Talk About Love - Sixth chapter "What Is Truth"

“TALK ABOUT LOVE" All original ideas are Copyright of Richard R Sjaardema, 7/21/2010. (I, Richard R Sjaardema invite you to share and copy this material with Copyright notatation and without charge.)


(Pending table of contents)

1. WHY BOTHER TALKING

A. What Is Man

B. Thou Art Holy

C. Preparing For Celebration

2. KNOWING YOUR BELIEF

A. His Story Positioning

B. Word of God

C. What is Truth

3. UNDERSTANDING GOD’S LOVE

A. God’s Spiritual Gifts

B. God’s Greatest Gift

C. Beginning The Transformation

WHAT IS TRUTH

If you live around the Denver area long enough, you are bound to get to know at least one Rocket Scientist! I had the opportunity to work with one such brilliant man in Christian missions during the last years of his life. As is too often the case, we learn the most about a man in memory. In dedicating this chapter to this acquaintance, I can only hope to show honor to the man for his life well lived.

Having graduated from a local college, this man began a 37 year career with Martin Marietta which later became Lockheed Martin. His understanding and pioneering work in physics and advanced propulsion systems led various Achievement awards throughout his career. His team’s efforts succeeded in placing the Cassini Propulsion Module into orbit around Saturn in 2004 following slingshot maneuvers using the orbits of Earth, Venus and Jupiter to acquire the necessary velocity. His grasp of our universe was obviously beyond the average man’s realm of understanding.

As fate would have it, this man of God suffered a blood disorder through much of his life. In essence, his bone marrow could not replenish his blood cells resulting in the need for numerous blood transfusions to sustain his mortal existence. Given his scientific mind, this leader among men became involved with his doctor’s in developing treatments for his condition. Due to his development of a white blood cell separator, he also received a NASA Certificate of Recognition.

As a leader in His church, my friend loved our Creator God. He served faithfully as both a leader and a mentor. The blessings he bestowed on his family and acquaintances will be cherished for lifetimes. All who knew him realized that this man, who understood so many facets of our bodies and our universe, was left with no choice but to live in awe of an Almighty God. He could not imagine how a creation could exist without the Creator. In spite of his own personal trials, this man was humbled by God’s love for him and he could not help but shower that love upon all those he touched. His understanding of God is well represented in his favorite passage of scripture; Psalm 19:

“The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; yet their voice goes out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world.

In them he has set a tent for the sun, which comes forth like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and like a strong man runs its course with joy. Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them; and there is nothing hid from its heat.

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean enduring for ever; the ordinances of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.

Moreover by them is thy servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. But who can discern his errors? Clear thou me from hidden faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
The Heavens Declare

I’d like to pause here for a moment and thank you for putting up with me so far. I cannot express what a privilege it is to share these insights with you. As a businessman, I set a goal and the procedures I felt would be necessary to accomplish the task. Through my education, I learned how to organize my thoughts in outline form. Thus, I set a rough index before I began this book. Now, as I reach each designated chapter, I first of all am perplexed as to what I could possibly say that would have any merit to you the reader. I carry no fantastic credentials so as to expound on such deep subjects as to “What is Truth!” I am left to pray to God and ask for guidance, and allow you to be the judge of whether these thoughts touch your soul. Thus, I hope that the words I share carry with them the Love and touch of our Almighty God. I consider this a tremendous and humbling responsibility! I do not take it lightly and I request your forgiveness for any shortcomings where my humanity shines through and may become offensive. Although everything I could write could be debated, I hope for now, you will take it for what it is worth and investigate it or debate it later as you are able.

Psalm 19, quoted above is most often attributed to King David of the Israelites and was used by the choirmaster. The passage is often attacked by Bible critics who assume that if God inspired the words, David would have shown more understanding of earth’s positioning in relation to the sun and other celestial beings. However, I would argue again that the author wrote within his understanding of the time and that the writing was poetic in nature. If I were to equate the passage to growing thought today that reality does not exist and that there is no truth, I would have to applaud the author’s grasp of the matter. So, if I could be so bold, let me at least state that reality exists. That the cosmos which exhilarates our minds with all the mysteries and beauty man has appreciated and imagined for no less than thousands of years is actually there would be a great starting common ground. If we’re already in disagreement, I am sorry. The rest of us are moving on.

