And a Mommy

Announcing the release of my newest book “…And a Mommy.”

This is my first children’s book. It tells of the choice to be a mommy as a career. The price will be $3.00 plus shipping.

You can contact me at betty@homeschoolwwh.com, through any comment page, or go to http://www.homeschoolwwh.com/aam/home.html

Some Random Links

Just in the order they happen to be in.



Ten Things I Think I Think About Marriage and Marriage Counseling
“…8. I think I think that we could improve many marriages if we could treat one another as enemies….” A worthy read.
http://jollyblogger.typepad.com/jollyblogger/2008/08/ten-things-i--1.html

The Boob Tube

How many of you can recite the latest McDonalds jingle? How about your favorite song front to back? We memorize things everyday. Here is something worth spending the time on! http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8919399424910324675


Why don’t we memorize things like this anymore? What do we do with our brains? We watch TV. I can’t tell you how many people I have known who didn’t have enough money for food, found the money for their cable bill. Face it America, we are addicted!


Watching TV is a passive, selfish activity. You don’t need to contribute anything to it. Conversations with humans, reading, board games, any other activity, (even the computer!) you have to contribute something. Not TV. TV allows you to only focus on you and not care about anyone or anything else.

“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:…” Proverbs 23:7


What ever goes on in your brain determines who you are. Now think about what you have allowed Hollywood to put into your head in the last week. that is what you are becoming.


Mass Mind Control Through Network Television - Are Your Thoughts Your Own?
http://100777.com/tv/your_thoughts

A quote: “Experiments conducted by researcher Herbert Krugman reveal that when a person watches television, brain activity switches from the left to the right hemisphere. The left hemisphere is the seat of logical thought. Here, information is broken down into its component parts and critically analyzed. The right brain, however, treats incoming data uncritically, processing information in wholes, leading to emotional, rather than logical responses. The shift from left to right brain activity also causes the release of endorphins, the body's own natural opiates--thus, it is possible to become physically addicted to watching television, a hypothesis borne out by numerous studies which have shown that very few people are able to kick the television habit. It's no longer an overstatement to note that the youth today that are raised and taught through network television are intellectually dead by their early teens.”


This article is very anti-military. I don’t agree with that and really think he has missed the Big Picture. Read the article and then ask yourself how Christians and Christian values are portrayed in the media. The media glorifies materialism and selfishness. It portrays anything typically “manly” as dangerous and stupid. Home is boring. Children are pests and burdens. Marriage a trap. Feminine women are stupid and masculine women are powerful and happy. Honesty, kindness, truth are ridiculed. This propaganda isn’t about getting us to approve of military action, at least not in the long run; it is about getting us to change RELIGIONS! It is about stealing our FREEDOMS!


Out There: People Who Live Without TV
http://www.livescience.com/culture/080904-no-tv.html

Yes, they (we) do exist.

Children who watch TV are more aggressive, less active (making them fatter), less content with what they have.


If you are watching TV you are NOT:
1) exercising
2) talking to friends and family
3) creating things
4) maintaining what you have

You are just sitting there, watching. You are not even thinking, but letting Hollywood do that for you.


And, yes it does affect your behavior. That is why they bother with commercials. Notice that they don’t generally run commercials for things you really need (“Run right out and buy underwear, veggies and basic housing!”) No, they advertise for things you DON’T REALLY NEED! Keep track of the commercials some time and note how many are for unnecessary items (such as fancy, brand-new cars, beer, snack chips, ice cream, diamond rings, etc. All things you could very well live without.)


Am I suggesting you get rid of your TV? Actually, yes You and your family will be healthier physically and mentally if you do. You will go through withdrawals which takes one to two weeks, but you will discover you don’t miss it nearly as much as you think you will. Your children will learn to entertain themselves and be LESS of a problem, too.


In the interest of full disclosure, I do have a TV in my home (just one.) We watch a video carefully selected by my hubby every Saturday and Sunday night that we don’t have other things to do (such as church activities or visiting friends). When the children are very ill I will use the TV to keep them still and quiet so they can rest. That is it. Sum total is four hours per week (most American adults do that per day!)


