Ocean Views

I went to the Oregon coast this weekend with my cousin. As we walked along the beach yesterday evening we enjoyed the ocean air and admired God's beautiful creation around us. This morning when I looked out the window I noticed two things (1) the tide was much lower than it was last night and (2) two people were busy writing a message in the sand. Each of these things was very fascinating to me.

1. The phenomenon of ocean tides is really remakable. Think about how a massive body of water like the Pacific ocean is following the gravitational pull of the moon. I am in awe of how God designed the world together so intricately, yet from a distance it appears that things are operating independently. I know sometimes I start thinking more about how I can operate independently, but I forget the fact that we do not function well on our own unless were are working together with others.

2. I watched with excitement as two people were finishing what they were writing in the sand. This much had been written "Blair (heart)'s Barbra," and they were starting to write "will you marry me?" I was trying to figure out if the one doing the proposing was one of the people writing or if he had sent 2 of his friends down to write the message for him (the hotel level was significantly higher than the beach). I was agonizing over the fact that the word "marry" was looking more like the word "mnrrt," when one of the guys went running back out to the message in the sand. I thought he was going to fix that word, but instead he went to add an "a" to the intended's name. They had spelled "Barbara" wrong!

Evolution

I think that the introduction of evolutionary theory was probably the most detrimental philosophy that has invaded our culture. You might ask why a theory that attempts to explain the origin of species could have such a negative effect on culture. At a surface level, it would seem that evolutionary theory is just another scientist's hypothesis that can't totally be proven or disproven in a laboratory, so how could that affect a culture? By the way, I am a scientist who believes that God created the universe and all that is in it.

Lately, I have been noticing some things that I have never tied together before. I would propose that the macro theory of evolution, which attempts to answer how humans, plants, animals, and everthing else came into existence, has had a much deeper impact on our worldview than we realize. This theory has created much confusion and misguided intentions.

1. Medicine--The fact that humans exist as a product of chance makes disposing of human life much more justifiable (from abortion to euthanasia).

2. Law--did you know that in the U.S. the laws were originally made to coincide with Biblical laws? When a new law was being proposed, a common question would be, "where do you find that in the Bible." I have been told that in the mid 1800s the legal approach in the U.S. began to change when the idea of progressive law was introduced at Harvard. The idea is that laws and their intrepation build on previous decisions, so they should progressively improve over time. Unfortunately, I don't think improvement actually occurs because when a bad decision is made, it can negatively influence future decisions. In the end there is nothing solid to use as a foundation, but instead we end up with a moving target.

3. Environment--Have you noticed how some people are prone to worshiping nature? I see this especially on the West Coast. It is my opinion that this stems from Darwin's theory of evolution because inherently we all want something to believe in. We want to rally behind a cause. This poses a problem when God has been erased from the picture. If we don't believe that He exists, then what is there that we can stand behind? Many people decide to "save the world." While I believe that we need to be good stewards of the earth that God has given us, I do not believe that it or the animals on the earth should be held in higher esteem than God Himself. There is a verse in the Scriptures that says that people choose to serve what has been created rather than the Creator. If a person starts with the premise that there is no Creator, then what else is there other than created things for that person to serve? I saw a bumper sticker today that said "Praise dog." I was totally appalled. Only our Father in Heaven who created the Universe deserves all of the honor, glory, and praise.

Frustration

Have you ever had one of those days when you have been frustrated and responded to someone in a manner you did not intend? I had one of those days today. I apologized, but I still feel bad about it. I think it is interesting how a sense of frustration can make a person feel very defensive and perhaps even behave a bit irrationally. The worst part is that when I feel frustrated, I find it difficult to display Godly character. So, is frustration a result of humanity's fall into sin?

Another interesting thing is that each person has different things that frustrate them. I wonder why. What is happening in the brain when a person gets frustrated?

Appointed Times

A few weeks ago, one of my cousins sent me an email asking me my opinion on this topic, which is what spurred me to write about it. My intent is not to trample on dearly held traditions, but to cause you to think about what has been lost through the centuries.

"What are the Biblical Holidays?" Five years ago I probably would have responded, "Christmas and Easter." If someone would have asked me "Can you find any verses in the Bible that say to celebrate those holidays on the specific days when they are celebrated?" I would have likely responded, "No, but..."

