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 1
 
ustard
 eed 
 
Vol.1 No. 1 January 2008
Just Pondering...
WHAT IS
 
LIFE?
Some have said in words and in song, "Life is just a bowl of cherries." Others while in a more downcast mood have said, "Life is the pits." Is life as meaningless as a 'bowl of cherries'? Or is it to be lived to it's fullest because it means something? 
J
ust what is life? Or perhaps it should be asked, "Why are we alive?"
Isthere ANY purpose to life?
 
Do we just live a few years and then die and that'sthe end of it?Have you ever asked yourself any of these questions? Have you been puzzled,especially during very difficult periods, as to why you were alive in the firstplace?Hopefully, this article will help you to a better understanding of life and what isit's real purpose. Perhaps you might even be edified and lifted up by it. Let's praythese statements are true.We are not here at this time to argue the "religion-evolution" battle, but do want to try to explain what life is, or more precisely,what life is all about.
 
(continued on page 3)
What Matters Most: 
 
Achievementor
 
Goodness
 
By
Brian Knowles
I
n ultimate terms, no one can beclassified as absolutely good. EvenJesus, who was absolutely good, inhis humility, said,
“Why do youcall me good? There is none good but God”
(Matthew 19:17). As thewriter of Ecclesiastes observed,
“There is not a righteous man onearth who does what is right and never sins”
(Ecclesiastes 7:20).We are not speaking inultimate terms here, but in relativeones. It is possible to be relativelygood, as opposed to utterly evil.
Enter the Child
A baby is born morally neutral. Itis neither good nor evil. Evil is asevil does. To be evil, one has todo evil. To be good, one has todo good. A newborn baby hasdone nothing. Yet at some point, achild grows up and canNext page…
 
 2
 
What matters…
be described as “evil” or “good.”Jesus himself used this terminologywhen he said,
“He
[God]
causeshis sun to rise on the evil and thegood, and sends rain on therighteous and the unrighteous”
(Matthew 5:45b). There is aparallelism here: good = righteous,evil = unrighteous.Somewhere between birth andbecoming good or evil, a personmakes decisions, based on acquiredvalues, which way he or she willgo. He or she then establishes atrack record of behaviors thatresult in one becoming one or theother.Of course many people areneither wholly good nor utterlyevil, but a mixture of both.Ultimately, what a personbecomes in God’s estimation isbased upon the values adoptedthroughout life. If we pull ourvalues from the prevailing culture,we may end up valuing art morethan morality, accomplishment morethan goodness.I once knew a woman whovalued intelligence more thangoodness. Her highest complimentto a person was, “You’re sosmart!” Eventually she found asmart, wealthy man whom sheseduced away from his wife, thusalienating his children from twoprevious marriages from him andfrom her. She eventually moved inwith him, sharing in his wealth,and basking in his “smartness.” Inher wake, she had left a trail of tears and heartbreak. She had noconscience problems with that,because she had been true to hervalue system: intelligence trumpedgoodness.The ancient Greeks valuedbeauty more than goodness. If achild was born deformed, ugly orsick, they often abandoned it on ahilltop to die. They wanted onlybeautiful children.Dennis Prager writes, “Oneof the Holocaust’s most importantlessons is that the most culturednation in Europe produced thedeath camps and the gas chambers.People often ask how the nationthat produced Goethe, Schiller, andBeethoven could produceAuschwitz. But the question betraysthe questioner’s belief in art as agenerator of morality. A nation thatproduces great artists is no lesslikely to commit atrocities than onethat produces great athletes” (
Think a Second Time,
p. 215).Prager then describes thefact that Auschwitz had a residentorchestra and a commandant whowas an accomplished pianist “whowould spend his nights playingSchubert after having supervisedthe torture and gassing of thousands of people during theday” (ibid.).Art is not character.Intelligence and achievement arenot goodness. I would rather bemarried to a good woman (I am),than a woman of greataccomplishment. I value goodnessmore than achievement. I knowthat people who value beauty, art,accomplishment and intelligenceabove goodness can easily turntheir talent to evil, as did theGreeks, as did the Germans. Itreally does come down to values.Dennis Prager also writes:“The most fundamental teaching of ethical monotheism is that anyvalue,
no matter how meaningfulor beautiful,
when divorced fromgoodness and God, can easily leadto evil. Put in theological terms,any value that becomes an end initself can easily become a falsegod” (Prager, p. 214, emphasishis).
Forming Values in the NextGenerations
If my wife and I had youngchildren today, we would raisethem to value values more thanachievement. We would teach themthat one good deed—a single actof kindness—trumps winning abaseball pennant, a soccer game, orearning a trophy in a spelling B.We would explain that aman who sacrifices his life to savethe lives of others is a greaterman than one who wins a Nobelor Pulitzer Prize, or an Oscar. AMother Theresa, who lived amidstthe heat, flies, sickness, povertyand squalor of India to minister topeople whom to her were religious“strangers,” is nobler than a personwhose highest value is merelymaking money or accumulatingpolitical power for their own sake.We would tell our childrenof a woman named Dorcas(Tabitha) whom God raised fromthe dead that she might continueher good works—deeds of kindnessin which she provided clothing forthose who needed it (cf. Acts9:36-42, Matthew 25:36 - 40).
Achievement
with
Goodness
If one’s highest value is goodness,then all that one achieves will beturned to good in the world. If one’s highest values are smartness,accomplishment, beauty, power,wealth, honor and awards, thengoodness can be lost in the shuffleand the door to evil thrown wideopen, as it was in Nazi Germany.It is possible to be movedto tears by great art, soaringmusic, and wonderful acting. Butemotional gratification and uplift
 
