Do Bunnies Lay Eggs?
Taysha Murtaugh, with ABC's Woman's Day, writes:
According to Google AdWords, the phrases Do bunnies lay eggs and Do rabbits lay eggs each receive between 1,000 and 10,000 average monthly searches. That's a pretty big number, which leads us to believe that people sincerely do not know.
... Allow us to clear this up: No, bunnies do not lay eggs. As placental mammals, rabbits develop embryos inside a uterus and, after a pregnancy lasting about 31 to 33 days, give birth to a litter of often 12 or more bunnies.
If you found your way to this article by searching that very question, don't feel too bad. There's probably a reason for your confusion, and that's Easter. The Christian holiday, of course, has two very famous symbols, bunnies and eggs, with the former delivering the latter.
So why is there an Easter bunny when rabbits do not lay eggs? The idea actually comes from a pagan celebration of spring, which was eventually linked to the religious holiday. According to the legend, following a long winter, the goddess of spring, Eastre, turned a frozen bird into a snow hare that could lay colorful eggs.
When it comes to religion, there’s a lot of contradictory information out there. Besides the confusion over whether bunnies lay eggs, there’s another popular myth that needs to be debunked. It's the one that suggests that all religions are essentially the same.
This is where the Easter story really helps to clear things up. The resurrection, and the hope that it provides of victory over sin and death place Christianity in a class all by itself. Only Christianity offers a resurrected, victorious Jesus who came to die for our sins. Only Christianity offers a Savior who rose again. Only Christianity offers proof positive of life beyond the grave.
Easter teaches us the uniqueness of the Christian message. So don’t lay an egg when it comes to the Easter story. Know the myth from the reality.
"For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
Heaven Series--Surprise #6: You Can Know That Heaven Is Real!
As I sat waiting for my teeth cleaning appointment, a video ran on a large screen in my dentist’s waiting room. Running on a loop, it featured before and after videos of patients with a variety of dental issues. One man had narrow little teeth with large gaps between them. Someone else had a pronounced overbite. Yet another patient had big holes where teeth had once been. The common thread came in the “after” portion of the video. Regardless of their previous condition, in the end, each one of them had a sparkling, beautiful smile, providing potential clients with tangible proof of what the doctor could do for them.
Webster’s dictionary defines empirical evidence as that which is “based on observation or experience.” The modern mind, trained to demand empirical evidence for everything (with the possible exception of extraterrestrial life forms!), struggles with the idea of belief in Heaven. After all, we can’t see it. We can’t touch it. We can’t experience it in any tangible way. So, how can we be certain that Heaven really exists? The answer to this question comes in two forms, each one an assurance offered to us by God Himself.
Reason For Assurance #1: God Offers Us A Sneak Preview Of Heaven, Right Now!
Jesus once asked a questioning Nicodemus, “But if you don't believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things?” (John 3:12). Notice that Jesus suggests a logical progression to the development of faith. First, we must believe what God says about the things we have seen. Then, and only then, is it possible for us to believe what He says about things like Heaven, things we've yet to see.
By this simple question, Jesus points out the real problem with the skeptic, whether modern or from His own time. It’s not their hesitance to believe what they can’t see as much as their blindness to the significance of what is right in front of them. Before they can look to Heaven with eyes of faith, they must first look at the earth with eyes of faith.
Looking at this world through the eyes of faith means believing what the Bible says; that this world was originally intended to be our Heaven; that God will come back to His original plan by creating a New Earth; and that the meek will inherit the New Earth as their eternal abode. When we simply believe what God tells us about this earth, what it originally was and what it will one day be, we take an important step in our faith walk, one that prepares us for something more.
From this vantage point, it now becomes much easier to believe what the Bible says about Heaven. Just imagine this world as it was, before sin entered the picture, before there was suffering and before there was death. If you can imagine life on this planet without conflict, without selfishness, without lying, without anger, without jealousy, without hatred, you can see Heaven right now!
This earth, as damaged as it has been by God’s judgments of man's sin, still bears a powerful witness to God’s original plan. Just as the discovery of a shipwreck provides empirical evidence of the ship that once was, so our earth provides empirical evidence of a Heaven that once was. By taking a fresh look at the world around us through the eyes of faith, we can both observe and experience Heaven in a tangible way. When we see it, when we touch it, when we taste its fruits, we are seeing, we are touching, we are tasting Heaven!
Once we understand what we’re really looking at when we observe life here on earth, we will realize that we are, indeed, being given a sneak preview of the Heaven promised to us! Remember, it’s to a world filled with plants and animals and people that God speaks of a Heaven that will be filled with plants and animals and people. Why should that be so hard for us to believe? There is no doubt God did it once. Why should there be any doubt that He can or would do it again? If the earth was our Heaven once, there's no reason it can't be our Heaven again.
