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Here’s an interesting trivia question for you. Do you know what the first thing that God said wasn’t good is?

If you’re like most people, you’re probably thinking of murder, or maybe you’d go so far as to say that it was Adam eating the forbidden fruit. But there’s something that preceeds that.

Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make a helper fit for him” (Genesis 2:18, ESV).

That’s right. The sinless man in the perfect place was still in a state that was not good. But this verse shows more than just that man needs a companion. It shows who that companion is and who it isn’t.

So out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him (Genesis 2:19-20, ESV).

All the animals were brought forward and none of them were fit for Adam. What was fit for Adam was something else entirely, something God had not yet made.

So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man (Genesis 2:21-22, ESV).

There are two important points regarding this passage. First, by logical necessity, women must be higher than animals. None of the animals were fit for Adam (and the idea of fitness is the idea of “corresponding”). Eve, the first woman, was specifically created for Adam, and she was taken out of Adam so that she was made of the same “stuff” that Adam was made of. Because of this, there is ontological equality between the sexes, despite the fact that there are different roles that each sex is better suited for.

Secondly, God did not make another man for Adam. He made a woman. A man is not fit for another man, but a woman is. Because this is something that comes about from creation, it is something that transcends religious ideology. Our very being shows us obviously what the proper function of each member is. To put it as bluntly, but as clearly, as possible, a penis was not designed to be inserted into the rectum, but instead into the vagina. This was intentionally designed by God, so to go against that is to go against the very design of our bodies.

You don’t love me, Jack. You love the idea of me.

I have to admit that sometimes I’ve been a “closet” Christian. That is, there are times when I’d rather not share my faith with those around me. People who know me on the Internet would probably doubt this is possible, but as the Net has shown, often what you are on-line is vastly different from who you are off-line.

Because of the growth I have had to go through, dealing with my depression and trying to find the underlying cause of it, I have had to look deeply at myself. It is amazing to find out things about me that I hadn’t even realized were true until I was forced to look them in the eye.

One of those things is in the area of personal evangelism. I have a great deal of friends who I don’t even know if they are saved or not. Sadly, up until this point, for some of them I haven’t even bothered enough to care whether they are or not.

This Lord’s Day, I found myself challenged by the sermon. It was on Mark 5, about the story of the demon possessed man who lived in the tombs. Jesus cast out the demons, who were Legion, and saved this man. So we know that there is no place that Christ cannot save someone, there is no person so lost Christ cannot save him or her, and there is no believer that Christ cannot use in His kingdom.

Because of this, I have determined to try to at least share the Gospel with some of my friends. Not my on-line friends, who already know my beliefs, but my off-line friends. No more shall I wear the mask of indifference in public. The person I truly am is the one I express through my apologetics articles and this website, and there is no reason that my off-line life cannot follow the same model.

Who knows…perhaps there might even be more people in the Kingdom because of it.

A blink of the eye
A slight of hand
No one can see
Through black canopy
Dirt, brick, and sand
To replace your last sigh.

Did you ever gaze
To the clouds drifting by?
It’s a beauty so complete
It doesn’t even have to compete
To catch the eye
Even in the last of our days.

We are Fallen on Earth
But not for eternity
For the day shall arrive
When we shall survive
Unchained and set free
Complete in new birth.

But that day is soon near
Though the path is quite long
When in the midst you stand
Seeking the Father’s hand
So your heart can sing the song
That your soul longs to hear.

Fallen no more.

Just a little FYI, for the time being the main page will be forwarded to this blog. This is because we are doing a little maintenance to make the rest of the site run better. None of the files that were on there have been removed, and they will all be back shortly :-)

Thanks for visiting CalvinDude.com

Yesterday was a good day for me. After I wrote the Sovereignty blog entry, I chatted for quite some time in #prosapologian, talking with many old friends and going through quite a few PMs. When I went to bed last night, it was in a prayerful state. I don’t remember the last time that I prayed as much as I did last night, nor the last time that I’ve felt the presence of Christ in such a real and visible manner as last night.

Today, it continues :-) I just got back from an afternoon of playing video games with a couple of the guys that I work with. It was just a blast to be able to hang out, away from work, and to do something that is totally non-job related. To find out more information about each other and to do a guy-bonding thing.

It was a wonderful time, and I cannot help but praise God in my inmost being. This is such a radical change in me from my past depression that I’m filled with joy at the very mention of Christ, my Savior. I find myself singing great hymns, and even some of the ditties from the common “convienience store” praise songs (You know, 7-11 tunes…7 words sung 11 times).

In all, it’s been a great day. I love God, and I look forward to the rest of my life walking with Him.