If you can’t throw the thing out, at least cut it down. You will be surprised at the difference it makes in your home.


Why you might even start thinking your own thoughts!

The Great White Throne

I am going to finish this homeschool series up. Let’s imagine you are standing at the throne of God on Judgment Day. I sincerely hope you are surrounded by your children.


But what if you are not?


What if for some reason they choose to not serve God?


What will be your excuse?


Can you, average American couple, honestly say;


· I couldn’t afford private education.


· I didn’t know how to teach or where to get materials.

· They needed to be “socialized”

· I sent them to school to be salt and light to the world.

· The public schools were neutral.


· Education is not that important.
"A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher." Luke 6:40

Think about it.

An update

I have accomplished two big things this week. First of all, I have finished the next to last editing of “Caring for Your Masterpiece,” a book about nutrition and health. It has been sent to the editor and then I will go through one more time to finalize it. Then it’s off to the printer, (well, when I get the money, LOL). It will be available in e-book as soon as the final read-through is done.

The first draft of the cover.

Secondly, I set up a new blog (as if I don’t have enough). This one is called “The Simple Bible.” It is a commentary on the Bible. I began with Daniel. Then jumped to Matthew and Revelation, and back to Isaiah. I finally just gave up and started at Genesis 1:1. So, the first six chapters, plus an explanation of several supporting issues, are up. You can read it at http://thesimplebible.blogspot.com/

Dating the Creation

We can’t know this date for sure, though there are some hints in the Bible and in Creation to give us a general number.

If you take all the ages of all the men when their mentioned son was born and add them up you get a time for Creation at roughly 6000 bc. This is the youngest the earth could be. However, the odds of each child being born on his father’s birthday is slim at best, so we should add partial years into the date. Also, the Bible often calls grandsons the sons of their grandfathers. It is possible these lists of fathers and sons has a few grandson/grandfather relationships. This would also stretch the date. However, you can’t stretch it more than a couple of centuries without making the whole list irrelavent. So we could safely say the Bible says the world is around 6000-8000 years old.

Tree ring dates, ice flow dates, lunar dust depths, and several other scientific measures tell us the earth could not possibly be more than a million years and is closer to 10,000 at most.[1] So we can put the Creation Account at 6000-10,000 bc. I lean towards no more than 7000bc.

[1] See the many good books on the subject at the “Creation Research Institute” for a more in-depth discussion on the science supporting creation and a young earth.

The Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY (January 12, 2009)...

Outside my window...It is bright and sunny, though we could use more rain.

I am thinking...About all the things I need to accomplish today.

I am thankful for...My children and my husband

From the learning rooms...I am learning how to word my objections to certain peoples lack of logic in end times issues

From the kitchen...Baked chicken tonight.

I am wearing...a red t shirt and black velvet skirt. Felt fancy today.

I am creating...several books and a business.

I am going...to sleep tonight- I hope

I am reading..."The Temple at the Conter of Time." (I don't recommend it:-( ) and my Bible

I am hoping...To get more done today (so why am I taking time to do this?)

I am hearing...The children take very noisy naps.

Around the house...it is a mess- normal for vacation time. Can't wait to start school back and get it straightened out.

One of my favorite things...is holding a little one

A few plans for the rest of the week: tomarrow i hope to get the health book ready for the editor. then more little stuff.

Here is picture thought I am sharing..."Hi all!"

This idea came from http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

Biblical Interpretation

Proper interpretation and understanding of the Bible requires three basic tools; understanding of biblical context, understanding of historical context, and understanding of original languages.

In order to understand scripture we must always take the context of scripture into account. What was the author saying in the whole chapter, the whole book? Who was he talking to? Why?

There once was a man who wanted to know God’s will in his life. He randomly opened his Bible. It fell to the scripture where Judas killed himself. Wondering what this meant for him, he randomly opened his Bible again. This time it fell open to the scripture where Jesus says “...Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise. .” (Luke 10:37) Was this God telling him to kill himself? Of course not. You must take scripture in its context. You CAN NOT take a verse here and a verse there and put them together to form a doctrine. This is mis-handling of the Word of God.