Second, the fact that mankind has been able to set foot on the moon and succeed in orbiting Saturn with a manmade propulsion unit would suggest that our universe, at least today has a great deal of order to it. The relative stability of our present reality allows the greatest minds of our day to study the celestial beings and forecast future events with reasonable certainty. Whether or not they would enlighten us with signs of impending doom remains for the movie makers and gloom reapers to manipulate our fragile minds.

Now, for those mechanically minded individuals who need to know how things work and want proof of the intelligent design, let me recommend a book by Kenneth D. Boa and Robert M. Bowman Jr. entitled “20 Compelling Evidences that God Exists” In chapter 5, pages 42-44, they will enthrall the inquisitive mind with the four basic forces in nature: “strong nuclear,” “weak nuclear,” “electromagnetic,” and “gravitational.” They share that if the expansion rate of the universe were less we would have experienced “the big crunch!” (Well, we wouldn’t have, but you understand.) If the expansion was greater, gravity would have had issues resulting in a major debris field. They cite Oxford Mathematician Roger Penrose’s study of information including the findings of the COBE satellite. In order for our existence in our universe, Roger calculated the allowable margin of error to be 1 in 10 to the 10123. (Roger Penrose, The Emperor’s New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds, and the laws of Physics, Forward by Martin Gardner (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989), 339-44.)

Now, I hope you’ll agree, that’s a (real) structured universe we’ve been given. Personally, I’d rather find inspiration in cloud patterns. However, therein lies a bit of chaos and more mystery, doesn’t it. The history of religiosity has seen God in the weather since time began. His wrath has been imagined in droughts. He has been encouraged to bring the rain through dance. He has been blamed for devastation by wind and flood. His disconnection from man has been assumed by the clouds. Listen to Eliphaz in Job 22:14: “Thick clouds enwrap him, so that he does not see, and he walks on the vault of heaven.” And yet, the truth is, we can only imagine a God in nature. He may use it for good or bad; He may punish, He may bless, but our understanding of Him ultimately is a thing limited by our imagination. Today we can only behold the beauty, discuss the mystery, and consider the handiwork of the heavens, and therein lies our next lesson.

Glory and Honor

When I look at thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast established; what is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou dost care for him? Yet thou hast made him little less than God and dost crown him with glory and honor. Thou hast given him dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet.” Psalm 8:3-6

As I write this book, I realize the chair I am sitting in was designed by a man. It was manufactured by the machines built and designed by men. It rolls on a solid floor, connected to walls – all part of a house – again designed and built by men. I look out the window and appreciate a landscape of grass, trees, brickwork – much of which was designed and ordered by my own mind and put together by men. My fingers type these words and in some design and order they appear on the screen in front of me through some technical achievement by humankind that escapes my understanding. To one side there is a bottle of water that provides sustenance for me when I thirst. The bottle holding the water has a flip top lid to avoid destruction in the case of an accident – designed and built by man. To the other side the empty bowl with the remains of milk and cereal left from my breakfast. And, yet I realize that all of this good that man has provided has ultimately come from the natural resources present on this earth that some man somewhere – yes including me - has manipulated in such a way to meet so many of my desires at the moment. I am truly blessed.

As I write this book, I have a constant companion. My dog keeps me company day by day lying on the couch beside me. When I get up, she follows. From time to time, she requests my attention to allow her out of the house to protect me from noises outside. As my wife prepares for work, our other dogs trail behind her, conscious of her every movement and anxious as she exits the house. At that point, they become more aware of my own presence and often express the desire to rest in my lap. In the evening, my dogs show new signs of life as they rouse from their daytime slumber as they know the lady we love is returning, food is forthcoming, and the attention they crave from the humans they love so dearly is about to begin.

