Misplaced Dreams

It seems funny to hear someone say that they “misplaced” something. We like to cover for a person that has lost something by saying they “misplaced” it. And it often is said tongue in cheek. But, when it comes to ambitions, so many of those “dreams” of fame and fortune never get realized and it can take its toll on our spirit.

I’ve had so many dreams that have faded from view. Some quickly fall to realizations that it takes skills I don’t have or I see past it somehow. Some I’ve put lots of time and effort into and nothing came of it. It always seems that it’s all the other stuff that goes on in between that matters in the long run. Conversations and working in the garden with my wife. Watching birds in the back yard. Or, best of all, reminding a friend that God is there and interested in them. Writing a post on my blog that noone has ever responded to. (except Smokey and some close friends in person) Teaching a group of people about God’s plan!

I’ve dreamed of being a scientist, a luthier, an animator, a musician, a world touring motorcyclist, a racecar driver, a pro bowler, a sailboat captain, and the list goes on. But, in the process of making Christ Lord of my life my perspective has turned from dreams to reality. God’s Holy Spirit is trying to change my heart of stone into a gentler heart of flesh. Instead of going after my own dreams, He is showing me that dreams are vapors that vanish once achieved.

The greatest of all ambitions anyone can have is to please our Creator. This was Jesus’ number one focus, to please His Father even though He and His Father were One! He was charting the course for all of us to follow. All of us need to follow Jesus if our real goal is to live. None of my “best human achievements” amount to a hill of beans compared to the least bit of obedience and faithfulness to my heavenly Father.

My manerisms and lack of social skills have put a nix on so many of my vain dreams and it’s hard for me to appreciate how that has worked to my advantage by clearing the way for me to focus more on what really matters. Now that I’m about to have my 60th birthday, I’m seeing through so many of my great human ambitions and dreams as just hoping to be admired by people who like myself will one day pass away.

That’s not true for our devoted and loving Creator. If we live for Him, that appreciation will never fade!

Wayne Hollyoak

Leave A Comment, Written on June 11th, 2013 , Devotional, Perspecitve
Darwinism and the Beast

I can’t say for sure that “darwinism” is the beast of the Bible. It sure embodies many of the vile attributes about the beast expressed in it. Darwin, like Satan himself, thought that he could take over God’s creation and make it his own by discrediting the Almighty for its creation and claiming that it created itself  by a complex formulation of spontaneous generation. Spontaneous generation is the notion that living things can arise out of non-living matter on their own somehow. Darwinism is the most hellish permutation of spontaneous generation and the most beguiling one as well considering how many men and women it has lured away from faith in Christ our Savior and the truth about our own creation by Him and for Him. Jesus Christ is Lord forever and Lord of all of His Creation! Blessed is His Name!!!

The number of blasphemies that have come out of “science” and men’s mouths and writings cannot be numbered as a result of the state enforced teaching of darwinism in all state-sponsored education in the US, Great Briton and most of the European and Asian continents. The beast in Revelation comes out of the sea which Darwin’s creation story also begins in the sea. There is a close relationship between the Biblical beast and a false prophet. There is also just as close a relationship between darwinism and science. Science has become the new “authority” on every subject! Darker elements within science are dictating to the whole world that everyone must confess that evolution is a fact or be excommunicated from their ranks.

As a result, the practice of  Christian public prayer, worship and teaching has been banned in all state institutions which means that makes all those doing such outlaws and subject to legal action and punishment. At this time punishment doesn’t yet include physical, but those that do continue to practice their Christian faith in public places may face further ostracism, be marked as “enemies of the state” with some sort of tattoo or ID chip and denied buying power particularly if  atheists (many so as a result of darwinism) come into power who already express a deep hatred for Christians.

As a Christian, myself I know that there is nothing to fear from all this. The Scriptures and Jesus himself have taught us that a hyper-evil beast would rise up against Christians that honor the Scriptures in faith and practice. Currently, the main persecution is coming in the form of withholding the preaching and teaching of the truth about our creation from our children within public institutions. But, Christian believers need to continue to be faithful to Jesus and the Father by the power of His Spirit. We need to be as wise as serpents but harmless as doves.