God tells some people to do things He doesn’t want everyone to do. For example, all believers are not to go preach to Nineveh as Jonah was told to do. Nor build a large boat and gather a bunch of animals onto it. Nor lay in the middle of the city, naked, eating nothing but bread and not talking for an entire year like Ezekiel was told to. We must pay attention to who each scripture was written to and why. The moral lessons taught in every scripture can be applied to our lives, but the fact of the scripture applies to who it was written to. The rule of context is that context rules.

The second rule of biblical interpretation requires we see what was happening in history. For example, when God told Jonah to go to Nineveh (the capital of the Assyrian empire), it was because the Ninavites were very cruel conquerors of the entire region. They would cut the heads off of the leaders of each city-state they conquered and often torture the inhabitants. God was fed up. He sent Jonah to warn them to change their ways or else. Of course we know that it worked; they repented and God spared the city. Well, for a while anyway. History tells us that the city was destroyed for its cruelty a generation or so later, after they forgot God and had gone back to their old ways.

We must understand the history surrounding an event to truly understand what the Bible is telling us.

The third tool we need to really understand the Bible is a knowledge of original languages. This is not so hard as it used to be. Any Internet-connected computer has access to a Strong’s Concordance (and they are available in book-form from any book seller for as little as $10.00). This is a list of each word in the Bible and its location AND its definition in the original language. You simply look up the words in a verse and see what the original author meant.

Which Bible to Use

Which Bible to Use
The King James is the closest to the original of all the most commonly available translations. However, there are no differences between the translations that would make the difference between heaven and hell.

I like the King James Bible. For one, it is the Bible I grew up with and I am familiar with it.
Secondly, I believe the Word of God deserves to be presented in the most beautiful form the English language has ever taken; Shakespearian English (This was not quite the common dialect of the 1600s by the way. It was the theatrical form of the language.)

Third, its poetic cadence is easier to memorize than our modern translations. You tell me what sticks in the brain better;

“First this: God created the Heavens and Earth--all you see, all you don't see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God's Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.” (The Message)
or
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep.” (KJV)

Though similar, the later has a poetic cadence that makes it easier to memorize.

Fourth, it uses easier words than the modern translations do. Yes, that’s right, easier words. For example, in the story of the ordination of King Saul, The NIV tells us he hid among the “luggage.” The KJV uses the word “stuff.” There are many examples of this throughout. The King James only has about 8000 different words as opposed to the NIV which has over 14,000 different words.

In comparisons of different translations for grade level placement, one scholar came to the following assessment:

The King James averages grade level- 5.8 (fifth grade, eighth month)
New International Version- 8.4
New American Standard Bible- 6.1
The English Version-7.2
New KJV- 6.9

A comparison of words in the KJV and the NASB:
In Matt.1:11, the KJV uses the words "carried away" while the NASB uses "deportation." There are many examples justlike this.

(check out: New Age Bible Versions, G.A.Riplinger, 1993 (690 pgs),

There are some problems with the KJV, however. For one, the men who translated it added a few verses in, originally as footnotes, that have since been incorporated into the main text. 1 John 5:7 is one of those. Secondly, many complain about the “thees and thous.” I don’t have a problem because I am used to them. However, it even helped me to learn that they were not just fancy ways of saying “you.” In the sixteenth-century English the KJV was originally translated into, thee, thou, thine, and thy were singular pronouns while you and yours were plural. This makes many verses much plainer to understand.

I have chosen to use a Chronological Bible as my basis instead of a Cannonical Bible. Though the Cannonical Bible (traditional order of books) has a great deal of value (and was set as the standard form by AD 100), for our purposes of understanding the Bible’s historical context, the Chronological will work best.

Salt, light, and socialization

After “I can’t afford private education,” sending children to school to be “salt and light” and socialization issues are the next biggest excuses to use public schools among Christians.


For socialization, I just happen to have that chapter of my book up as a “free sample” on my web site. Here is the link. Enjoy.


