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The wisdom of moths

7/26/2018

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Mighty hunter cat Jordy Nelson and I have had ample time to observe moths over the years--in particular, the moths trying desperately to break through our window screens to get to the light over the kitchen table. And we've been wondering if entomologists have any explanation for this phenomenon.  (Okay, so I've been wondering, to be precise, but Jordy doesn't seem to find it a completely foolish question.)

Not surprisingly, bug experts have theories. For instance, some species migrate, so perhaps their internal navigation systems become confused by the presence of artificial nighttime light. Trouble is, most moths do not migrate, so this idea leaves a lot of 'splaining to do. 

Others have postulated that it has something to do with the moth's desire to sleep or procreate. But there are gaping holes in these theories, too. along with a rather stunning lack of curiosity about the subject.  

“For now,” said Live Science back in 2011, “the question must remain one of life's biggest little mysteries.” Apparently nothing has changed.

But hold on! Maybe there is an easy and logical explanation, at least for the open-minded among us: Perhaps God created moths to demonstrate that nocturnal life is highly undesirable, that joy can only be found in seeking the light.  

After all, the Bible has plenty to say about darkness and light.

As the apostle John wrote in chapter 3 of his gospel, “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” Maybe He has programmed moths to flee darkness and seek the light, to show us that even creatures with the tiniest brains have more sense than most humans.  
​
 
Or perhaps moths are a living illustration of the proper response to the teachings of the apostle Paul, who was sent by Christ to the Gentiles “to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me” (see Acts 26).   

There is, after all, safety in light, as Paul implied in Romans 13: “let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.”  

There is also knowledge in light, he added in 2 Corinthians 4: “For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

And there is freedom in light, he pointed out in Colossians 1: “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.”

Do moths want safety, knowledge, and freedom, just as we do? I don't know; but I don't suppose any human does. 

But okay, maybe that’s a stretch. Maybe moths simply want to be with their Creator, who said, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” (see John 8).  

I’d say that any of these explanations beats what entomology has to say on the subject. And each one has the added advantage of providing us with insights of eternal significance. 

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Can’t we give credit where credit is due?

7/18/2018

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Have you ever wondered why we use a seven-day week? If not, consider: Why seven days? It’s not a very convenient number. It doesn’t divide evenly into any month except February, and then only 75% of the time. Nor does it divide evenly into our 365-day year, or the 366-day calendar of leap year.
 
So why do we stick with the seven-day week? It seems like an anachronism we should ditch, just as most of the world has already dumped the Imperial system of weights and measures in favor of the Metric system—a movement resisted only by the U.S., Liberia and Myanmar.
 
Isn’t the seven-day week just as awkward as a system that uses inches, feet and miles? Why hasn’t anyone tried to bring our calendar into the modern era?
 
Ah, but someone has. In fact, there have been several major attempts to do so in the last few centuries alone. The architects of the French Revolution used a 10-day week from 1793 to 1802, an experiment that the Paris Commune repeated for 10 days (one French week?) in 1871. And under Stalin, the Soviets tried both five- and six-day weeks in the 1930s.  
 
Obviously, both the French and the Soviet attempts failed miserably. The seven-day week is universal, as far as I’ve been able to tell, and it’s apparently here to stay.
 
So where did this illogical strategy come from?
 
It must be a very difficult question. Google it, and you’ll see a lot of talk about ancient people. As one reporter noted, “The Babylonians marked time with lunar months and it is thought by many scholars that this is why they chose a seven day week (though direct evidence of this being why they did this is scant).” This same reporter notes that the Jews were also early users of the seven-day week, “by deistic decree,” although he adds that scads of scholars deny that “one day” means “one day,” and if they’re right, that would eliminate the Jews as contenders for the seven-day-creator title.  
 
His conclusion? “Unlike the Babylonians, where it appears they were attempting to follow the lunar cycles with their seven day week, it isn’t known why the Jews picked seven days, outside of Christians and Jews of course believing that it was by the decree of God.”
 
Yeah, and who in their right mind would have obeyed such a crazy decree? That can’t possibly be the answer, can it?  
 
But guess what: It is the answer: God created a week consisting of seven literal 24-hour periods known as “days.” He spelled it out via Moses in the book of Genesis. And since then, all attempts to unseat the seven-day week have been destined for failure. It seems to be almost like a natural law of physics, chemistry or biology, akin to the laws of thermodynamics and conservation of matter or Mendel’s law of segregation. 
 
Apparently the seven-day week cannot be overturned. Which figures, when you think about it. After all, it was ordained by the Lord Himself.
 
I can’t think of any other explanation. Can you? If it were simply a reflection of ancient observations about the lunar cycle or religious customs, it would have been easy enough to scuttle.
 
