Interesting word.

Whether you think about it or not, you deal with impossible all day, every day.

You come to a stop sign, look left, look right……there are no cars in sight and so you pull out into the intersection.

But you didn’t look up……. Why?

You didn’t look up……..because it is impossible that a car could come zooming down from the sky to hit you.

We constantly make decisions based on a set of assumptions that operate in the background…….. assumptions that never enter our consciousness. These assumptions make life easier…..and they usually work…….but not always.

Impossible is impossible…… usually……..but not always.

We believe that impossible is a black and white issue. Something is either possible……or it is impossible.

The trouble is that what we call impossible is based on a set of beliefs…….and more importantly on a set of assumptions. Those beliefs and assumptions change over time. Many of them are not correct in the first place. Many, that are correct today, may be incorrect tomorrow.

The simple truth is that the list of things that are impossible changes daily. Things that were once impossible are now possible. You can travel across the entire continent of North America in a few hours………not too long ago that would have been laughable.

In our secular world, an infinite universe operating on an infinite time frame is considered possible……..but the eternal life of your soul after your death is impossible.

So…….here is the moral of the story.

Impossible is a slippery concept to build your life on.

Impossible is a very dangerous concept to build your eternity on.

Galileo, among others, noticed that Mars sometimes moved backwards in its orbit. The culture of the day taught that this was impossible because the earth was the stationary center of the universe…….because everything orbited around us. Galileo was excoriated by the popular culture of his age………but he was right. He was right and they were wrong because the assumptions made by the culture were wrong.

Columbus sailed west and didn’t fall off the edge of the earth. This was thought to be impossible because the earth was thought to be flat. He was laughed at…….but he was right. The assumptions made by the culture, again, were wrong.

When I talk to a non-believer, they often will say, “you can’t possibly believe that the earth is only 4000 years old.” The subtext is, “you must be brain dead”.

Christianity is impossible because current science cannot account for a young earth……..or the resurrection of Jesus.

So……when someone tells you that something is impossible….when they laugh at you for the impossible thing that you believe………just remember Galileo.

If an idea is terribly important, don’t be put off……….because someone tells you that it’s impossible. Impossible just means that it is in conflict with the set of assumptions that they have made……..a set of assumptions that they probably can’t even list.

“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”

Mark Twain……..et al.

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

Paul NIV

“With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Jesus, NIV

What is it about rules?

We know that we need them….don’t put your hand in the fire.

But, we chaffe against them….sex is for husbands and wives.

Give us a list of 20 rules and we will find 10 of them that we just don’t like.

Our inclination is to honor the rules that we like and ignore the ones that we don’t like. This way we get to do as we please.
This often doesn’t work well for those around us. Sometimes it doesn’t even work well for us. Ask any woman with an unwanted pregnancy that resulted from “recreational sex”.

In essence, we build a personal list of rules that we like…….a list that doesn’t restrict us from doing the things that we really want to do. Then we try to enforce that list of rules on everyone around us. And don’t kid yourself…….secular humanists are just as guilty of this as Christians.

So…..each of us operates on a home grown set of rules that doesn’t unduly restrict us……..that doesn’t stop us from doing as we please.

But…….is this honest………is this true?

A great deal of the rancor in our world today grows out of the conflict that arises from all of the different lists of personal rules that we each operate under………..and try to enforce on others.

Abortion is murder……..Control of my body is my right.

We must love and care for our fellow man……..we need a wall to keep them out.

How can what is right for you but wrong for me……be true?

I believe that this way of living is intellectually dishonest. We follow a custom set of rules that doesn’t inconvenience us……and we tell ourselves that we are “a good person”……..that we are living a righteous life. But, in fact, we are committing the most dangerous of all crimes……..we are lying to ourselves.

How do you know if you are guilty of this?

There is a fairly simple test. If your set of rules rarely tells you not to do something that you really want to do……if your set of rules rarely tells you to do something that you really don’t want to do……then you are probably dealing with a home grown, custom, set of rules………a set of rules that you have created that doesn’t interfere with your doing what you want. You are probably being dishonest with yourself. Either that…….or you and your set of rules are perfect.