For salt and light, I again have written about this in my book, so I will just copy and paste that chapter her for your enjoyment. Just consider it a “bonus gift” :-)

13. Shouldn’t I Send My Child To School To Be “Light And Salt?”
First of all, I have met few five-year-olds (the most common school-starting age) that have truly accepted Christ as their savior. Sending any child to school that isn’t even saved yet to evangelize is like sending a drunken thief to Africa as a missionary. Someone must have the “Light and Salt” in order to be “light and salt.”

Besides, if this method of evangelism, (sending children to school to witness to each other), worked, our churches would be packed to overflowing. At the institution of public school, the majority of Americans were regular church goers. If each of their children had just brought one unsaved peer to the Lord then our society would be 100% Christian today. Instead, it is getting less and less Christian and more and more Secular Humanist. (One recent study says 88% of fundamentalist Christian children whole heartedly embrace Secular Humanism and quit church permanently at age eighteen). It appears that sending Christian children to public school is having the opposite effect from evangelism. If my church had an outreach program where we LOST more than 80% of our WORKERS, I would strongly recommend to our leadership that we needed to change programs.

A study commissioned by Homeschool Legal Defense said 96% of homeschool graduates say they are the same or almost the same religion as their parents. Since 80% of homeschoolers are fundamentalist Christians, this is a mighty army of mature spiritual warriors being unleashed on the world. I see this as having a far more positive impact on evangelism than the “send your kids to school to be light and salt” crowd ever dreamed of.

Besides, you wouldn’t send your child to an Islamic or Buddhist temple for their equivalent of Sunday School every week and expect them to stay a Christian. Yet many well meaning Christian parents take their Little Gifts from God to a Secular Humanist (or Humanist trained) teacher, tell them to obey and respect them, for six or more hours, every day, 170-180 days per year, for at least thirteen straight years and are honestly surprised when their children turn out to be half- hearted Christians at best. Jesus said “A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.”[1] Atheist teacher, atheist kid. Christian teacher, Christian kid.

Sending your child to school to save a class full of unbelieving peers is an awful lot to ask of a child. Few adults could handle that kind of pressure. The Bible says “If the salt have lost his savor wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.”[2] Childhood is the time a child should be building his foundation for lifelong service to Christ, not evangelizing the world. That is what adulthood is for. Wouldn’t sending him to school to evangelize before he is mature Christians be “lay(ing) hands suddenly”[3] on your child, something Paul said not to do to any man? You wouldn’t throw tomato seeds out in the snow and expect plants much less fruit. For the best crops of tomatoes, you start them inside in a controlled environment and only gradually take them into the real world when they are almost grown and ready to handle it. Same for Christians. As I recently heard one woman say, “If one apple in a barrel has a bad spot it will turn all the apples bad. I have never yet seen a bunch of good apples turn a bad apple good again.” Solomon said “He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.”[4] Jesus said “the student will become like his teacher.” Who do you want your children to be like?”



[1] Luke 6:40
[2] Matthew 5:13
[3] 1 Timothy 5:22
[4] Proverbs 13:20

Neutral territory

Is there such a thing as neutrality? Can a school, a culture, a family as an example, be neutral?


To quote from this wonderful book about homeschooling (homeschoolwwh.com, thebettysbooks. Giggle):



“We also strongly disagree with the philosophies taught in public school today. There is no such thing as teaching without teaching religion and morals. The very act of teaching teaches that ignorance is bad, a moral statement (one most people agree with). Our public schools teach the religion of Secular Humanism (politically correct term for Atheism) and situational ethics. Even if they have a Christian teacher, neither the teacher nor the child is allowed to speak of God or life’s most important questions, (see next page) during class hours. Especially in History and Science, to teach without God is to teach that there is no God. We want our Lambs taught Christianity and absolute, Biblical morals. The best place for them to learn this is in our own home….


…3. What Are Life’s Most Important Questions?

Who am I?
Christian: A child of The King. A peculiar (special) people, a royal priest. (1 Peter 2:9)
Atheist: The result of billions of biological accidents.