However, although they would be happy to eat with us, play with us, sit with us and learn from us, there are some things our animals will not do. They will not help me write. They will not help me design or build. They will not look out the window and appreciate the landscape I have helped to create. They will not ponder with me the intelligence of man or the design of the cosmos. They will not ponder the beauty of the sunrise or the coming events foretold upon the horizon. They will not question the creator or ponder the reality of their existence. Their faith, hope, love, and identity is wrapped up in themselves and they remain reliant upon their own effort or that of a human.

In contrast, the only ones we humans can be mindful of a creator and a creation with are other humans. This appears to be true throughout the world. Although I have not traveled the world, I have been to Europe and Africa. Although some spoke in a language I did not understand, they appeared to be very much like me. Some had different skin tones and/or cultural practices, but they all appeared to understand the fact they had a choice of how to act. They all appeared to be able to communicate with one another and often showed a desire to communicate with me. They all appeared quite able to comprehend their reality. I am sure if I pointed to something in the sky and started to show loud emotion, many of them would take notice and wonder!

Perhaps I could suggest that you do a scientific experiment at the local zoo. Imagine if you will a philosophical argument that you find of importance to you. Pick out a favorite tree, or for better luck, pick out a resident of the primate exhibit. Attempt to have discussion with plant or animal life. Time marches on, certainly there must be some missing link between their comprehension and that of humans that exists today, perhaps you will find that amazing discovery! Why do so many place such a strong faith in the hope of finding a missing link from a time gone by when the very thought process would suggest that something would be present today? Why do our schools of higher learning promote such ideology? The truth of the matter is, not one plant or animal can understand these concepts, but nearly every human being has some comprehension of them regardless of their handicap, real or imagined. The main evolution over time appears to be the accumulation of knowledge and application – and regardless of the exponential rate of its expansion, such accumulation shall still be appreciated almost exclusively by humans, whether that be for the bad or the good.

This is the beauty of my relationship with my wife. We can reason together. We can lift one another up or tear one another down emotionally like no other being on the face of the planet. She gave me the gift of a book as I set out on this 100 day book writing quest that I wish to share with you as it pertains to the Glory and Honor given by our creator. The following is taken from “The God Memorandum” by Og Mandino in his book entitled “The Greatest Miracle in the World” “The God Memorandum can also be found on the internet, and the following is taken from http://www.wowzone.com/godmemo.htm. I highly recommend Og’s books as I have found them to be motivational and inspirational. As with anyone, I cannot agree with everything the man wrote – and I have not checked all his facts. However, what he says stresses the point again of the order of the created things. After reading this passage, I think it would take a whole lot more faith to believe we are a happenstance of chance rather than intelligent design. If you are handicapped in any way and are missing any of the gifts mentioned here, then please focus on your blessings:

"Are you blind? Does the sun rise and fall without your witness?


No. You can see ... and the hundred million receptors I have placed in your eyes enable you to enjoy the magic of a leaf, a snowflake, a pond, an eagle, a child, a cloud, a star, a rose, a rainbow ... and the look of love. Count one blessing.


Are you deaf? Can a baby laugh or cry without your attention?


No. You can hear ... and the twenty-four thousand fibers I have built in each of your ears vibrate to the wind in the trees, the tides on the rocks, the majesty of an opera, a robin's plea, children at play ... and the words I love you. Count another blessing.


Are you mute? Do your lips move and bring forth only spittle?


No. You can speak ... as can no other of my creatures, and your words can calm the angry, uplift the despondent, goad the quitter, cheer the unhappy, warm the lonely, praise the worthy, encourage the defeated, teach the ignorant ... and say I love you. Count another blessing.


Are you paralyzed? Does your helpless form despoil the land?


No. You can move. You are not a tree condemned to a small plot while the wind and world abuses you. You can stretch and run and dance and work, for within you I have designed five hundred muscles, two hundred bones, and seven miles of nerve fiber all synchronized by me to do your bidding. Count another blessing.


Are you unloved and unloving? Does loneliness engulf you, night and day?


No. No more. For now you know love's secret, that to receive love it must be given with no thought of its return. To love for fulfillment, satisfaction, or pride is no love. Love is a gift on which no return is demanded. Now you know that to love unselfishly is its own reward. And even should love not be returned it is not lost, for love not reciprocated will flow back to you and soften and purify your heart. Count another blessing. Count twice.