 3
through art can result in moraldesensitization. It can result indetachment from the real world,with its sufferings and needs. Whatbegins as a momentary escape cangrow into a consuming, divertingobsession.Once goodness ceases to bea person’s most important concern,the categories of good and evil aredowngraded into practical oblivion.If goodness is maintained as one’sprimary value, then all oneachieves will colored by thatreality.In the world of naturalman, many things are valued abovegoodness: art for art’s sake,intelligence, achievement, ideology,politics, power, wealth, honor,recognition, education etc. etc. Butas Dennis Prager writes, “It is oneof life’s ironies that once a persondies, most of theseaccomplishments mean little toothers. Every eulogy I have everheard emphasized, when possible,the goodness of the deceased farmore than professionalachievements. It’s sad that itusually takes death to clarify whatis most important in life” (
Think aSecond Time,
p. 231).
What is Life…?
 
(From page 1)Scripture says that "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."(
Gen. 1:1
)At some time in the past, God created all things and did it by and through theone who became Jesus.
"In the beginning
(of material things)
was The Word, and The Word was WITH God and The Word WAS God.""The same was in the beginning with God.""All things were made by Him
(by The Word)
and without Him was not anythingmade that was made."
 
(John 1:1-3)
"He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Himnot.""He came to His own and His own received Him not.""But as many as received Him, to them He gave power to become the Sons of God, even to them that believe on His Name."
 
(John 1:10-12)
God has a plan and a purpose for mankind. That plan and purpose has beenmisunderstood by most for centuries. However, in this end time He has allowedsome to understand and teach about that plan.Jesus came to earth bringing a message, good news (gospel) of The Kingdom of God. He taught
who
can enter that Kingdom and
how
they can enter thatKingdom. Remember that a Kingdom has a king, a territory, laws, and subjects.WHO Can Enter God's Kingdom?
"No man can come to Me, except The Father who has sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day."
 
(John 6:44)
 Those whom God calls can come to Jesus, accept His sacrifice, repent of theirsins, be submerged into His death by baptism, and receive God's Holy Spirit(which is a token payment on eternal life).HOW Can They Enter That Kingdom?
"To them who by patient continuance in well doing, seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life."
 
(Romans 2:7)
 (We don't have immortality yet, do we?)Patient continuance in well doing? Youmean we have to
do
something otherthan "just believe?" Yes. The scripturesare rife with statements that point toour having to do
"well-doing"
.
Now wait a minute!
We didn't say onecould
work
his way into the Kingdomof God! Read a few paragraphs upbeginning with "Those whom Godcalls" and see what is required.
 After this gift 
, we then MUST continue in"well-doing". We must have an attitudeof obedience to God
or He will notgive us His Holy Spirit
.Read
Acts 5:32
:"And we are witnesses of these things;and so is also The Holy Spirit, whomGod HATH GIVEN TO THEM THATOBEY HIM."Yep....obedience is necessary beforeGod will give anyone His Holy Spirit!Not MY words!
HIS WORDS
!Do you believe Him? I hope so for thesake of your eternal lives!!Now what is this human life that Godhas given us? We're not talking abouthow we are sustained. That is a subjectfor another article. What we aretalking about is what we must do withthis life!
 "I call heaven and earth to record thisday against you, that I have set before
of 00

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