Darwinism, as insane as the notion of spontaneous generation may seem, has emerged as perhaps the most vicious and devilish attack on the Christian faith to date and if it isn’t the Beast described in the Book of  Revelations, it certainly stands as a strong contender for that position in infamy. My hope is that human reason and our prayers will eventually restore our confidence in the real Creator and darwinism will fade into the night as a dark chapter in human history.

Wayne Hollyoak

Leave A Comment, Written on May 24th, 2013 , Devotional, Evolutionism, New Developments, Perspecitve, The Role of Faith in Science
What Happened to the Garden?

People will spend their whole lives trying to solve various mysteries and enigmas. For some of us an unsolved murder case can frustrate us to the point of obsession and many sleepless nights. For others maybe it’s the so called Bermuda Triangle, or maybe the chemical makeup of a distant star. Speculation is a human passion that often proves to be way out in left field. Especially about things that we cannot directly observe like if there is life on other planets and such.

I suppose there’ve been entire books written on the subject of the Garden of Eden. We have a little information about the place including a brief description of its location. But, we can speculate all day long, or year long and never come any closer to solving the mystery.

However, if you get to know the One that made the garden, you will understand that many of the creatures around us were introduced to the world in that place. They may have looked somewhat different in those days after so many generations and mutations eating away at their genetic code.  How much have they changed and how many new creatures have been introduced since then? We can speculate all we want about the animals behind all those amazing fossils and such and miss the point.

We are here along with a huge world full of all sorts of creatures and we have no way of going back to when they arrived here and watch the process as it was unfolding. The more I’ve studied the various creatures around me and in my travels, the more I’ve come to appreciate them as they are, today!  I don’t have to scrutinize them and dissect and collect them in order to understand them, I can just look at them with awe and wonder! We have so much to be thankful for with all these creature engineered with great care in order to support our existence for our brief sojourn on this great planet!

Wayne Hollyoak

Leave A Comment, Written on May 18th, 2013 , Devotional, Evidences of ID, Intelligent Design, Perspecitve, Puzzlers, Retrospect
Faith Comes by Hearing

What happens when you believe Jesus Christ? In the world, seeing is believing. But, in Christ Jesus, believing is seeing. The record of His life is right there for us in the Scriptures. The better we know them and believe them, the more clearly we can see the Creator who is revealed by His Son.

By reading and meditating on the Scriptures we can begin to understand how off base man’s ideas are. The personalities and things we tend to believe quickly become vain and foolish when compared to the life and peace that comes from a healthy knowledge and confidence in the Bible and its teaching. Read IITimothy chapter 3. and as you do ask Jesus to help your understanding. He wants to help us if we will only ask.

Wayne Hollyoak

Leave A Comment, Written on May 9th, 2013 , All Topics
Seriously, Why are You So Serious?

There seems to be a need to balance between “Living in the moment.” and “Taking life seriously.”  They aren’t two diametrically opposed things. The trick is to know when each should come into play. I suppose the key is to live in the moment as much as you can without compromising our integrity towards our Creator and our fellow man. It’s the danger of “getting carried away” with some sort of vain obsession that can mess things up.

But, the main priority should always be to maintain a godly conscience by the renewing or our minds by the Word of God and living in the moment with a “clear conscience” in that context. That means knowing the scriptures well enough to have a clear understanding of what our Creator expects from us so that we can live our lives to the fullest in the safety and security of His blessing. To see ourselves as created beings and appreciating Christ’s huge investment in us as individuals and making the most of our time on this earth and the talents that our heavenly Father has given us is the greatest joy and blessing!

Wayne Hollyoak

Leave A Comment, Written on April 18th, 2013 , Devotional, Perspecitve
Go Figure

Today, we are living in a sort of Darwinian knee-jerk society. The older generation is being accused of holding out on the younger generation about the news about all the “great enlightenment” regarding our “origins” and as the [popular singer said, “no more religion”. Many are so convinced that our great, great……. grandparents were hairy tree-dwellers of some sort. Go Figure!

Now everything that our parents represent is tainted somehow and needs to be replaced with something “new”. The popular political platform is, “it’s time for change”. It reminds me of Yogi Berra’s quip, “You can use cash, which is just as good as money!” Like what kind of change are you talking about? Handguns for all grade school teachers? Eliminating heterosexuality? How far with this go? Go Figure!

