One Bowl of Apricots or Two
A young psych student pulling kitchen duty in the Army noticed that apricots were not very popular in the chow hall, so he decided to conduct a little experiment. He stood at the end of the chow line and rotated offering the apricots to the soldiers three very different ways:
- “You don’t want apricots, do you?”
- “You want apricots, don’t you?”
- “Do you want one serving of apricots or two?
The results were fascinating. Ninety percent of those asked You don’t want apricots, do you? said No and declined receiving a serving.
Fifty percent of those asked You want apricots, don’t you? said Yes and received a serving.
Fifty percent of those asked if they wanted one serving of apricots or two said they’d take some, while forty percent said they’d take two! Only ten percent declined all together.
There is power in a good presentation! What is your demeanor when you invite others to consider the claims of Christ? Does it say, "You don't want to know about Jesus, do you?" It's no surprise that the vast majority of these invitations are declined. Or, does it say, "You do want to know about Jesus, right?" Or, are you so bold as to ask, "Do you want one serving or two"?
"Now go out to the street corners and invite everyone you see" (Matthew 22:9).
Playing Hide and Seek With God
According to Brittanica.com, hide-and-seek was [first] described by a Greek writer named Julius Pollux in the 2nd century BCE, which is really taking it way back. He calls the game apodidraskinda and describes it as something nearly identical to today's version of hide-and-seek.
Throughout the history of the childhood game Hide-and-Seek, with its roots believed to date back to ancient Greece [and probably beyond], there has never been a hider who didn’t know they were hiding. After all, the game often requires participants to squeeze into uncomfortable spaces and hold their breath when the seeker gets too close.
Likewise, living in denial of God’s existence takes considerable effort. For example, it is a daunting challenge to avoid the implications of an exquisitely choreographed and infinitely complex universe. Without the hand of God, how could everything materialize from a void of nothingness? And even if that could be explained, how did interdependent layers of complexity and design emerge from simplicity? And even if sense could be made of that, how did life then burst forth from the barren womb of lifeless matter?
Given the contortions required to explain the universe without appealing to a Creator, it’s safe to say that, beneath all the bother, there has never been a hider who didn’t know they were hiding from God.
This includes the eminent evolutionary biologist and professional God-dodger, Richard Dawkins, who provocatively declared, “Biology is the study of complicated things that give the appearance of having been designed for a purpose.” Dawkins candidly acknowledged that living organisms “overwhelmingly impress us with the appearance of design, as if by a master watchmaker.”
Yet, in a plot twist rivaling an M. Night Shyamalan movie, Dawkins asserts that the breathtaking design we observe in the cosmos isn’t real! This baffling conclusion is based on his contention that God isn’t real either. As the logic goes, if there is no God, then we can’t attribute purpose or intent to anything that we observe in nature.
Naturalists like Dawkins argue that the cosmos only appears to be a masterpiece of design. Thus, it’s not the facts of a well-designed universe that they seek to avoid as much as the Grand Architect to whom those facts point.
Despite the appearance of a well-designed universe, we are asked to believe that the cosmos came about without conscious guidance. In other words, the universe is sending mixed messages.
But let's be real—the only telltale sign a Grand Designer would leave is, well, the appearance of design! To dismiss the idea of a Designer, in the face of the very proof one would expect to find, shows that even the most convincing evidence can be brushed aside when it doesn't fit a predetermined narrative. Even evidence acknowledged as “overwhelming” is inexplicably dismissed.
To avoid replicating this mistake, we must be willing to scrutinize our presuppositions as rigorously as we examine our facts. Otherwise, our assumptions take the driver’s seat, relegating the facts to passenger status.
"For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse" (Romans 1:20, ESV).
"By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible" (Hebrews 11:3, ESV).
"For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him" (Colossians 1:16, ESV).
The Three Generation Principle
3 generation principle
It begins in Genesis 19-35 with the story of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. There you find the story of Abraham’s conversion, Isaac’s blessings as a result of being raised in the home of Abraham, and Jacob’s deception of Isaac and his subsequent conversion at Bethel.
The next time you find the principle of The Three Generations is in Judges 2:7-10.
There was a generation (1st Generation) that saw and experienced the move of God.
Then there was a generation (2nd Generation) that saw the move of God but never experienced the move of God.
Then there was a generation (3rd Generation) that neither saw nor experienced the move of God.
- The first generation knew the Lord of the work.
- The second generation knew the work of the Lord.
- The third generation knew neither the Lord of the work or the work of the Lord.
- The first generation were strong believers.
- The second generation were weak believers.
- The third generation are unbelievers.
Be sure you pass down your faith. Every generation needs to experience God for themselves.
"These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up (Deuteronomy 6:6-7, NIV). ... "[T]hat the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments; and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God (Psalms 78:6-8, ESV).