Okay, so things don’t always turn out like I expect. Megan, the girl I asked out (as mentioned in a previous blog entry), wasn’t able to make it tonight after all. Instead of hanging out and drinking coffee, I got to ride the bus and walk for a bit from the bus stop. Not too bad, in the end, although not what I had planned.

It often seems that whatever I plan is exactly what is not going to happen. And I know intellectually that God is sovereign and He has a plan for why things happen the way they do. Naturally, I am not yet perfect, and therefore I have a problem incorporating this “head knowledge” into my innermost being. (I will refrain from calling it “heart knowledge” because I think that’s a false dichotomy–what you believe in your “heart” is still part of your mental knowledge.)

I can’t help but see that often I am two men. That is, I live with an inner contradiction where on the one hand I look for and seek God’s total sovereignty over all things; but on the other hand I wish that I was in control. I know that this is the struggle of the spirit and the flesh at war in my innermost being, as Paul describes so beautifully in Romans 7. Still, while I might be able to “experience” this aspect of his letter, I would much rather “experience” the peace of Romans 5. It is obviously more pleasing to my soul.

On the way home tonight, I read Lamentations on the bus. It has brought some kind of new perspective (boy is that a scary term these days!) on my relationship with God. See, as I’ve mentioned before on this blog, I suffer from medical depression. It’s so bad that I have to take several different medications for it. Part of my struggle, naturally, is medical in nature; but there is also a very real spiritual aspect to it. Part of the spiritual fight I go through is the fact that I hate the side of me that despises God.

Yes, there is a side of me that despises Him. It hates God, and when I am emotionally down, that is the side of me that I allow to show through. I withdraw from people and run and hide. I would rather be alone and vent my anger at God, because He is God and I am not.

And yet I can honestly say that when I am feeling fine, I rest in the loving embrace of my God and my Savior. I take delight in the fact that He loves me and really does care for me. And sometimes, like tonight when my plans were so radically altered, it is difficult for me to accept the things that God has done for me. It is those times that I am left bouncing between the spirit and the flesh.

Life is a battle. It doesn’t end just because you become a Christian. And reading Lamentations (you thought I forgot, didn’t you?) showed me that even the Prophet Jeremiah was able to voice his frustration toward God. However, he did not end it with just that frustration, but was able to pen the mighty words that we have in the song, “Great is Thy Faithfulness.”

Indeed, God is faithful. And the only hope that we can have is if God is a sovereign God. For if God is not sovereign and He is not in control of these events–even so far as to determine that my “date” tonight would not go through–then I am left with a far, far worse problem then just the struggle between the flesh and the spirit. If God is not sovereign, then I have no hope at all.

Some people stop and question why
The universe is the way it is.
Perhaps these things have some hidden meaning
Deep inside
Where no one looks.

But some things are more plain
Than others could ever be.
Like how some things are worth
What others
Are not.

So perhaps there is something
That you might feel inside
Something worth fighting for
And possibly
To give it all for nothing.

Maybe others feel this way
And maybe they realize
That this life is worth the fight.
For you
And for me as well.

By the way, I have to point out that my web host r0x0rz d4 h|zzy!!! That’s right, I sent out an email today notifying them about how my card was stolen, and got a response back within half an hour notifying me they had switched my account over so I could pay with my PayPal account. This isn’t the first time that they’ve been helpful with me either. And to top it all off, they’re cheap and Christian!

So who do I use? I host through eChristianWebHosting.com. And no, I’m not getting any referal fees or kickbacks for this. These guys are just that good. :-)

God has an odd sense of humor. I know this primarily because I exist. Observe my life and you’ll see that it’s true.

Yesterday, I finally got up enough courage to ask out someone who I only know by name (Megan). We’re going out for coffee on Friday. So I went out for coffee yesterday (because I go out for coffee every day) and promptly proceeded to lose my debit card. Thus, today I had to cancel my card and go through all the rigamaroll to make sure no one finds it and “borrows” it for a bit.

Thankfully, God foreordained all this before the foundation of the Earth, and as such He also foreordained that last Saturday when I withdrew cash to pay for my rent I would get a little extra to hold me over until I get a new card. Thus, I still can go out on Friday and, presumably, not starve in the meantime while waiting for funds from el banco.

Ironically, for someone who is technically suffering from depression (that would be me), I’m fairly optimistic about this part of my life. Perhaps it means I’m getting better now. I see this as God’s sense of humor instead of God’s torture of me :-D ‘Tis a much better perspective.

Now if I could just achieve universal perfection and complete oneness with harmonic resonances and crystalline supremecy, why I could be Tom Cruise too.