Useful Quote: Existance of God

In Romans 1:18 ff we read, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and righteousness of men , who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.  So they are without excuse."

The quote I found useful regarding this idea of knowing God comes from Calvin's Institutes regarding the existence of God, Chapter III:

"There is within the human mind, and indeed by natural instinct an awareness of divinity.  This we take to be beyond controversy. To prevent anyone from taking refuge in the pretense of ignorance, God himself has implanted in all men a certain understanding of his divine majesty... If ignorance of God is to be looked for anywhere, surely one is most likely to find an example of it among the more backward folk and those more remote from civilization. Yet, there is, as the imminent pagan says, no nation so barbarous, no people so savage, that they have not a deep-seated conviction that there is a God."

Footnote in the Institutes: The pagan referred to above is Cicero.  "Calvin's view that all men have a natural sense or intimation of deity is in accord with the presupposition of all the characters of Cicero's dialogue On the Nature of the Gods, including the Epicurean, Velleius, who asks: 'Where is there to be found a race or tribe of men which does not hold, without instruction, some preconception of the gods?'" Nature of the Gods I. xvi.43

The Nearness of God

This morning something happened that I want to record for my posterity.  Things like this happen often and I can't help but wonder if I don't make note of them, that in the years to come they will be forgotten - and God calls us to remember His great works. 

One of my children was practicing a piece of music she has to play today at a retirement home.  It's a complicated piece -- very fast -- 10 pages long -- and she has been working on it since the beginning of summer.  She had gotten to the point where she was playing it very well and now, for some reason, she feels she is making "hundreds of mistakes."

In God's kind providence, yesterday we changed the direction of our morning devotions to study Romans. God's timing is amazing.  Today we found ourselves reading chapter 5 and we came across this passage and we all began to chuckle at the providence of God and, God's nearness to my child to provide her these verses this very morning.

Romans 5:3-5, "More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."

Autumn is Here!

I recently shot these at my favorite local haunt in our area where the sights, sounds and smells of Autumn are in the air!

Peonies!

I love everything about the peonies.  I love it's appearance but I especially love that God created them in such a way that in order for them to open a little ant has to come along and eat off the gummy stuff that keeps them shut.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My daughter saw the above orange flower hanging out by itself in the peonies' field along with some of these other beautiful flowers (and even beautiful weeds) and she altered the shot and made it look like a painting. I thought it was very unusual and beautiful. This is what it looked like originally.

 

 

 

 

On my way home from the shoot, I saw these fantastic creatures!

 

 

 

Water Lilies

I've been working to finally get through my owners manual for my Canon Rebel.  It's been fun to experiement with shooting manually rather than always using the automatic setting which, up until now, is basically how I've been shooting my pictures. These are some of my first efforts shooting manually.

The colors of a water lily are extrodinary.  I marvel at the amazing colors God has seen fit to bestow upon us for His glory and our enjoyment.