Nature

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. (Psalm 19:1 ESV)

Men come up with all kinds of reason to prove that God does not exist. He did not perform miracles today. He only perform miracles in the past recorded in books which we think are likely to be myths. He allows evil. The whole system runs fine without Him.

"I believe in God, only I spell it Nature." Frank Lloyd Wright
"Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you." Frank Lloyd Wright

Everything works without God. Nature takes care of everything. Therefore Occam's razor says God is redundant.

But nature takes care of everything except justice and morality, the good and bad things, the things that matter the most to us. Nature is amoral.

Some people try to add a moral dimension to nature. I do not find them convincing because they cannot prove morality in nature in the same way as other amoral laws of nature (e.g. Law of Gravity) are proven.

Others claim that morality is a product of evolution, pointing to the behaviour of social animals, such as elephants and baboons. Morality is a trait that allow successful perpetuation of the species, thus it was evolved. And, of course, evolution is the ultimate aimless and mindless natural process that produced all the wonderful things we see and admired.

"If chaos theory transformed our view of the universe, biomimicry is transforming our life on Earth. Biomimicry is innovation inspired by nature - taking advantage of evolution's 3.8 billion years of R&D since the first bacteria." Book description by the publisher of the book "Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired By Nature" by Janine M. Benyus.

"After 3.8 million years of evolution, nature has learned what works, what is appropriate, and what lasts here on earth." Janine Benyus

But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? (Job 12:7-9 ESV)

To me, being able to learn from nature shows what a wonderful God we have, unlike Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, there is no need for Windows7, Windows8, iPhone4, iPhone5. We have Universe 1.0 since the six-day development and implementation and God had not issued any new patch.

However to those who deny God, that our universe can run without intervention does not suggest a brilliant creator. It suggests the redundancy of a creator.

But for all the arguments and denials, all these God deniers still face one problem. Men can only suggest that God probably does not exist. Men cannot prove that God does not exist.

We cannot prove that there is no God because we are not omniscience, omnipresent and omnipotent. We do not have the means and resources to prove that a creator does not exist. We require faith to believe in the non-existence of God, just as we need faith to believe in the existence of God. What if a creator God exist? Don't you want to know what He had to say to you?

If The Earth Is Flat, You Can Judge God

"The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully." Richard Dawkins in "The God Delusion" and here is a website that give Bible verses to support Dawkins.

"According to the Bible when the Israelites wandered in the desert for forty years, God fed them by making food fall regularly from the sky (Exodus16:4). During the 1980's, several million Ethiopian Christians died slowly and painfully from starvation due to a prolonged drought. God had then the opportunity to make food fall from the sky, as the Bible claims he did in the past, in order to prove his existence, his power and his love. Buddhists would say that God did not manifest his presence because he does not exist." Beyond Belief A Buddhist Critique of Christianity Chapter 3 by A. L. de Silva

"Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; or he can, but does not want to. If he wants to, but cannot, he is impotent. If he can, but does not want to, he is wicked. If God can abolish evil, and God really wants to do it, why is there evil in the world?" Epicurus (Greek philosopher, BC 341-270)

We all love to judge God. We also love to give God advices. We always hear people who say, "If God exist, why doesn't He do this or do that? If God is good, why does evil exist?"

Long ago, people thought that the earth is flat. They thought that the sky was like a big roof over the flat earth, with the sun transversing it by day and the moon by night and stars are like little lights on the roof. They even thought that they could build a tower to reach heaven (Genesis 11:4). These flat earth people had a rather poor view of God, thinking that His creation is rather limited and He could be challenged.

We now know that the earth is round. We also know that there is no roof, but the sky is one huge expanse stretching all the way beyond our imagination. We also can understand why God took one whole day to create this expanse (Genesis 1:6-8).

