© Copyright 2013 PJ Stassen
All Rights Reserved
I realize from my earliest days I was encircled by music and by people who loved it. The gospel songs were ever being sung in our home.
I realize from my earliest days I was encircled by music and by people who loved it. The gospel songs were ever being sung in our home.
- George Beverly Shea.
The very
fact that we ask this kind of question obviously demonstrates our superiority
to the animal kingdom. Animals do not
even know that they are going to die one day, much less where they originally
had come from, and this curiosity may sometimes run the whole gamut of such vexing questions
as:
·
Who am I?
·
Where do I come from?
·
Why am I here?
·
Why is there something (in the
Universe) instead of nothing?
·
Where am I going?
·
What is my ultimate destination?
This curiosity is not new. Man has been trying to explain and define his
‘origins’, ‘Creation’ and ‘God’ for centuries.
Even Charles Darwin endeavoured to write a book about it (from a ‘scientific’
angle in 1859) with a publication known as ‘The
Origin of the Species and the Selection of Favoured Races in the Struggle for
Life’, but failed miserably, for in it he never really addressed the
origins of the species. In fact, the
book only served to demonstrate his probably racist worldview, for he apparently
believed that the lighter-skinned races were superior to the darker-skinned
races (Notice the racist slur in the title of the book: ‘… the Selection of Favoured Races …’). Who are the 'favoured races'? It is anyway no secret today that Hitler had drawn his inspiration for the Nazis' Eugenics-programme from literature as these that had eventually led to the infamous Holocaust.
Perhaps the discerning reader will also have noticed that (i) the broad media
seldom if ever quote the full title of Darwin’s book (in publications or during
debates) but usually stick very selectively and very conveniently to just ‘The Origin of the Species’ (why?) and (ii) that there are no
lighter-skinned ‘hominids’ in museum-exhibits
or in atheist-evolutionist textbooks and encyclopaedias, only darker-skinned ‘prototypes’
(why?).
Nevertheless, people have, for instance, commented on the mystery of life as follows:
·
The economy of Heaven is dark; and
wisest clerks have missed the mark. (Charles Lamb, 1775-1834).
·
To know God better is only to
realise more fully how impossible it is that we should ever know him at
all. I cannot tell which is more
childish – to deny him, or to attempt to define him. (Samuel Butler,
1835-1902).
·
Our theories of the eternal are
as valuable as are those which a chick which has not broken its way through its
shell might form of the outside world. (Gautama Buddha, 560-480 B.C.).
·
Yes. Life does not cease to be
funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh. (Ridgeon, The Doctor’s Dilemma: George
Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950).
·
A comprehended God is no God. (St. John
Chrysostom, 345-407 A.D.).
Even St. Augustine (354-430 A.D.) has reportedly said: “Thou hast made
us for thyself and restless is our heart until it comes to rest in thee … “ (Confessions: Preface, ix, S.A. Book 1,
Chapter 1). I can also still recall the
emptiness of my own restless heart and my own youthful search for meaning during the
early months of 1962 (see Post #1: Jesus
Keep Me Near The Cross), and the year 1963 as a naïve fifteen-year old in a
small Church in Randgate (South Africa), when, at last, it finally came to rest with, among others, the singing of this beautiful hymn (written
by Clara Tear Williams) with the congregation:
(Clara Tear Williams, 1858-1937/Ralph E. Hudson, 1843-1901
(© 1968 by Singspiration, Inc. All Rights Reserved)
All my life long
I had panted
For a drink from
some cool spring,
That I hoped
would quench the burning
Of the thirst I
felt within.
Feeding on the
husks around me
Till my strength
was almost gone,
Longed my soul
for something better,
Only still to
hunger on.
Poor was I and
and sought for riches,
Something that
would satisfy
But the dust
that gathered round me
Only masked my
soul’s sad cry.
CHORUS: Hallelujah! I have found Him —
Whom my soul so
long has craved!
Jesus satisfies
my longings;
Through His
blood I now am saved.
Thank God for the humble Carpenter from
Nazareth.
Piet Stassen
eLiterature/eLiteratuur:
- Scribd Publishing Site: www.scribd.com/PietStassen (ENGLISH & AFRIKAANS)
- eBook: 'Evolution: The Science That Evolved Into A Fairy Tale' (ENGLISH)
- eBook: 'Bertrand Russell Revisited: Rebuttal Of Bertrand Russell's 'Why I Am Not A Christian''(ENGLISH)
- eBook: 'Meditations & Contemplations: A Reader For Both Atheists And Creationists' (ENGLISH)
- eBook: 'Conservation, Rhino Poaching And Hypocrisy' (ENGLISH)
- eBook: 'Why Darwinism ('Evolution') Does Not Make Sense' (ENGLISH)
- eBook: 'Names And Titles Of Jesus Of Nazareth (ENGLISH)'
- eBoek: 'Darwin Of Christus: Suid-Afrikaners By 'n Kruispad!' [AFRIKAANS].
- eBoek: 'Bevryding Van Die Anti-Evangelie Van Ateisme-Evolusionisme' [AFRIKAANS].
- eBoek: 'Name & Titels Van Jesus Christus' [AFRIKAANS].
- eTracts, Christian (Free, Downloadable): Free, downloadable Christian eTracts for free distribution (ENGLISH)
- eTraktate, Christelik (Gratis, Aflaaibaar): Gratis, aflaaibabre Christelike Traktate vir gratis verspreiding (AFRIKAANS)
Bibliography
1. Andrews, Allen (1969) Quotations
for Speakers and Writers. Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd. England.
2. Hymntime. Clara Tear Williams. Accessed At <http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/w/i/l/l/williams_ct.htm> [online] 2013
3. Hymntime. Ralph E. Hudson. Accessed At <http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/b/l/e/blessedb.htm> [online] 2013.
4.. St. Augustine (2004) Confessions. Hendrickson Christian Classics. Peabody, Massachusetts.
3. Hymntime. Ralph E. Hudson. Accessed At <http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/b/l/e/blessedb.htm> [online] 2013.
4.. St. Augustine (2004) Confessions. Hendrickson Christian Classics. Peabody, Massachusetts.
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