Watch the talking heads on TV tonight. They are all trying to sell your their list of rules……..because, in their hearts, they think that they are right……that they are perfect…..that their set of rules is perfect……or at least close to it.

I don’t trust myself to make the rules…….and neither should you. We are both far too skilled at manipulating others……..of manipulating ourselves…….. to produce a set of rules that is honest……..that is true…….a set of rules that consistently tells us not to do things that we want to do…..that consistently tells us to do things that we don’t want to do.

How do we handle this?

The honest answer, the true answer, is to look outside of ourselves for a moral code.

In my life, I have used two different external moral codes. I won’t pretend that I have always followed them……..but I have tried. You can judge me for how they have worked.

I began with the Bible. In high school and college I drifted away and began using the Boy Scout oath and the Scout law. As an adult I have turned back to the Bible. Both of these moral codes are similar. On balance, they have both served me well.

Why have I settled on the Bible?

The first reason is that it is by far the most widely accepted moral code on the planet. Christians, Jews, and Muslims all use it……or at least parts of it.

The second reason and the more important reason is that Jesus used it.

Jesus died……a squad of Roman soldiers made sure of it. This is a historical fact.

The apostles and hundreds of witnesses saw him alive later on multiple occasions.

The resurrection of Jesus means that he was and is more than human…..that he was and is God.

So…….. if the Bible is a good enough moral code for God……then it is good enough for me………even the parts that I don’t understand…….even the parts that restrict me and my appetites.

I encourage you to explore the Bible as an external moral code……..unless you are already perfect.

The Cliff notes version?

Love God…..Love your neighbor.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness

Paul. NIV

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

Jesus, NIV

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus, NIV

It’s the 3am phone call that every parent fears.

We all know about accidents. We’ve all had accidents……more than we care to remember.

Accidents come in many flavors……but the vast majority of them share some things in common. Something good, possibly something beautiful, maybe even something that you will find it hard to live without, is damaged, destroyed, perhaps even killed.

There is the rare instance of serendipity……..the accident that turns out well. But, let’s face it, you don’t get up in the morning hoping that you will have an accident.

Science has codified this into a law…..the law of entropy. This law says that, barring the input of energy, the disorder in a system will increase. I would add that the energy must be applied in an intelligent manner. If you put enough thermal energy into your house, it doesn’t remodel your kitchen…….it burns your house down.

So what do accidents have to do with Christianity?

Absolutely nothing.

But, accidents are central to the other great religion in our culture…….. Darwinian evolution. There are two key tenets of DE:

A random accident causes an improvement in a living organism.

That improvement gives the organism a competitive advantage that then spreads through the entire ecosystem.

In essence, DE teaches that this entire beautiful, incredibly complicated and interconnected planet and every ecosystem in it are the result of a series of trillions upon trillions of sequential, positively adaptive, interconnected yet random accidents. Sort of like putting a box of hampsters on top of a tower, letting them get hit by lightning or cosmic radiation for a long time and expecting to go back and find Angelina Jolie.

There is no other idea in the entire realm of human thought that asks us to believe that random accidents over time lead to the improvement of a system.

And, in our heart, we know this. Accidents destroy, they do not create.

Accidents are, on balance, even after factoring in the rare instances of serendipity, destructive…….they do not improve anything.

To believe that this amazing world is an accident is the same as getting that 3am phone call……..and reacting with joy because you believe that your son’s SAT score will go up because of it.

DE is clothed in a lot of science. It is also built on a stack of theories, many of which do not have a scintilla of hard evidence to support them. We like it because it allows us to believe that we are the ultimate life form……that we only answer to ourselves. And yet, if we honestly consider our experience with accidents……..we must have some doubt.

These two great religions offer you a choice:

You are an accident……and you can do whatever you please.

You are a child of God who loves you….and he has expectations.

Now choose.

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

Paul, NIV

“Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

God, NIV

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew a you, before you were born I set you apart”

God, NIV