Is your heart stricken? Does it leak and strain to maintain your life?


No. Your heart is strong. Touch your chest and feel its rhythm, pulsating, hour after hour, day and night, thirty-six million beats each year, year after year, asleep or awake, pumping your blood through more than sixty thousand miles of veins, arteries, and tubing ... pumping more than six hundred thousand gallons each year. Man has never created such a machine. Count another blessing.


Are you diseased of skin? Do people turn in horror when you approach?


No. Your skin is clear and a marvel of creation, needing only that you tend it with soap and oil and brush and care. In time all steels will tarnish and rust, but not your skin. Eventually the strongest of metals will wear, with use, but not that layer that I have constructed around you. Constantly it renews itself, old cells replaced by new, just as the old you is now replaced by the new. Count another blessing.


Are your lungs befouled? Does your breath of life struggle to enter your body?


No. Your portholes to life support you even in the vilest of environments of your own making, and they labor always to filter life-giving oxygen through six hundred million pockets of folded flesh while they rid your body of gaseous wastes. Count another blessing.


Is your blood poisoned? Is it diluted with water and pus?


No. Within your five quarts of blood are twenty-two trillion blood cells and within each cell are millions of molecules and within each molecule is an atom oscillating at more than ten million times each second. Each second, two million of your blood cells die to be replaced by two million more in a resurrection that has continued since your first birth. As it has always been inside, so now it is on your outside. Count another blessing.


Are you feeble of mind? Can you no longer think for yourself?


No. Your brain is the most complex structure in the universe. I know. Within its three pounds are thirteen billion nerve cells, more than three times as many cells as there are people on your earth. To help you file away every perception, every sound, every taste, every smell, every action you have experienced since the day of your birth, I have implanted, within your cells, more than one thousand billion billion protein molecules. Every incident in your life is there waiting only your recall. And, to assist your brain in the control of your body I have dispersed, throughout your form, four million pain-sensitive structures, five hundred thousand touch detectors, and more than two hundred thousand temperature detectors. No nation's gold is better protected than you. None of your ancient wonders are greater than you.


You are my finest creation.


Within you is enough atomic energy to destroy any of the world's great cities ... and rebuild it.


Are you poor? Is there no gold or silver in your purse?


No. You are rich! Together we have just counted your wealth. Study the list. Count them again. Tally your assets!


Why have you betrayed yourself? Why have you cried that all the blessings of humanity were removed from you? Why did you deceive yourself that you were powerless to change your life? Are you without talent, senses, abilities, pleasures, instincts, sensations, and pride? Are you without hope? Why do you cringe in the shadows, a giant defeated, awaiting only sympathetic transport into the welcome void and dampness of hell?


You have so much. Your blessings overflow your cup ... and you have been unmindful of them, like a child spoiled in luxury, since I have bestowed them upon you with generosity and regularity."


Okay, granted, we’re special – you might even say miraculous! But check out the disgusting conditions we’re living in! Sure, there’s beauty above and within, but what good is life if you don’t have a good place to call home? I’m glad you asked, because I have to agree with many of humanities top minds, this planet is a pretty great place to live. Without entering the debate of whether this is the only place, let me share from a table put together by Robert M. Bowman Jr. and Kenneth D. Boa from their book “20 Compelling Evidences that God Exists” which gives rough estimates of a life friendly planet existing somewhere in the universe:

Right kind of galaxy in the universe 1 in a thousand

Right kind of star in acceptable galaxies 1 in a billion

Right kind of solar system in acceptable stars 1 in a billion

Right kind of planet in acceptable solar systems 1 in 10 billion

Right kind of planet in the universe 1 in 10 quadrillion quadrillion

Likely number of actual planets in the universe 10 billion trillion

Probability of one good planet in the universe 1 in a billion

They quote Hugh Ross’ estimate that the odds of a life-friendly planet existing anywhere in the universe by chance to be less than 1 in one thousand quintillion quintillion quintillion quintillion quintillion quintillion quintillion! , (“Design Evidences for Life Support: Probability Estimate for Attaining the Necessary Parameters for a Life Support Planet.” Pasadena, Calif.: Reasons to Believe, 2000. Online at www.reasons.org/resources/apologetics/designprobabilityupdate1998.html ) Now this quote is from 2000 and I am sure more discoveries have raised this rough guestimate.