Did you know that there are seven holidays for which God gives specific days and specific instructions on when/how to observe them? Yes, I can give you several specific Biblical references. Start with Leviticus chapter 23. A common response I have heard is, "Oh, those are the ones in the Old Testament, so we don't have to do them anymore." My next question is, "Does that mean the Ten Commandments have also become irrelevant ?" Didn't Jesus (Yeshua) say that he did not come to abolish the Torah, but to fulfill it? It is pretty clear from the Gospels that Jesus (Yeshua) observed these holidays.

The following are the appointed times listed in Leviticus 23 (they can also be found in other places in the Scripture):
-Shabbat (Sabbath)
-Passover (deliverance from slavery in Egypt and also deliverance from sin by Jesus death)
-Yom Habikkurim (Feast of First Fruits--the day that the grave was found empty)
-Shavuot (Pentecost--50 days after Yom Habikkurim)
-Yom Teruah (Day of Blowing or Rosh Hoshana)
-Yom Kippur (Day of Atonment)
-Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles)

The Shabbat is an appointed time that occurs every week, the next three take place in the spring, and the last three take place in the fall. They give us a picture of God's Divine plan (there is much that could be written here).

Last Sunday was Shavuot (Pentecost). It was not until 4 years ago that I found out that Pentecost was not just something that Christians observe, but it is a major Jewish festival as well. It is remembered as being when the Law was given to Moses on Mount Sinai. Then about a couple thousand years later, the Holy Spirit was poured out on Shavuot as recorded in the Book of Acts. Isn't it amazing how God uses His appointed times to do remarkable things?

So, why do many Christians think that it is so wrong to celebrate these feasts now? Most people cannot anwer this question, they just have this "feeling" about them. Constantine and others around his time decided to try to strip Jewishness from Christianity, so they replaced the Biblical Feasts with Christmas and Easter, which coincided with existing pagan holidays. Now you might say, "Is it wrong to give/receive Christmas gifts and listen to Christmas music?" I don't think so. The thing that I notice about these holidays, which don't have any specific guidelines, is that they have morphed into things which are barely recognizable as remembering the birth and death of the Messiah. They have been replaced with lights, candy, and imaginary creatures. There is no Biblical outline for how they are to be celebrated, so it has been left up to humans to define.

There is so much depth and richness to celebrating the feasts that the Lord specified in the Scriptures. By ignoring them, we are missing out on learning more about His nature and character. I look at it this way, many people are settling for instant coffee when they could be having freshly ground and brewed gourmet coffee.

The Tunnels of Hyrcania

I should tell a little more about my trip to Israel in March/April. Besides doing GPR scanning at Herodium, we also did some GPR scanning in two tunnels in Hyrcania. These tunnels are rather mysterious because the archeologists don't know why they were dug, nor do they know when they were built. These tunnels are situated in the sides of mountains in a wadi (dry river bed). The region is known as the Valley of Echor. The photo on the right is looking down into the tunnel from the entrance, so it appears to be well lit, but it was not (this photo used a flash). We had a rope that went down about one-third of the way (it would have been nice to have had one all the way down).

I personally was not totally prepared for the challenge of being in these tunnels. Stairs had been carved into the bedrock 150 m (450 ft) into the mountain. The inclination of the tunnels was about 45 degrees, so it was pretty steep. The tunnels got as narrrow as about 2 ft in places and 5.5 ft tall. Needless to say it was very dark (fortunately I had a head lamp with me). The archeologist (Oren Gutfield) told us that when they had dug in the tunnels to clear hard packed debris, they had run out of oxygen at the bottom. He also told us of other dangers that had been present. Needless to say, this made me get a bit nervous. I was also a little concerned that we might run into some animals that had decided to go into the tunnel and perhaps couldn't get out. He kind of chuckled at my worry about the animals. Little did I know that I would actually welcome the sight of the animals that we saw at the bottom. When we reached the end, we saw two pigeons that were ALIVE! I was thrilled to see that they were alive (in the photo to the right, Oren is holding one of the pigenons)--that meant that there was enough oxygen for them to live, so we probably would have enough O2 as well. Near the end the tunnel split into two chambers, they both ended about the same distance down. It was very strange. Another interesting thing was that there were pockets carved out of the walls approx. every 5 ft, which had been there for oil lamps to light it.

