riches from God and Creationism

Last night I finally was able to flip through the latest Jehovah Witness monthly literature: The Watchtower and Awake!

One article in particular was very interesting to me: "Riches that Come From God."  I am transported back to freshman year of high school, and the youth group from church.  It was my first day of the group.  We were supposed to go around the room telling our name, our school, our interests, and what God did for us this week.  The sick and twisted part was the amount of kids that attributed their high grades to God.  Prayers were sent and he provided his help.  I was only there for the first two Sundays, and then I decided to help in the nursery.  I just couldn't wrap my brain around people that prayed for an A on a test.

But even adults pray for "stuff" that does not seem appropriate to me.  Praying for money is one of them.  If you are lucky enough to have monetary riches, you are no greater to God than one that is less fortunate with money.  One point that I particularly liked was:


"The Christians at Smyrna, though poor, possessed riches far more valuable than silver or gold.  They were rich because of their faith and integrity to God.  Faith of itself is precious because it 'is not a possession of all people.' (2 Thessalonians 3:2).  Those not having faith are actually poor in God's eyes."

Internal peace has been a desire of mine for over a year.  Finding peace and comfort in God is the reason I started this spiritual journey.  In Isaiah 48:18 it states, "If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea."

Another interesting point from the literature is about that inner peace of which I speak.  That is the wealth I desire.  The articles states:

"Those with faith in God benefit from 'the riches of his kindness and forbearance and long-suffering.' (Romans 2:4) They also enjoy 'forgiveness of [their] trespasses' because of their faith in Jesus' ransom sacrifice. (Ephesians 1:7) Furthermore, theirs is the wisdom that 'the word of the Christ' brings to those who have faith. (Colosians 3:16) As they pray to God in faith, 'the peace of God that excels all though' guards their hearts and minds, bringing them contentment and happiness. (Philippians 4:7)"

The second article I found really interesting was, "Adam and Eve Were They Real People?" I am prone to be an Intelligent Design person.  However, I always find it interesting to hear all points of view on the validity of Bible stories and "myths".  One of the really interesting view points in the article is, "The book Nanomedicine states that the human body is made up of 41 chemical elements.  These basic elements - carbon, iron, oxygen, and others - are all present in the "dust" of the earth.  Thus, as Genesis states, humans are truly formed 'out of the dust from the ground.'"

The article illustrates other points to prove Adams existance.  However, I think there was one very powerful idea.  Most Christians think that Adam and Eve is simply a story or myth, not based on truth.  These Christians believe that to accept Adam and Eve as truth or myth is not an essential Christian facet.  The article states that to be a true Christian, one must believe in original sin; resulting in Jesus coming to save us.

"The perfect life that Jesus sacrificed to redeem obedient mankind corresponds to the perfect life that Adam lost as a result of the original sin in Eden.  Clearly, if Adam did not exist, Christ's ransom sacrifice would be rendered completely meaningless."

What a fabulous point to make in the quest for people to believe in the Garden of Eden story in Genesis.  If there wasn't original sin, why did Jesus have to come to Earth to save us?

This is a very thought provoking idea, one that I will continue to ponder.