Why am I here?
Christian: God knit me together in the secret places of my mother’s womb; I am a gift of God, a master piece of The Master Artist. (Psalm 139:13-16 NIV, Psalms 127:3)
Atheist: I am the result of a biological convergence of reproductive cells.

What is the purpose of life?
Christian: To worship God and love my neighbor. (Mark 12:30-32)
Atheist: To get as much money, as many toys, and have as much fun as I can before it is too late. To make a name for myself, making me as close to immortal as is possible.

What is the purpose of education?
Christian: To know God and His will for my life and this world.
Atheist: To enable me to earn as much money as possible.

What controls History?
Christian: Ultimately, God.
Atheist: Randomness and/or humanity.

What caused this world and all we see?
Christian: God.
Atheist: Randomness. It is all a big accident.

What is the future?
Christian: Heaven for believers, hell for the unsaved.
Atheist: human divinity and eventually total destruction.

Public schools, by law, can not teach children the Christian answers to these questions. By default then, they must teach the Secular Humanist view. Some extraordinary teachers can get around the legal prohibitions, but I am not willing to have my child taught Atheism the years of their education they are not under the extraordinary.

Jesus said, “He who is not with Me, is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.” Luke 11:23

Thus, because our “neutral” public schools can’t be with Christ, they must be against Him.”



The fact is that we all have a “World View” or an assumption about the nature and founding of the universe. What our assumption is in this area colors every other area of our lives, even when we don’t realize it.


Let’s imagine you are writing a history textbook, for example. If you believe there is a God you would tell the story of George Washington winning the battle of Yorktown something like this:


“Washington knew he needed to conquer Yorktown in order to win the war and he had to do it fast. But the town was in a bowl-like area, surrounded by hills on three sides and the ocean on the fourth. There was no way to get the army and its artillery onto the surrounding hills without being seen from the city. They had many soldiers on the ships in the harbor and cannons in the city itself. There is no doubt the British will attack and win before he could possible be in a position to fight back. He had hired Lafayette (a French Admiral/pirate) to blockade the harbor and keep the soldiers on the ships, but he isn’t there yet.

George Washington was a praying man. His daily prayer life is a matter of record and he attended church whenever the troops were close enough. After much prayer and contemplation, he felt he needed to go ahead and attack the city and trust God for the outcome.

The night the American forces arrived, a pea-soup thick fog rolled into the city. This fog was so thick, no one in the city could see the hills or even hear the sound of fox holes being dug and cannons set up. Soon Washington had his forces in place for the attack. But he now had a new problem. He couldn’t see where to shoot at! The fog was in the way and, of course, he didn’t want to waste ammunition and lives bombing civilians while the British unloaded their ships and came charging up the hill. He wanted to hit the buildings that housed British officers (And Lafayette still hadn’t shown up!) What should he do? As I said, he was a praying man.

A wind came up just then and not only blew the fog away, but blew the British ships out of the harbor before they could unload their troops, and kept them there until Lafayette did show up.

Imagine the surprise on the British faces to look up at the hills that morning and see a whole army had sprung up there over night!

Washington and his troops fought the battle and won, thanks to the One who controls the Weather.”


How would you write this story if you do not believe there is a God or if you are trying to be “neutral?”


“Washington knew he needed to conquer Yorktown in order to win the war and he had to do it fast. But the town was in a bowl-like area, surrounded by hills on three sides and the ocean on the fourth. There was no way to get the army and its artillery onto the surrounding hills without being seen from the city. They had many soldiers on the ships in the harbor and cannons in the city itself. There is no doubt the British will attack and win before he could possible be in a position to fight back. He had hired Lafayette (a French Admiral/pirate) to come blockade the harbor and keep the soldiers on the ships, but he isn’t there yet.


The night the American forces arrived, a pea-soup thick fog rolled into the city. This fog was so thick, no one in the city could see the hills or even hear the sound of fox holes being dug and cannons set up. Soon Washington had his forces in place for the attack. But he now had a new problem. He couldn’t see where to shoot at! The fog was in the way and, of course, he didn’t want to waste ammunition and lives bombing civilians while the British unloaded their ships and came charging up the hill. He wanted to hit the buildings that housed British officers (And Lafayette still hadn’t shown up) What should he do?