But why does the earth seem so flat from our ground perception when it is round? Because the earth is so huge and we are so small in comparison. But the earth is so small in comparison to the sun. The sun is so small in comparison to the solar system. The solar system is so small in comparison to the Milky Way. The Milky Way is so small in comparison to the visible universe. Now what can we say of the God who had created this humongous universe? Should we not stand in awesome wonder at the wisdom and power of such a creator God? Yet men, who is so small that the earth seems flat to them, think that they can judge and give advices to the God who created the heavens and the earth.

He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. (Psalm 2:4 KJV)

Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much. (Job 38:4 NLT)

All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? (Isaiah 40:17-18 ESV)

How Do I Know What Is Right?

How do I know what is right?

Here is something from the Bible on what is right, and everyone will agree.
Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. (Ephesians 6:1 KJV)
So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. (James 4:17 ESV)

And here is something from the Bible, which is even more fundamental and important, which is true and right, and yet is not agreed by everyone.
For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; (1 Timothy 2:5 KJV)
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: (Deuteronomy 6:4 KJV)

Right Living

Right belief produce right action. Right action produce right result. Right result produce right assurance.

Buddha's Eight-fold path 八正道
Right View 正見, Right Intention 正思惟 (Wisdom)
Right Speech 正語, Right Action 正業, Right Livelihood 正命 (Conduct)
Right Effort 正精進, Right Mindfulness 正念, Right Concentration 正定 (Concentration)

Joseph Prince
Right believing leads to right living.

Bible
The just shall live by faith. (Habakkuk 2:4, Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11,Hebrews 10:38)

Conclusion
When you believe right, you live right.

The Big Problem
But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbour?" (Luke 10:29 HCSB)
Many people, wanting to justify their beliefs, asked, "And how do I know what is right?"

Judah And Ephraim

There is an interesting prophecy on Israel in Isaiah 11:11-16 (HCSB).
11-12
On that day the Lord will extend His hand a second time to recover - from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and the coasts and islands of the west - the remnant of His people who survive. He will lift up a banner for the nations and gather the dispersed of Israel; He will collect the scattered of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
This had been fulfilled when the Jews established the State of Israel in 1948. But Ephraim has not been restored.

13-14
Ephraim’s envy will cease; Judah’s harassment will end. Ephraim will no longer be envious of Judah, and Judah will not harass Ephraim. But they will swoop down on the Philistine flank to the west. Together they will plunder the people of the east. They will extend their power over Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites will be their subjects.
Judah and Ephraim will swoop down to Gaza in the west. This means that the current situation at Gaza will not be resolved till the missing tribes are restored to Israel. Ezekiel 37:15-28 gave a detail prophecy of the restoration. The Ephraimites will be the cream (Genesis 48:19) of the nations and will greatly strengthen Israel. The countries mentioned in Isaiah 11:14 are some of the ten countries in Psalm 83:4-8 that swore to wipe out Israel. Thus it may be alluding to that prophecy.

15
The Lord will divide the Gulf of Suez. He will wave His hand over the Euphrates with His mighty wind and will split it into seven streams, letting people walk through on foot.
This seem to happen during the Great Tribulation.
Other Bible reference:
The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, to prepare the way for the kings from the east. (Revelation 16:12 ESV)

16
There will be a highway for the remnant of His people who will survive from Assyria, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt.
This is likely to be fulfilled in the Millennium.
Other Bible reference:
On that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. Assyria will go to Egypt, Egypt to Assyria, and Egypt will worship with Assyria. On that day Israel will form a triple alliance with Egypt and Assyria—a blessing within the land. The Lord of Hosts will bless them, saying, "Egypt My people, Assyria My handiwork, and Israel My inheritance are blessed." (Isaiah 19:23-25 HCSB)

Circumcision and Tithes

Circumcision and Tithes predate Moses’s Law. Paul argued strongly against circumcision, so why are we told to tithe?

Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Corinthians 9:7 ESV)

Works Versus Fruit - 2

There is a major difference between Christianity and other religions. All other religions are meritocratic. Salvation is by works.

In Christianity, salvation is by faith. God the Holy Spirit works in us to bear fruit. How do we grow? Just like the plants, or babies. We get our nutrients (the Bible) and we grow.

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. (John 15:4 KJV)