Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: The Short End of the Stick (02/20/14)
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TITLE: Give Things Time | Previous Challenge Entry
By Catherine Craig
02/27/14 -
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“What don’t you get?” asked her father, taking his eyes off the road to glance at her. “What isn’t there to get? You’ve heard it most of your life – enough to make a decision for yourself.”
“It’s not that I don’t understand; it’s more that I wonder how “it”,” Jacqueline rolled her eyes and grinned at him, “fits into history – you know – the whole picture. The Bible covers a long, long, long period, literally back to the beginning. But, it’s not real life, or provable.”
“Okay. I get it. You want to know how the plan of Salvation dovetails with history, right?”
“Yeah – I think,” Jacqueline answered and frowned, trying to put her confusion into words. “Salvation is spiritual, and history isn’t.”
“Why all these questions?” her father said, again stealing a quick moment from driving to frown over at her. His baffled expression melted as understanding registered in his eyes. “It’s Trevor, isn’t it? Your mother and I warned you about dating him. Dating should lead toward marriage anytime you, as a young woman, leave a group of friends to spend intimate time with one man – and the bible admonishes for that person to be a Christian, Jacqueline!”
“Dad, don’t get started, please!” She implored, turning toward him, and reaching over to lay a hand on his arm. “I am not questioning my faith! In fact, Trevor challenges me to probe why I believe the way I do.”
“I’m sorry to turn your question into a lecture, but I’m not so sure “probing” doesn’t indicate exactly what we warned you about.” Jacqueline guiltily watched as her father kneaded the back of his neck. She’d been under conviction about dating Trevor, but wasn’t going to admit it. “Well anyway, moving on to answer what you asked the best I can,” he added after a moment. “Jesus said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the End.” So, though he got the short end of the stick, history consists of his story – and we benefit.”
“Huh?”
“Well, mankind was created in God’s image, right? The Bible teaches as far as his personhood, he reasons and feels, just as we do. Physically, we resemble him. He has appendages like us.”
“Okay…” Jacqueline interjected, wondering where he was going with things.
“We were made to connect with him. So, we, as thinking beings, perceive, due to the inspirational nature of order in the Universe, that there is a Creator. Thus, we have a “beginning” of history. It takes more faith to believe in humanistic theories out there, than it does this explanation that the Bible gives.”
“And…?”
“Evil exists. What that darkness is, people offer many explanations for. But, according to the Bible, evil forces want mankind to stay disconnected from God, understand?” he asked, and paused. “Their goal is to steal their way into our minds, to eat away at our faith, to make us disbelieve.”
“Right. But dad, that doesn’t mean we should dumb ourselves down, does it?”
“No. In a way, history is spiritual; man is spiritual. Concretely, where history and Biblical spirituality overlap can be found in various articles birthed by both recent archaeological excavations and scientific discoveries. Following the Biblical timeline, with the growing body of information to substantiate the Bible’s claims, is proving out more and more, to help confirm the existence of God.”
“Tell me more, dad,” Jacqueline begged, hungry for more.
“Well, the Ark built by Noah seems to have surfaced, for one. Remains of chariots attesting to the Red Sea crossing have been discovered and photographed. Josephus, noted historian and scholar, wrote about Jesus as “a man of great feats”. All these lend credibility to the Biblical account of history, don’t they?”
“Yes, it does, Dad,” Jacqueline answered – her nagging doubts beginning to evaporate like the morning mist on the Oregon lake they were passing. “Jesus does seem to be the “Alpha and the Omega” of history, isn’t he?” she commented, profoundly impacted by her father’s perspective. She knew what she had to do about Trevor. “I’d like to hear more.”
“Well, here we are!” her father said, turning the car into the busy high school parking lot. “We can talk any time you’d like.”
“Dad…” Jacqueline reached over to give him a hug.
“What, honey.”
“I love you.”
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Nicely done.
God bless~