Why Beauty? - (Warning: This passage talks a little about sex)

 There are many animals that don't experience color the way we do. A dog, for example, really cannot enjoy the myriad of colors that a beautiful sunset boasts. Other animals don't experience taste the way we do. A pig, for example, could care less if it eats rotten potatoes or filet Mignon. It is not designed to enjoy the subtle tastes and intricate concoctions of fine elegant meals.  Even a female chimpanzee or a gorilla which is supposedly higher on the "evolutionary ladder" cannot partake in the glorious feelings of being in love and enjoying the ecstasy of sex with a partner (husband) that loves you back. The female animal, in general and unfortunately, doesn't get to enjoy sex like us human girls can.

What then is the purpose of beauty? Why can we see color the way we do? It doesn't help us survive, on the contrary because God designed our eye to view such small details (beauty), we are at a disadvantage compared to our invertebrate friends. For more information on the design of the human eye, click here. Why taste delicious food, if it can cause us to be picky eaters, thus reducing our chances for survival? Why take our time to enjoy a crispy and fresh salad if that too, reduces our chances for survival (someone might come and eat it before us)? What is the purpose in enjoying sex for the female? It doesn't help us conceive? Creativity, the imagination, the female orgasm, art, music, poetry, culinary arts, etc. are all unnecessary things for survival.

God placed in us these capabilities and experiences so He could reveal Himself to us. He didn't just sprinkle beauty here and there. He slathered it everywhere! It is everywhere if you truly desire to see it. His fingerprint and design is in the smallest of single cell organisms to the largest galaxies that hover around ours. He hides the beautiful things in plain sight, hoping we discover them. Take saltwater fish. Some of the most beautiful colors known to man are found on saltwater fish, but it wasn't until recently that man has basked in their glorious colors. These fish had been there for thousands of years, waiting to be discovered. God hid that beauty, because beauty discovered is beauty that is enjoyed the most. Just as we relish in our children discovering things on their own, so does our Father when His children discover His creation.

I cut these flowers from one of my beds in front of my house. They smell just lovely! I have brought them inside my home and now my house smells of these lilies and I am just marinating in their scent! I enjoyed the detail and the fine workmanship of my King. These lilies are not a product of rocks that evolved, they are the product of a Creator that specializes in detail and order and precision. He spoke these lilies into existence, but more precious than that, He touched and molded me into mine. He has counted every single hair on my head (Matthew 10:30) and knit me together in my mother's womb (Psalm 139:13). I am fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 134:14) by a Being that stretches out the skies (Job 26:7).

Although our world in not perfect (due to the fall of man). We can still get a glimpse of the character of our Creator. He is One to be feared and respected (Luke 12:5) and One that I can't help to see everywhere.

 

I Praise You!

Unicorns in the Bible

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 Answers In Genesis had a very interesting article today about unicorns. I didn't know this, but apparently the word "unicorn" is used several times in the Bible, but in the King James Version. You can read about the article here.

Well this prompted me to look up some verses in the King James and I think I must conclude that the "unicorn" in the Bible isn't referring to an ox or wild ox, but to a rhinoceros.

The word "unicorn" didn't always mean  what we now portray as this magical horse with only one horn. In the first edition of Webster's Dictionary 1828 here are the two descriptions given for a "unicorn":
1. An animal with one horn; the monoceros. The name is often applied to the rhinoceros
2. The sea unicorn is fish of the whale kind, called narwal, remarkable for a horn growing out at his nose.
Notice how there is no mention of a horse or a fantastical being. The word "unicorn" meant just that. An animal with one horn.

So if the Bible says that it is speaking of an animal that has "one horn", there is no reason for us to think it is speaking of an animal with two equal sized horns. Just because we today have a connotation with the word "unicorn" it doesn't mean they did back then. Look at the word "gay". The word "gay" in the 1950's meant happy. The word "gay" in the 1990's and now means "homosexual". And even now I hear teens use the word "gay" to reference something that's "lame" or "silly" with no reference to sexuality. And that is just in a span of 60 years - much less 400 years!

There are two types of rhinoceroses. One with one horn and one with two horns. In Deutoronomy 33:17 the two-horned rhinoceros is the unicorn that the writer (probably Moses) is talking about: His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.(emphasis added). Manasseh and Ephraim were brothers and later where tribal names of the children of Israel. And one of the tribes was much larger than the other! Just like the horns of the two-horned rhinoceros.

I believe a rhinoceros is referred to a unicorn because it has just that, one horn.  An ox or a waterbuffalo on the other hand, have two large horns of equal size.

Look at the verse in Job 39:9-10 which says: Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib?
 Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee? This verse speaks about the inability to tame a unicorn. You can tame an ox, but try taming a rhinoceros!

There are other verses in the KJV Bible that could interchangeably use "rhinoceros" or "wild ox" for "unicorn", but this is just an example of just how awesome God's Word is. It is vast and deep. You cannot skim through the Bible and expect it to fill you, it is not fast food!

Answers in Genesis is getting a lot of ridicule for what they stand for - that the earth is young and that God made this beautiful earth in literally 6 days and rested on the 7th and not millions of years. The people at AIG are creating a new theme park called The Ark Encounter. And because of this, some skeptics were asking if the "unicorn" would be included since it's in the Bible. Yes! I do believe the unicorn will be included, but not the ones these people think!

A Unicorn!

The Pomegranate

I just love pomegranates! I love their color, their smell, their juiciness. They endure some of the driest climates and exemplify both beauty and toughness.

Well something that I just found out about one of my favorite fruits is that on average it contains 613 seeds. What is so meaningful about this number? Well 613 is the number of mitzveh (commandments) that Jews follow!

Just some bit of information I learned that I thought I would pass on!