Once we had evaluated the situation, we had to make the climb out to get our equipment to bring down. Two trips in one day was plenty for me! It was physically exhausting. We went back again another day to scan the other tunnel--that one was not as deep. On the right you can see me leaving the tunnel (I carried the water bottles, which was more difficult than you might think).

This experience was one that made me realize that I am capable of more than I think. It was a bit of a mental struggle to go all the way down into the tunnel, but once I was able to get over the head games, it wasn't so bad. However, I can honestly say that I don't have a strong desire to go exploring other long, dark, dirty, warm, humid tunnels.

The photo above was taken without a flash (with only a headlamp on) and shows the "light at the end of the tunnel" as we were exiting.

Created to Create

This is another post which was inspired by the Truth Project. Have you ever thought about the fact that since we are created in the image of God that we have been "created to create?" It is quite a remarkable thought that the Creator of the universe created us to build/create too. Wow! "For six days the Lord made the Heavens and the Earth and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed." The Bible instructs us to also work for six days and then to rest. I have been told that the word for "work" might be better translated as "create."

Sometimes I get a little bit disturbed by American culture's attitude toward "work." There is not much encouragement for being creative (I am not meaning artistic) unless you can come up with some grand new invention that make tons of money. Everything seems so money driven. It seems that mass production, which has made many products cheaper to buy than to make, has put a damper on people's ingenuity/creativity. Many people would not know how to build/make something if their life depended on it. I know I have caught myself thinking, "I could make that, but it would cost me more in time & materials to make it than it would to just buy it." Sometimes we forget the satisfaction that comes from making something with our own two hands.

Excavation Pic from Herodium

This is a photo from Yahoo news that was taken recently at Herodium. If you compare the square opening in the middle on the left with the photo of Yaakov and Roi in the previous post, you will see that it is the same opening. They certainly did a lot of excavating after we left. It really is crazy to think that we were standing right on top of it...if we would have stayed longer (or gone a couple weeks later), we could have been there for the big discovery.

To the right is a photo that also shows this same square opening when we were there (before it was fully excavated). Mika is on the right.

Herodium

I went on a trip as a volunteer to Israel about a month ago to help do some ground penetrating radar (GPR) for a couple archeologists. While we were there, we did some scanning at Herodium at the request of Prof. Ehud Netzer. He has been doing excavations at this site for over 30 years. He told us that he still wanted to find Herod's tomb, so that he could feel good about retiring. There have been many speculations, but they hadn't found it at that time, but there was some new hope because a new area was being uncovered on the side of the hill showed some promise. He asked us to scan in the new area as well as at the base of the tower in the previously excavated area (a GPR team in the past said that the tomb was in the tower, but he didn't believe them).

To me it felt a bit like "looking for a needle in a haystack." There was a lot of area to cover, and we could not really give them any definitive data from our scans because the type of antenna that we had with us could only penetrate about 1.3 m in that type of soil. In addition, the fill on top of the stone was hard packed, so there was not enough of a dielectric change for us to detect with the equipment. We didn't know before we arrived in Israel what the scenario would be like in this location, which was unfornate. We were rather disappointed that we were not able to tell them more specific information (we did find some anomolies, but they weren't conclusive). However, it was a great experience to be able to work with Yaakov Kalman, Roi Porat, and the Bedouins who where helping with the dig. We even got to have lunch in the home of one of the Bedouin workers, which was a real surprise for us (the hospitality was terrific).

While we were scanning, we looked in some of the tunnels/entrances into the side of the hill. In the process, we saw some very large stones that Yaakov got very excited about. He said he had never seen stones like them at Herodium before.

Today, Prof. Netzer announced that they found Herod's tomb. When I saw photos of where they found it, I see that we were walking almost right on top of it. It is very exciting because we were working with this team just one month ago. Below are some photos from the archeological site.

We scanned at the site, but we were not able to detect much because of similar rock/fill dielectric constants and the frequency of our antenna was a little too high to reach the depths that we wanted to see. I guess they found it anyway.

Roi and Yaakov are excavating an area that is near the entrance to where they found the tomb.

Above are a glimpse of the area where "large stones" were that Yaakov saw the day we were scanning. He was very surprised by them and said he had never seen such large stones at the site before. It appears that these may have been the clues that led them to finding the tomb.

View of Herodium from a distance.

Below is the full story on the Hebrew University website.
http://www.huji.ac.il/cgi-bin/dovrut/dovrut_search_eng.pl?mesge117861762132688760