Luckily, a wind came up just then and not only blew the fog away, but blew the British ships out of the harbor before they could unload their troops, and kept them there until Lafayette did show up.

Imagine the surprise on the British faces to look at the hills that morning and see a whole army had sprung up there over night!

Washington and his troops fought the battle and won.”


These two stories are almost identical. But the first gives credit to God for Washington’s victory, telling us that God wanted America to win the war and that it pays to be faithful in our prayers. The second credits “luck.” The first teaches a child to be diligent to trust God no matter what the odds are against him. The second teaches a child that Washington was a lucky man. Some people are and some aren’t (like the British commander in the city.)


Can you see how the basic assumption underneath each story affects the child that reads it?


“And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”

Or to translate it directly from the Greek into 21st century English:

And ye “pater” (Greek word for father, root of our word parents and properly used as such),

parorgizo (to rouse to wrath, to provoke, exasperate, anger)

not your children to “parogizo” (to rouse, to wrath, to provoke, exasperate, anger), [or don’t frustrate your kids]

but “ektrepho” (to nourish up to maturity, to nourish, nurture, bring up)

them “ektrepho” (to nourish up to maturity, to nourish, to nurture, bring up)

in the “paideia” (the whole training and education of children (which relates to the cultivation of mind and morals, and employs for this purpose now commands and admonitions, now reproof and punishment) It also includes the training and care of the body; whatever in adults also cultivates the soul, esp. by correcting mistakes and curbing passions; Instruction which aims at increasing virtue, chastisement, chastening, (of the evils with which God visits men for their amendment) )

and “nouthesia” (admonition, exhortation the mind, from the root nous=comprising alike the faculties of perceiving and understanding and those of feeling, judging, determining the intellectual faculty, the understanding, reason in the narrower sense, as the capacity for spiritual truth, the higher powers of the soul, the faculty of perceiving divine things, of recognizing goodness and of hating evil, the power of considering and judging soberly, calmly and impartially, a particular mode of thinking and judging, i.e. thoughts, feelings, purposes, desires)

of the Lord.

Or

“Parents, don’t frustrate your children, but raise them in the EDUCATION and CULTURE of the Lord.”



Can a school, TV show, movie, culture, family, even church that doesn’t acknowledge Christ, that pretends He doesn’t exist when they make decisions, that cares more about how they look and what toys they have possibly be “the education and the culture of the Lord”?


Can they possibly be FOR Christ?


Does neutrality exist?

Illegal Schools

I am attempting to establish that the choice to use public schools is not really financial as most believe. It is a lifestyle choice.


Many Constitutional Lawyers believe that the tenth amendment to the Constitution expressly forbids Federal involvement in education. This amendment says that anything not mentioned in the Constitution is not allowed to the Federal government. Education was discussed at the Constitutional Convention and the delegates decided it was too religious to allow government to have a hand in it. Education was one of the main reasons for the tenth amendment. The fourteenth amendment would disallow states from being involved in education, too.


So let’s pretend that the Supreme Court gets some exotic fever and decides to actually uphold the Constitution. They declare all tax-payer funded education illegal and demand all Public schools will close their doors permanently on June 30, 2009.


What would happen to your children?


Now, for the sake of argument, let’s assume that if you are an employee of the public school system you are offered an equal paying job in the private sector. After all, there would be a sharp rise in demand for private schools. So you are not really affected.


But what about your children?


If you give this some thought and can honestly look me in the eye and tell me you would have no choice but to let your children run the streets, then I am not talking to you. You are in my prayers.


But for the other 99% of you out there, the fact is you would find some way to provide your child with an education. You would sell you car payment so you could pay tuition at a private school (an average of $300 per month for ten months per year or $250 per month for twelve months. Less than most car payments). Or you might down grade your housing so one parent could stay home and homeschool. You might move granny in to babysit and enroll your child in an online school (roughly $1500 per year or $150 per month). The average parent in America would grumble and complain but find some way to educate their children.


