Blog Diyiin Bi

The category “Pastor Marv Recommends” and all articles that were posted to it have been moved to Christian Internet Resources. (All links in this article will open in a new window.)

Blog Diyiin Bi is now a ministry-only blog. The only articles posted from now on that are not specifically ministry related will be those about the blog itself, such as this one. The only business-related articles that will be posted to Blog Diyiin Bi will be those about our Amazon associate store, which sells Christian books from Amazon.com, and Diyiin Bi, LLC’s Bible and Christian book store, when it goes online. Selling Christian books and Bibles is a small part of our ministry, and doing so will help keep Blog Diyiin Bi in operation. Such articles will be few and far between.

All of the links and advertising widgets that formerly adorned Blog Diyiin Bi were, of necessity, removed when the blog was migrated from b2evolution to Wordpress. Some, but not all, will be placed back, but only those that are specifically for the purpose of increasing traffic to the blog, such as the link exchange partners and webrings. Any widgets that were only ads for a business will not be added back, but will be placed on one or more of the other three blogs. When there is a review of something that will help in ministry, there will be a short article on Blog Diyiin Bi pointing to that article on Christian Internet Resources. An example of an article on CIR that will get mentioned on Blog Diyiin Bi is this link to the article about e-Sword resources that was just moved from Blog Diyiin Bi to CIR. There may also be an occasional article mentioning something on John’s Joint if there is an article there that is relevant to ministry. It is even possible that something on The Go Light will be mentioned as well. However, The Go Light is a business-only blog and so is not as likely to have articles relevant to ministry. All four blogs will have links to each other in their respective sidebar widget “Elsewhere on the Internet.” That widget displays a random selection of five links from the list of blogs and other websites from the blog’s links database. (Some of the other blogs listed there include those of my two daughters, so be sure to check out the photos they post of the cutest grandkids in the world…<grin!>)

You can find all of the “Pastor Marv Recommends” articles that used to be on Blog Diyiin Bi at http://nizhoninet.com/category/pastor-marv-recommends/. All links that each Blog Diyiin Bi article and category had before the move to Wordpress have been redirected to the new URIs on Christian Internet Resources, for those that were moved, or to the new URIs on Blog Diyiin Bi, for those that are still here. Any bookmarks you had before the migration to Wordpress will still work, but the rss feeds will need to be changed if you were subscribed to them.

Moving the “Pastor Marv Recommends” category and articles to Christian Internet Resources was the last major piece of housekeeping to be finished. All that remains is to add back some of the traffic-building links, which will be done over the next week or two.

So now, I can concentrate on writing more ministry articles. Look for more posts about our Minister’s Conference, more on apologetics, more practical Christian living articles, and more devotionals and Bible studies.

in His service,
Pastor Marv

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Webster, in the 1828 edition of his dictionary, defines truth as “Conformity to fact or reality; exact accordance with that which is, or has been, or shall be.”

In 1916, 88 years after this edition of the dictionary was published, Einstein published his General Theory of Relativity. It turned the scientific world upside down, changing forever the way we see our universe. So did Einstein’s Theory change the definition of truth? Does it mean that all truth is relative?

How you answer those questions depends on your world view. If the observable universe is all that exists, then you can make a case for all truth being relative.

Or can you…?

Let’s examine that statement, “All truth is relative.” This philosophy is currently being applied to everything from science to moral values. The generation of the 60’s said it this way: “If it feels good, do it!” In other words, it’s only wrong if you believe it to be wrong.

Or, yet another way to say it is this: “What is truth for you is not necessarily truth for me.” If you follow this line of reasoning to its logical end, you will come to the absurd conclusion that it is an absolute truth is that there is no absolute truth.

How can you be sure that there is no absolute truth unless you know EVERYTHING? If there is something that you don’t know, just one tiny tidbit that is outside of your body of knowledge, maybe that tidbit is an Absolute Truth…even if, among all of the bits and pieces of knowledge that you do possess, you can find no absolute truth. So, unless you really do know everything, there is no way that you can honestly claim that there is no absolute truth. And if you do know everything, then your all-encompassing body of knowledge would, in and of itself, be Absolute Truth against which all other truth would be measured!

So, is there anyone who does possess absolute, total, all-encompassing knowledge?

YES! Jesus Christ said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6)

How can He make such a seemingly outrageous claim? Because He is the Creator, the Eternal and Omniscient God, who became flesh. “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us”. (John 1:14a)

Only One who is all-knowing (omniscient=all-knowing) could make the claim that He is Truth. Not just that He knows all truth, but that He IS truth. And He proved His claim by rising from the dead.

So, to answer the questions posed in the opening sentences of this article: no, Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity did NOT change the definition of truth. No, all truth is NOT relative. What the scientific theory did was to change the way we perceive some truths.

But truth is still truth. The Bible tells me so.

in His service,
Pastor Marv

Webster’s 1828 Dictionary is part of e-Sword

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Hi, all,

Let’s start out this category, “Faith and Practice,” with the most basic of all questions: What must I do to be saved?

Now, some who are reading this may be saying, “I didn’t know I was lost!” Well, according to the Bible, we ALL are lost until we accept salvation, which is a free gift from God. So let’s explore together how we can accept this free gift.

Why are we lost? Because we have all sinned, and sin separates us from God. Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” And Romans 6:23a: “…The wages of sin is death…” Spiritual death is separation from God. There is absolutely nothing that we can do for ourselves that will make us righteous. (To be righteous means that we are right in God’s eyes.)

So how can we become righteous? Very simple – Jesus Christ has done the work for us! Jesus Christ has always been God, He is God now, and He will always be God. But He became a man in order to pay the penalty for our sins. That penalty is death. (Romans 3:23a in the previous paragraph.) Since He took our punishment for us, we can now be declared righteous in God’s eyes!

So the first step to being saved is to realize that you have sinned, and confess to God that you are a sinner.

You next need to ask God to forgive you for your sins. 1 John 1:9 tells us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

You must also repent of your sins. To repent of your sins means to turn away from them and go in a different direction – toward God and His righteousness. Acts 3:19a says, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out…”

So far, we have confessed our sins, asked God to forgive us of our sins, and repented of our sins. What more is there to be done?

Simply accept the free gift that God has made available to you! Invite Jesus Christ to be the Lord of your life. If you confess, ask forgiveness, and repent, and you believe in your heart that Jesus was raised from the dead, you are saved. Romans 10:9,10: “…If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”

What should you do next?

Find a church that believes the Bible, teaches the Bible, preaches the Bible, and – most importantly – lives the Bible, and become part of the congregation. Now, you won’t find a church where everyone lives by what the Bible teaches, but if the pastor and other leaders in the church do, it’s probably a good church.

How do you know if a particular church really does all that?

By reading the Bible for yourself. So that means you need to get a Bible and spend some time each day reading it. When you read the Bible, ask God to help you understand what He is saying. A good place to start would be the Gospel of John, which is the 4th book of the New Testament.

My recommendation would be for you to get the New King James version. And also, since you are obviously computer literate (you are reading this on your computer screen unless a friend printed it out for you…) you might want to check out the best Bible study program available, e-Sword. It is free, just download it from the author’s website, no strings attached. Read my review of it and find the website location in a previous article I wrote. (Click on Pastor Marv Recommends and look at the very first article in the category.)

If you make a decision to accept God’s free gift of salvation, or if you have any questions about salvation, please let us know so we can pray for you and answer your questions. Use the contact link at the top of any article or at the bottom of the main blog page to email us, or leave a comment.

God bless you,
Pastor Marv

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