____________________________________________________ THE GOSPEL OBSERVER "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19,20). ____________________________________________________ September 22, 1996 ____________________________________________________ "A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense..." -- A Meteorite from Mars? -- by Steve Klein On August 7, 1996, with media coverage which rivaled that given the first moon landing, a team of NASA scientists unveiled the results of a two-year study on a meteorite which they claim provides evidence of life on Mars 3.6 billion years ago. The four pound, potato-sized meteorite was found in Antarctica in 1984. If your reaction is like mine, at about this point you are asking, ``How did a rock from Mars wind up in Antarctica?'' and ``How in the world could such a thing possibly prove life once existed on Mars?'' The ``simple'' explanation given by the scientists runs something like this... You see, using radio-metric dating we've calculated that this rock is 4.5 billion years old. We think that is about how old Mars is. This rock also has the same ``unique'' chemical composition of Martian rocks measured by the Viking spacecraft that landed on Mars in 1976. So, we are pretty sure it's a Martian rock. Well, about 16 million years ago a runaway comet or asteroid must have plowed into Mars and knocked this rock into outer space. Then, about 13,000 years ago, as luck would have it, this rock floated into Earth's gravitational pull and landed in the Allan Hills ice field in Antarctica, where an expedition from the National Science Foundation stumbled upon it in 1984. Of course nobody recognized it as being a meteorite from Mars until 1993. Since then, we have been carefully studying and analyzing the rock. No living organisms were found in the rock. No verified fossils of living organisms were found in the rock. But, we did detect some possible fossils -- about a thousandth the diameter of a human hair -- which look similar to microscopic fossils of the tiniest bacteria found on earth. There were also some carbon molecules in the meteorite. Evolutionary scientists have long ridiculed Christians for their ``blind faith.'' Now, many of them are proclaiming that there was once life on Mars! What's their evidence? A rock! (1) A rock! The age of which they cannot date with absolute certainty. Radiometric dating is based on a number of untestable assumptions. (2) A rock! Which may or may not be uniquely Martian. Until the chemical composition of every rock on every planet (including Earth) is tested, how can one possibly know whether or not rocks with the same chemistry occur naturally on other planets? (3) A rock! Which, if from Mars, arrived on Earth and in the hands of scientists by a series of incredible coincidences, the likes of which are normally reserved for Hollywood productions. (4) A rock! Which, according to their own estimates, has been on Earth for nearly 16 million years! (Could Earth be the source of the fossil-like structures in the rock? This possibility was actually considered by the Scientists, but it was deemed ``unlikely.'') (5) A rock! Which does not contain one verified fossil of a living organism! Now whose faith is blind? The day after the news of this meteorite broke, network TV was covering the story with analysis from a number of expert scientists. In explaining the significance of the discovery, one of these expert analysts proclaimed that the days are now over in which mankind had to look to religion and philosophy for answers to questions like ``where did we come from?'' and ``why are we here?'' Now, she proudly proclaimed, science is supplying these answers. That is quite an incredible boast! And based on so little evidence! But it is not surprising. This is the kind of groundless arrogant claim a few other leading scientists have made in recent years. Richard Dawkins has gleefully proclaimed that since we have modern biology, ``we no longer have to resort to superstition when faced with the deep problems; Is there a meaning to life? What are we for? What is man?'' Stephen Hawking, physicist and author of the popular book A Brief History of Time, has said that the goal of his kind of scientific inquiry is ``a complete description of the universe we live in'' which will fulfill humanity's yearning ``to know why we are here and where we came from.'' It is incredible that intelligent men and women are capable of thinking like this. Nobel prize winner in medicine and physiology, Sir John Eccles, spoke the truth when he said ``Many scientists and interpreters of science don't understand the limits of the discipline. They claim much more for it than they should.'' The only way we can possibly know why we are here is for the One who put us here to tell us. The Bible claims to contain such information (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:3). Any scientist with an ounce of intellectual honesty would at least investigate the Rock of God's word to see if it contains the answers they seek. The sad thing is that many may now look to a rock they think came from Mars as the basis for their faith. For such, the so-called Martian meteorite has become a rock of stumbling and stone of offense, hindering their faith in the God of the Bible and the Biblical account of creation. Concerning willful unbelievers, the apostle Paul wrote that ``God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness'' (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12). Could God use the ``Martian'' meteorite to create just such a delusion? Christians, especially young Christians, need to avoid these ``profane and vain babblings and oppositions of science, falsely so-called'' (1 Timothy 6:20). It does no one's faith any good to accept the kind of pseudo-scientific nonsense that has been spewed out regarding this meteorite. Dwell rather on this: ``God, who made the world and everything in it...has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, `For we are also His offspring''' (Acts 17:24-28). ___________________________________________ What Does "Magnanimous" Mean? Let Stephen's life teach you: ``But they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears, and they rushed upon him with one impulse. And when they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him, and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. And they went on stoning Stephen as he called upon the Lord and said, `Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!' And falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, `Lord, do not hold this sin against them!' And having said this, he fell asleep [died]'' (Acts 7:57-60). ___________________________________________ Mantras of the 90's ( #4) by Warren E. Berkley Perhaps you have had conversations with people who are explaining the sin they fell into, and as they try to describe how they became sexually immoral, the remark is made: ``Well, it just happened.'' On television, in movies and talk shows this is a popular mantra or justification for adultery. ``It just happened!'' Now just what are we supposed to believe here? Are we to understand that two people were living lives of purity and responsibility, and against their will and without their consent--all of a sudden they were committing adultery? Do things like this ``just happen''? Is this the nature of sin and human behavior? Are we to disregard the function of the human will and the process of submitting to temptation? This popular mantra requires that we ignore the plain facts of human choice and temptation. The suggestion is, two people who had no intent to sin and no particular weakness just found themselves together in sin. ``It just happened?'' David fell into sin with Bathsheba. Let's see if that ``affair'' just happened. Notice, the text does begin by stating that something ``happened''; but continued reading shows clearly: DAVID AND BATHSHEBA HAD A ROLE IN WHAT HAPPENED; and it is beyond doubt: David was tempted, made a series of wrong choices and brought the guilt of sin upon himself. Notice the words set off by italics: ``It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king's house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, `Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?' Then David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her, for she was cleansed from her impurity; and she returned to her house. And the woman conceived; so she sent and told David, and said, `I am with child',``(2 Sam. 11:1-5, NKJV). This is so simple and obvious. David saw, David beheld, David inquired, sent and took and ``he lay with her.'' This speaks to lust, consent and choice. It didn't just happen. In the book of Proverbs, David's son, Solomon, warns us against the thoughts, attitudes, choices and circumstances that put us in position for adultery or fornication to ``happen''! In Proverbs 5 he teaches us that SEXUAL SIN IS EVENTUALLY DISAPPOINTING. He writes of the gradual and subtle movement from sweetness to bitterness, from gain to loss and from purity to pollution. The beginning of these liaisons may seem to be exciting and sweet, but that ``honey'' turns into poison. Solomon recommends discretion in Prov. 5:2. Discretion is that self-restraint that causes us to stop and think; to contemplate the eventual result of a presently contemplated act. Discretion will keep sexual sin from ``happening.'' Discretion is rooted in faith and determination to please God. In Proverbs 6, Solomon uses a different approach to encourage this discretion; he wants us to consider that SEXUAL SIN IS GRADUALLY DESTRUCTIVE. When we neglect moral discretion and make the choice to sin in this manner, we stand to suffer great loss (see Prov. 6:20-35). Finally, in Proverbs 7, Solomon preaches that SEXUAL SIN IS ULTIMATELY DEADLY. He pictures a naive young man who--due to his lack of discretion--is caught, tempted and destroyed. The last word in chapter seven is ``death.'' Husbands and wives need to be exceedingly careful about unwise intimacies, and young people who are single need to make early decisions to be pure. ``Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge'' (Heb. 13:4, NKJV). ___________________________________________ Remember Me? My name is gossip. I have no respect for justice. I maim without killing. I break hearts and ruin lives. I am cunning and malicious and gather strength with age. I flourish at every level of society. My victims are helpless. They cannot protect themselves against me because I have no name and no face. To track me down is impossible. The harder you try, the more elusive I become. I am nobody's friend. Once I tarnish a reputation, it is never quite the same. My name is gossip. -- Selected ___________________________________________ NEWS & NOTES Karl Hennecke wrote the following: ``Melvin Stanton of Centralia, MO, passed from this life on September 14, 1996 in Columbia, MO. ``Melvin was born on August 31, 1930. He was a preacher of God's word. He labored with congregations in Indiana and Missouri. ``He wrote several hymns including,'O Lord, Thou Art Forever'; `That Friend Is Christ, My Lord'; and `Lord, Help Me': Lord, help me lift my heart to Thee; Lord, raise my eyes that I may see Beyond this mount and vail of tears, Far above all these clouds and fears. Lord, help me yield my life to Thee; Lord, break my will that I may be Fully committed to Thy ways, Serving gladly thru out my days. Lord, help me have a patient heart; Lord, grant me peace when far apart From friends I love, with foes I stand; Help me wait, and to understand. Lord, I surrender all to Thee! Gladly Thy servant I will be! Grant me, O Lord, a home above. In that sweet paradise of love. (Number 91 in R. J. Stevens's Hymns for worship) ``Brother Stanton underwent surgery for a brain tumor. He was recovering in the hospital awaiting radiation treatments when he died on Saturday. ``He is survived by his wife, Ella.'' ________________________________________ Tri-State CHURCH OF CHRIST 713 13th Street, Ashland, Kentucky 41101 Sunday: 10:00 A.M. Bible class 10:50 A.M. Worship 6:30 P.M. Worship Wednesday: 7:30 P.M. Bible study evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (606) 325-9742 e-mail: tedwards@wwd.net ________________________________________