This causes me to ask the question:


Why can’t you do it now?


The answer simply is that you don’t think it is as important as what you are spending your money and/or time on now. You don’t think your children need a Christian education. Or you don’t really think the schools are THAT bad. Or you have some idea that your children are being witnesses at school. Or you think they are better off in a rich house in a fancy neighborhood but in government school than they would be in a poorer neighborhood with a Christian education. The painful truth is that the odds are that you are choosing your standard of living above giving your child a biblical education.


Now, just ‘cause you CAN do a thing doesn’t mean you SHOULD do that thing. After acknowledging that you really do have choices, the next step is to decide what the best choice is.

Is there a God?

This is the fundamental question of life on which all other questions hang. If there is no God then life has no purpose beyond our momentary pleasure. There is no meaning. There is no right or wrong. Take all you can get and enjoy yourself for the moment because when it is over, it is OVER. That is all she wrote, so to speak.

If there is a God, however, than there is a heaven to gain and a hell to shun; a Great White Throne to stand in front of and give answer to. There is a right and a wrong. There is an eternity that is more real than anything you have every experienced in your life, good or bad.

Can we know if there is a God? And if so, how?

Within the cells of every living organism is a thing called DNA. This is the programming that determines whether you are a watermelon or a woman, whether you have blue eyes or brown, whether you are tall or short. This DNA is an intricate code that we humans are just now beginning to be able to read.

Noah Webster says:
CODE,
n. Any collection or digest of laws.

LAW,
n. [L. lex; A law is that which is laid, set or fixed, like statute, constitution, from L. statuo.]
1. A rule, particularly an established or permanent rule, prescribed by the supreme power of a state to its subjects, for regulating their actions, particularly their social actions. Laws are imperative or mandatory, commanding what shall be done; prohibitory, restraining from what is to be forborne; or permissive, declaring what may be done without incurring a penalty. The laws which enjoin the duties of piety and morality are prescribed by God and found in the Scriptures.

You do not have green vines coming out of your ears, grapes hanging off your nose, or a horse-like-tail because the laws prescribed by the Supreme Power who wrote your DNA says you don't. Could your DNA have written itself? No. DNA is a language. Language takes intelligence.

LAN'GUAGE, n. [L. lingua, the tongue, and speech.]
Words duly arranged in sentences, written, printed or engraved, and exhibited to the eye. (DNA is exhibited to the eye through the microscope. Different from my glasses only in degree) Style; manner of expression. Any manner of expressing thoughts.

"Any manner of expressing thoughts." For DNA to express thoughts there had to be thoughts to express before it was written down in our cells. There has to be a Creator God.

Have you ever examined a giraffe? Their necks are so tall they must have an extraordinarily strong heart in order to pump the blood all the way up there. But with such a strong heart, if they bend their head down, gravity + the heart would blow their brains out (high blood pressure). So they have a set of valves in the arteries of their necks that shut the blood flow down when they put their head down. But then when they lift their heads suddenly (as in a lion attack) they would pass out (low blood pressure). So they have little sponges in the back of their brains that hold enough blood in reserve to keep them conscious until the valves open. If any one of these steps was missing, the giraffe would die (either by exploding brain or hungry lion). They must have all been there from the start. They could not have evolved. They must have been created as a complete animal. There are many other creatures (the woodpecker which would knock its eyes out if it had not been programmed to close its eyes with each strike, the garden spider which would starve if its web was not just right, the chicken egg where the chick would suffocate without its microscopic air holes, the human eye, the bombardier beetle which would blow itself up if it did not have all systems functioning at once, etc.) that simply could not exist without a Divine Designer.

Did you know that the earth is just the right distance from the sun to support life any closer, we would burn up. Any father we would freeze.

Our atmosphere contains the perfect amount of oxygen to support life. Do you know how simple it would be to have too much or too little?

The evidence is increasing everyday. There is no way this Universe could have happened by accident. It was designed by a highly intelligent being......God Himself.