Even Stalin’s monsters seem to have acknowledged God’s hand in the seven-day week. Their attempts to overturn His calendar were designed, according to another reporter, “to make observing the Sabbath impossible, as part of the ‘struggle to eliminate religion.’”
 
But true to their hard hearts, historians and other scholars have for years searched for another explanation—anything and anyone but the Lord. Which is why you may have a tough time finding any secular source giving full credit where it’s due, to the God of the Bible. 

So what else is new?
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The best whodunit of all

7/9/2018

1 Comment

 
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I grew up in a family of readers, in a home littered with books. Not that we were great intellectuals; our tastes ran not to Austen and Woolf but to Christie, du Maurier, Stewart and Whitney. 

And especially Christie. There was nothing we Foth girls liked better than a good Agatha. In fact, for the first 30 or 40 years of my life, becoming the next Agatha  Christie was my goal in life. My oldest sister and I even gave it a try – she with more authentic results than I (although my manuscript, which turned into a medical thriller rather than a traditional mystery, did manage to win a contest, get published and sell a pathetic 150 copies).  

But it has occurred to me that, in the end, I did pen a whodunit. Because Heaven Without Her presents and solves the greatest mysteries of all time: where did we come from, what are we doing here and where are we going? 

Are there any more important questions we can ask in this life? Of course not, because how we answer them determines where we will spend eternity.

Heaven Without Her is far from the only book to tackle these questions; I’m sure there are many that do it far more efficiently and effectively. And if a seeker of truth were to ask me to recommend the best of them all, I’d say it would be wisest to cut to the chase and study the Bible. 

Still, it makes me smile to realize that I achieved my childhood literary dream after all, and that my whodunit – complete with foreshadowing, red herrings, tension and denouement – demonstrates that there really is only one way that all the pieces of this puzzle fit together. And it starts at a narrow gate ...

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"Do not fear, little flock!"

7/1/2018

3 Comments

 
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Elise was astounded to find several emails addressed to her at her “Advice for the Life-Worn” address—her first genuine questions from readers, appearing just two days after she had officially published the site, in time for her last creative writing class.
           
The first two were relatively useless, with one asking about which of two boyfriends sounded like a better bet, and the second proposing that “love your enemies” really referred only to citizens of enemy nations; she would just send these writers quick personal responses. But the third posed a question she had been asking herself for years.
 
Dear Elise,

I am a single woman and have been taking care of myself for my entire adult life. I have a good job, a nice suburban home, and a few close friends. Sounds perfect, right?
    
But it isn’t, and I don’t know why other than to say that I am so afraid of so many things. Crime, rodents, driving in traffic, disease, getting old, not getting old, having too much money to manage, having too little money, being broke, being homeless—the list goes on and on.
    
I have heard it said that the Bible says “don’t be afraid” something like 365 times. I would love to obey—but how?     
​
Emily

 
Elise poured herself a glass of grape juice and sat down to compose an answer to put both their fears to rest.
 
Dear Emily,
    
Boy, do I identify with your question! In fact, I have personally searched the Bible for all the passages saying, essentially, “fear not” and have found it very helpful to spend a little time each day in one or more of these references. (Luke 12:32 is probably my favorite: “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” I just love the image of being a poor dumb sheep who is utterly dependent upon her shepherd.)
           
So that’s one important thing to do. The other one is to consider God’s nature: He is all powerful and sovereign, He loves each of us enough to have died for us, and He has told us that we are more valuable than the sparrows He tends to with such perfect diligence. In short, He is able to take care of us, He wants to, and He will.
    
If these things are true—and they are!—why do we think He would do anything less than take care of us perfectly? With the Creator of the universe Himself watching out for us, why in the world would we ever fear anything?
             

She reminded Emily that God’s idea of what’s good for us is often quite different from our own, and that we need to learn to trust what Romans 8:28 says about all things working together for the good of those who love Him. She then tapped out what would become her standard closing: 
      
Thank you for writing, Emily. Please let me know if you have further thoughts, or if I can help in any way.
    
Blessings,
Elise

 
She proofed and posted her reply and then sent the link to Ms. Slocum, to show off her first genuine reader Q&A.
           
“You may or may not agree with my content,” she wrote, figuring that Ms. Slocum was likely as agnostic as her best friend Meg. “But I’m sure you’ll be pleased to see that Everlasting Place is already attracting readers in need of spiritual help. Thank you for holding my hand through this process! Elise Chapelle”

--From The Song of Sadie Sparrow, pages 310-312
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    Kitty
    Foth-Regner

    I'm a follower of Jesus Christ, a freelance copywriter, a nursing-home volunteer, and the author of books both in-process and published -- including Heaven Without Her. 

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