Father and Jesus the Son form a family perfect in its unity.