Some of the states are beginning to see a backlash to all this social darwinism as people are starting to see through its real motives. Abortion really reveals the dark side of the darwinian force. Lust-driven sexual behavior where the standard is, “if it feels good, do it- we’re all animals anyway” has come at a dire cost. Children are becoming more and more disposable. Doctors are asked to be executioners and healthcare workers get fired for speaking out. Go Figure!

Our heros have become entertainers, ball players, musicians and scientists. Go Figure!

It wasn’t that long ago that young people saw their parents, teachers and pastors as heros and wanted to be like them.  Yup, things have changed…

Go Figure!

Leave A Comment, Written on April 16th, 2013 , All Topics
Spring is Here!

Here on the US East Coast we finally got some warm weather. Don’t think I’ve appreciated the coming of spring quite this much in a long time. We’ve had a harder winter than usual and it really amazes me how resilient the plants and wildlife are. With the temperature just creeping above the 40 degree mark (farenheit) there were already lots of moths flying around at night. Toads are back in full force after their seeming disappearing act. I know that frogs winter under the muck in ponds and streams, but where do all these land lubbing toads go?

I hear that some toads of other places can seal themselves in some sort of mud ball and go into some sort of suspended animation for several years in order to survive droughts. Makes me wonder how many other creatures are designed to endure droughts in such a way.

Spadefoot Toad
Great Basin Spadefoot Toad

 

This toad can dry out like a prune and stay that way for years until water returns and he can reconstitute like nothing ever happened!

How many other creatures are also engineered this way by their Creator?
 
Wayne Hollyoak
Leave A Comment, Written on April 10th, 2013 , Amazing Pets, Devotional, Evidences of ID, Intelligent Design, Interesting Science
5 of the Worst Theories of Science

The more I’ve thought about science as being rebellion against our Creator, the more obvious the goofy claims appear. Take for example cosmology.

1. Condensation of gases to spontaneously generate stars and solar systems. Reality- gases don’t condense in space, they disperse. That’s what nebulae are most likely, regions of thin gaseous atmosphere in space lit up by star particle emissions as they are dispersing.

2. Life will evolve on any supportive planet. Once again “evolution” is made out to be some sort of creator god. Remember ‘science’ doesn’t allow their creator to have intelligence which is clearly needed to accomplish a feat like that!

Modern biology relys heavily on goofy theories.

3. Neutral Evolution- how do you evolve stuff that would require totally obsurd transitional stages like feathers on birds? Hmm! You can’t have the poor birds running around with useless quills looking like porcupines. So you say that the feather producing organs evolved first and didn’t actually grow feathers until they could be produced in a “selective” form to benefit the creature.  Reality show that feathers were well thought out designs and beautifully engineered!

4. Ape-Man common ancestory- Once again since “science” says that nature has no intrinsic intelligence and hence engineering capability there is no possible means to rework apes to produce speech and make engineers and scientists out of them. It’s more likely that they represent segments of the crumbling human genome. Without the Creator’s protection, entropy will continue to corrupt our genome. To that extent? We don’t know.

5. Evolution in General- the magical “uncreator”. Without intelligence, meditation or prethought, this theory expresses human ignorance to the fullest. The wonderful spontaneous generation of all living things by mutation and natural selection. “Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat!     PRESTO!” “Wait a minute, let me run over it first!”

For me, when it comes to science, all bets are off!

Wayne Hollyoak

Leave A Comment, Written on March 20th, 2013 , Intelligent Design, Interesting Science, Perspecitve, The Role of Faith in Science
What is Faith?

Several of my friends at work have faith in the lottery and they pay out money to buy lottery tickets. I have a good idea how the lottery works and have no faith in it. Money can buy things, but cannot bring peace of mind. Quite the opposite is true for the lottery. Once you become wealthy, everyone wants a piece of you!  No, don’t care for the lottery at all! But, people that “faithfully” buy their weekly/daily lottery tickets are demonstrating their faith in the lottery.

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith seems to form a mindset and a “comfort zone”.  Science has become a major guiding force in this society. It’s become a religous institution like none other. Though it is faith based, it strongly resists being labelled as such. The belief system is not new. It goes back to the ancient Greek philosophers and perhaps even before that. The theology is pantheistic and veiws god as being in all of nature giving it the power to create itself. In the modern form the term “origins” is used to mask the religious nature of this belief system.

Paradoxically, this strange diety is presented as non-intelligent and passive to the physical laws that dictate its activities. I suppose that is so that their diety can be ignored as non-existent or non-consequential, thus placing the scientists themselves as dictators of a new age of religion-free humanity.