But just in case this is not enough to move you in the direction of faith, God offers one more compelling assurance that Heaven is real.
Reason For Assurance #2: What God Says Will Happen Always Happens!
The Bible is the best-selling book in history, yet it is amazing how ignorant the world seems to be of its content. Even those who claim to believe that the Bible is the standard for Christian faith and practice are often unfamiliar with those aspects of the Bible that prove those claims.
For example, did you know that the Bible has an incredible track record when it comes to revealing the future? From Daniel’s prediction of the sequence of the next four Gentile world powers to Jesus’ prediction that His crucifixion would draw the whole world to Himself, the Bible is filled with incredible prophecies about future events that eventually came to pass. There are prophecies about Gentile nations, cities, and individuals, as well as prophecies about Israel and the godly line. Amazingly, nearly 25% of the Bible was prophetic when it was written, so we’ll need to narrow our focus to just one line of prophecy—to the central focus of the Bible’s prophetic vision, the coming of Jesus.
From the writings of Moses in the 15th century B.C. to the writings of Malachi in the 5th century B.C., Jesus’ coming was described, with 320 details being given. It’s important to note that it is undisputed among Bible scholars that the entire Old Testament was completed hundreds of years before Jesus was born.
I point this out because when the untrained are introduced to these prophecies, they often assume they had to be written after the time of Christ. But the fact is, with the aid of the Dead Sea Scrolls, we have actual extant (i.e., in hand) copies of the Old Testament that precede the birth of Christ by at least one-hundred and fifty years.
Of the 320 details the Old Testament reveals about Christ, here's a sampling:
• That the Christ would be conceived of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14);
• That the Christ would be born in the town of Bethlehem (Micah 5:2);
• That the Christ would arrive exactly 483 years after the decree was issued to allow the Jewish people to rebuild the walls of their besieged city (Daniel 9:25);
• That the Christ would heal the blind and the deaf (Isaiah 29:17-19);
• That the Christ would present himself as Messiah by humbly riding into Jerusalem on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9);
• That the Christ would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12-13);
• That the Christ would be unfairly judged and condemned to die (Isaiah 53:8-9),
• That the Christ would be abandoned by his disciples (Zechariah 13:7-9);
• That the Christ would be rejected by his own people (Isaiah 53:3);
• That the Christ would be crucified (Psalm 22:11-16) as an offering for our sins (Isaiah 53:4-6);
• That the Christ would rise from the dead (Isaiah 53:10-12);
• That the Christ, although a Jew, would become a light to the Gentiles, and bring salvation to the whole world (Isaiah 49:5-6).
How do these fulfilled prophecies offer us a greater assurance that Heaven is real? It’s simple. Because the Bible has so accurately revealed detailed events that would happen here on earth, we have every reason to believe that the many details it forecasts about Heaven will, likewise, come to pass. Once again, the key to believing what God has to say about Heaven is to come to faith in what He has said about what has already happened here on earth. Since the prophecies about earthly events can all be verified, the prophecies about Heaven can all be trusted—the one being intended to build our faith in the other.
Yes, Heaven is real. To help our unbelief, God has given each of us a sneak preview of just how real it is, allowing us to “observe” and “experience” glimpses of Heaven right here and now! And just in case that isn't enough for some of us, God has also given us hundreds of detailed prophecies, fulfilled in history, to assure us of the certainty of all that He has promised us about Heaven.
So, don’t let your heart be troubled by doubts. Instead, allow the loving promises of God to be your confidence, bringing you hope and encouragement in a fallen and troubled world.
"I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life" (1 John 5:13).
Lenin Looks Great, But ...
Newser reports:
The Soviet Union founder, who died in 1924, would have turned 145 this week, and his mausoleum closed while the preservation team made improvements to his embalmed body.
Their primary goal is maintaining the body's look and feel rather than its original material, Scientific American notes: "They have to substitute occasional parts of skin and flesh with plastics and other materials, so in terms of the original biological matter, the body is less and less of what it used to be," says an expert.
That sets the work apart from processes like mummification, he notes, "where the focus was on preserving the original matter while the form of the body changes." Now, in addition to the skin replacements, Lenin has false eyelashes, and instead of skin fat, researchers have molded a combination of chemicals to keep his skin looking the same.
The body is re-embalmed using a bath of chemicals in alternate years. Lenin has kept scientists busy: During the period between the 1950s and 1980s, as many as 200 experts had jobs maintaining the body, Scientific American notes.
When you look at the picture of how lifelike Lenin looks, it’s astonishing.
But here’s a thought: It takes 200 experts to keep Lenin looking lifelike, yet it is only a matter of time before they lose that battle. On the other hand, God infuses actual life into not one, but every single one of us without any help at all.
Thanks to science, Vladimir Lenin looks great at 145. But thanks to God, you look better!
“I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out” (Luke 19:40).