Those numbers are beyond my comprehension. However, I must say that it appears to take great faith to believe that all of life on earth exists by chance and has evolved from one chance cell into the menagerie of life in existence today. Add to that the fact that of all life forms, only humans, and apparently all of humans appear able to fathom the possibility of the existence of a God or Creator.

Consider the Spiritual

So, if logic equates here, let me suggest a much lower number for the existence of God. Simply stated, perhaps we should consider the odds to be 1 in 2. There is a God or there is not a God. If I open this up to debate whether there is only one God or many god’s, or if I attempt to comprehend how we are involved in or by that God, I create many more options, and therefore, perhaps I have reduced the chances of whether there is no God.

If I enter into the debate of whether or not Reality exists, or whether this is only my imagination, I must assume by the very nature of the argument the reality of my own existence in some fashion and that there is a reality that I do not fully comprehend. The concept that there are multiple realities would in itself be a reality and lead me back to the fact that there can only be one truth. And again, it is a truth that I am sure none of us fully comprehend. Therefore, I do feel it would be good to have healthy discussion about it. Perhaps as this is a large part of who we are, our schools should allow these discussions in the realm of tolerance and personal development in classes such as “Religious Expression.” The failures of evolutionary brainwashing that has gone on for decades has got to come to a screeching halt, yet so do the dogmas of religious intolerance that has come from every angle of our societies.

The fact is, we appear to be beings capable and drawn to the consideration of the spiritual. More and more of the professionals in the medical fields and philosophical fields and psychological fields and scientific fields are becoming aware of the reality of this spiritual dimension and this could indeed be “The Final Frontier.” We certainly are much more capable of discovering more about our Spiritual nature than we are of gaining much more insight of space or our natural world. This frontier begins inside you and in your own family and in your own village and it doesn’t use up any of your tax dollars. All you’ve got to do to start exploring this final frontier is to think and we can all do that. Next step is to invest in relationships and listen and talk and most of us can do that.

A great opportunity given to many on our planet is to read! The claim is out there that God has revealed Himself to man through the written word. We can compare notes and understand Him more if we are open and willing to listen and communicate with one another. However, many misunderstandings exist when we attempt to understand another’s point of view through the eyes of someone else. I believe this even stands true with God. I can learn about Him through reading and listening to the words of others, but I believe He speaks to each one of us also and desires that personal relationship, but don’t take my word for it.

Through the written word, men have claimed to have had personal interaction with God. Through the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim texts, God has given Himself several names which translated into English most closely resemble words such as: “I Am” “The One True God,” “The Creator of All Things,” “The Beginning and the End.” “I Am the Lord thy God.”

Some other religious beliefs assume there are multiple gods. However, most Christian, Muslim, and Jewish believers also believe there are other cosmic beings; saints, spirits, angels, messengers. Some consider we are part of God, but even I am promoting an idea of spiritual identities! Most of us believe there is a battle between good and evil! Most of us imagine an ultimate place of divine and spiritual comfort. Our Spiritual words say much of what we experience in this life is of a Spiritual nature. Is it possible that our concepts of Spiritual realities are not that different from one another and that in understanding them, we may find many of the medical, philosophical, psychological, and scientific answers we seek? Perhaps the truth that will set us free is that the truth actually exists, and although we are all part of it, none of us fully comprehends it yet. Perhaps the God who claims “I Am The Lord Your God” desires to be found through our lost relationships. Perhaps in seeking Him through each other, we will find ourselves. Perhaps “Religious Expression” is not only a thing that should find its place in the classroom, but is a thing that should be shared in all facets of our lives.

The two greatest commandments of the Christian world are not so bad, they are:

“You shall Love the Lord thy God with all your heart; with all your soul; and with your entire mind.”

The second is like unto it

“You shall Love your neighbor as yourself.”

What a great way to live.