Human pride is a funny thing. It puffs us up and makes us think we are in charge of our lives, when we are actually becoming slaves to our fictional imagined greatness. Once pride takes over, it doesn’t relinquish control easily. For those that lack a real sense of self-worth and depend on social acceptance and admiration, the lose of status can mean depression and perhaps suicidal thoughts and self-medication. The fact that we have been carefully and lovingly created and gently cared for and sustained has been erased perhaps not completely, but more or less forgotten in the “age of science”.

Whether we decide to place our faith in our Creator and Sustainer, Christ Jesus will not change the way things are. We are fearfully and wonderfully made! Our bodies were engineered and assembled in our mom’s belly by a master craftsman with loving care. The process is so intricate and controlled that it appears to happen on its own. Information for its construction is stored mainly on the genetic material from both parents. We know a little bit about how the process works, and there is an illusion of autonomy since it appears to be engineered to operate largely on its own.

Jesus taught that the sparrow doesn’t fall to the ground without its Creator’s knowledge. Nature was engineered to be a vast tutor on the artistry and devotion of our Creator to help us understand what kind of person He Is. Science has become a figment of human pride and rebellion against the reality of our existence and the love of our Creator extended to us.

It has take me many years to finally part ways with it and to place my faith where it ought to be. It’s still a work in process and Christ sweeps the prideful science cobbwebs from my heart and mind. But, I’m glad the process is under way and I can once again understand my existence.

Wayne Hollyoak

Leave A Comment, Written on March 17th, 2013 , All Topics, Devotional, Evidences of ID, Intelligent Design, Perspecitve, Super Nature, The Role of Faith in Science
Reality and Science

People in the world of science spend a lot of time analyzing stuff and trying to figure things out. The whole concept of  scientific inquiry depends of a physical world operating under the current set of conditions. There are a wide range of assumptions that this all depends on. It looks at how things operate in the present and assume that nothing has or will change, or even can! Things like the speed of light and the conservation of energy are perceived to be reliable assumptions. But, we have no way to prevent  them from altering at any given moment.

We take many such things for granted since we don’t see them changing. But, are they can they, do they? All we can tell is what we perceive and others have observed and recorded. The reality is very different. The physical laws have a stability that is maintained deliberately and they reflect the power, majesty and grace of their Creator. But, we must always remember that at any moment these properties “nature” can be altered or suspended. Indeed, when we die they do and we will need a new body in order to stand before our Maker. Such an event would not be possible in this body of flesh and blood.

The Bible is the only reliable source of information about the Creator and His creation. Yes, it was written down by men and passed down by men. But, just as the Great Engineer of all thing has sustained the universe for so many years, so has the Lord Jesus provided us with the Bible as a view of the universe and mankind through the eyes of its author.

Many years ago I worked on an a truck assembly line. Soon after I became a believer, I started bringing a New Testament with me into the paint booth where I sprayed rustproofing on the insides of doors and body panels. I would get a little ahead of the conveyor sometimes and take a moment to read a few verses. One day I was really struggling with getting an understanding of my place in God’s world and I asked Him to help me and at that moment the assembly line halted! I thought, Hmm! It occasionally would pause for a moment or 2 for various reasons. So, I stepped over and opened the New Testament that was covered with grey rustproof. It opened to Psalm 39 (this New Testament included Psalms and Proverbs):
Ps 39 

I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me. I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred. My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue, LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah. Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them. And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee. Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach of the foolish. I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it. Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand. When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah. Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were. O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.” 

I finished, layed down the book and the assembly line started back up. I had an exact and detailed answer for my question and it had me in tears as the reality of Christ’s presence in the paint booth sunk into my heart. This One that died for me and death couldn’t hold him, has the final say on all things in this universe and the one to come had heard me and answered me directly! That’s the reality that comes with being one of His disciples. “He works all things for good, for those that trust Him and are the called according to His purpose.”

I hope you believe on the Lord Jesus! If not, why not start…

Wayne Hollyoak

Leave A Comment, Written on March 4th, 2013 , All Topics
<< Older Entries

Scifaith Blog is proudly powered by WordPress and the Theme Adventure by Eric Schwarz
Entries (RSS) and Comments (RSS).

Scifaith Blog

Is it science and faith, or really faith and faith?