1 John 1:9: Confessing Our Sins

ἐὰν ὁμολογῶμεν τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν, πιστός ἐστιν καὶ δίκαιος, ἵνα ἀφῇ ἡμῖν τὰς ἁμαρτίας καὶ καθαρίσῃ ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ πάσης ἀδικίας.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

Though we might try to live lives obedient to the Lord, inevitably we will fall into sin again. When that happens, we have to decide what to do about it. Many Christians have taken comfort in this verse: we confess our sins and God forgives us.

So exactly what does it mean to “confess” our sins? Some people practice a sterile, “God forgive me” prayer. They’re not specific about their sins and they certainly don’t admit to any particular sin. They act as though they maybe did something wrong or maybe they didn’t. They think that if they just say, “God forgive me,” that’s that.

But the Greek word for “confess,” ὁμολογεῶ (homologeō), goes a little beyond that. Like many Greek words, it’s a compound word: homos meaning “same” and logos meaning “word.” So, ὁμολογεῶ literally means, “same words.”

When we “confess” our sins, we speak of them with the same words that God does. So, “God forgive me” becomes something like, “God, I slacked off at work today. My employer pays me for eight hours of work so I stole from him because I didn’t do eight hours of worth of work. Forgive me for that sin, God. I was wrong.” This is true for any sin: covetousness, pride, lust, greed, hate, idolatry, or whatever other sin we commit on any given day.

When we confess our sins in the same way God sees them, we accomplish 2 things: First, we gain the forgiveness and cleansing that Christ promised us. But secondly, when we speak our sins specifically, it has the effect of making them more real. It’s like an alcoholic – if he never admits he has a problem, he’ll never stop drinking. It’s much harder to continue in a sinful life style if every day we speak our sin to God, condemn it as God condemns it, and ask for forgiveness from it.

If we simply say, “God forgive me,” we ask for forgiveness without any confession. There's no forgiveness or cleansing in that.

Happy Mother’s Day

On Mother’s Day, churches all over the US will be talking about various mothers in the Bible and will hold them up as role-models of good mothers. There certainly are a lot of mothers discussed in the Bible but one of my favorites isn’t even named – the Bible only describes her as the mother of the sons of Zebedee (James and John). The Bible doesn’t say a lot about her but I know she was a great mother from what I read about her in Matthew:

“Then came to him the mother of Zebedees children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom.” Matthew 20:21-22

So how do I know she was a great mother? First, we see first that she worshipped Jesus. Second, she also prayed for her sons to be with Jesus in heaven. What greater things can a mother do? Most mothers will provide for their children: food, shelter, clothes, and, of course, love - but these things only last for a while. The truly special mothers are concerned about their children’s eternal needs.

When the disciples heard the wife of Zebedee ask this, they were indignant (Matthew 20:24). Perhaps they thought it was a bit too much to ask for such a special position (to sit next to Jesus in heaven). But I say she was a great mother and wanted the best for her children.

So here is a salute to all the godly mothers out there who are praying for your children. My prayer on this day is that all of your prayers are answered.

And, mom, I’m sure you’ll be reading this: I love you.

Have a happy Mother’s Day!

The Myth of Sea-to-Land Evolution

OK, so you know that I’ve long since given up on evolution. After looking into it for a few years, I realize the whole idea is untenable. But apparently even I wasn’t aware how tenuous the entire theory is. I’ve known that the so called FACT of evolution is more story telling than science but I came across an article recently that highlights exactly how little science is involved.

Haven’t you been told all your life that life arose in the sea and then progressed on to land? This “primordial soup” is the foundation of evolution: life began in the ancient oceans, became complex marine animals, then clawed onto dry land to eventually become amphibians, reptiles, dinosaurs, birds, mammals, and man. Right? Since it is repeated so often, I would think this fantastic account of fish to land must surely be one of the most documented facts in all of science. Boy was I wrong.

I read an article in NationalGeographic.com (a source not at all friendly to creationists), called: New Fossil: Link Between Fish and Land Animals? I encourage you to click the link and read the entire article for yourself but I wanted to highlight a few quotes taken from the article. The first paragraph begins:

“What creature first crawled out of the prehistoric swamps to conquer the land? The question has long puzzled paleontologists because the transitional species seems to have lived during a mysterious 30-million-year gap in the fossil record called Romer's Gap.”

Wait a cotton picking minute!! Are they saying sea-to-land evolution supposedly occurred during a gap in the fossil record? This isn’t just one person’s opinion either because they’ve even named the gap. That can’t be right! But read on:

“The late Devonian period has is a rich fossil history of lobed fishes.”

OK, so we have a “rich fossil history of lobed fishes.” I guess that means a lot of fish fossils.

"After the Devonian the fossil record disappears, at least for a while—20-30 million years. Only three informative fossils dating back to this time have been found."

I about fell out of my chair. Only three informative fossils? Are you kidding me? We’ve reconstructed the entire fish-to-land story based on just three fossils!! This must be a joke. But read on:

“When the fossil record resumes roughly 25 million years later, there was already a tremendous variety of tetrapod landforms. Ancestors of modern mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and birds had already evolved and were diverging along distinct branches.”

I guess it’s not a joke. They have fish - next they have tetrapod landforms. In the interim we have three fossils - I guess now we have four with the new one discussed in the article. But of these four, only the most recent one is considered transistional.

There you have it, folks. The entire fish-to-land scenario of evolution was contrived before a single transitional fossil was found. Even now, we have exactly ONE fossil to support the entire, stinking premise.

Let me remind you of these quotes by Darwin (from 2 different chapters):

“But, as by this theory innumerable transitional forms must have existed, why do we not find them embedded in countless numbers in the crust of the earth?”

“But just in proportion as this process of extermination has acted on an enormous scale, so must the number of intermediate varieties, which have formerly existed on the earth, be truly enormous. Why then is not every geological formation and every stratum full of such intermediate links? Geology assuredly does not reveal any such finely graduated organic chain; and this, perhaps, is the most obvious and gravest objection which can be urged against my theory.”

Darwin was concerned about the lack of transitional forms in the fossil records – as well he should be. I guess the lack of sea-to-land transitional forms makes some modern scientists a little nervous too. Again, we have this candid quote from the article:

‘"We lack a focus from which all modern tetrapods evolved," said Robert Carroll, professor of zoology, curator of vertebrate paleontology at Montreal's McGill University. "Romer's Gap is a 30-million-year black box that, frankly, keeps me up at night."

Clack's latest find may help scientists sleep better.’

I can almost hear a collective sigh of relief. They’ve invented an elaborate theory about sea-to-land forms and have been searching desperately to find even ONE example. Now they’ve finally found something they can pin the "transitional" label on. This critter is no more a sea-to-land transition than the man in the moon.

If you give me a hammer, I can drive a square peg into a round hole. I guess they can also make a previously unknown species look like a transitional form. Evolution is looking pretty bad; I just didn’t realize how bad!

Silencing the Christians

So, do you think I’ve been over reacting about the persecution of Christians in America? I’ve not even scratched the surface yet. And right now, a made for TV series called, Speechless: Silencing the Christians is shining a light on the very problems I’ve been lamenting on this blog.

It’s a fantastic series that shines a light on the erosion of Christian rights that’s occurring under our noses. It’s a wake up call that we have to speak up now or soon we won’t be allowed to speak at all!

As I write this, the first 5 episodes are available online here. I’ve watched them and can’t recommend them enough. There will be 10 episodes in all. Please check them out and tell your friends about them.