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| Vol. 16 No. 10 October 2014 | Page 13 |
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| Vol. 16 No. 10 October 2014 | Page 13 |
David A. Sargent
Kathleen Murphy claims that golf saved her life. Here’s her story in her own words:
Six years ago, when I was 58, I was playing in the Tuesday-morning women’s league at Exmoor Country Club just south of Lake Forest, IL. …On the long par-4 16th we all hit our drives to the same area in the fairway. I was first to hit. I smacked my dependable 3-wood pin-high but 15 yards right of the green, and the ball disappeared as it settled into the rough. Anticipating that looking for my ball might delay play, I sidestepped to the rough and began walking forward to get a head start. The group’s next shot, struck by Lois Burns (with whom I was playing for the first time), was a shanked 3-wood that flew sideways and hit me directly in the back of the head. I can still remember how the sound exploded in my ears.
Immediately, Murphy’s teammates loaded her into the golf cart and carried her to the Emergency Room at the nearby Highland Park Hospital. A CAT scan and an MRI confirmed that her skull was not fractured, but the doctor began asking Murphy some questions. “Have you been experiencing headaches, bouts of dizziness, etc.?” Murphy said, “No.”
The doctor was asking her these questions because the scans had revealed an apple-sized tumor that occupied nearly the entire right side of her brain. The doctors estimated that the tumor had been growing there for perhaps 15 years. More tests revealed related problems and immediate threats to her health, and so surgery was performed.
Murphy reports: “The surgery and my recovery were successful. Six weeks later I walked down the aisle [at her son’s wedding], my hair styled ably to hide the scar, and was followed by a glowing bride.” Kathleen Murphy claims that golf saved her life, because it was only after being hit in the head with a golf ball that tests were performed that led to the discovery of the life-threatening tumor.
What will it take for you to consult the Word of God? Curiosity? Encouragement from a friend? A tragedy in your life? Whatever it takes, it needs to happen because God’s Word reveals our true terminal condition. We are all sinners, desperately in need of spiritual “surgery,” because “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). However, the Word of God also reveals that the Great Physician – Jesus Christ, God’s Son – has provided the means for our life-saving surgery. He paid the price for our sins by dying on the cross in our place (Ephesians 1:7; 2 Corinthians 5:21). Then, He made new life – and eternal life – possible for us by being raised from the dead (1 Peter 1:3-4).
The Great Physician removes the tumor of sin from our lives and gives us new life (and eternal life) when we place our faith and trust in Him (Acts 16:30-31), turn from sin in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized (immersed) into Christ (Acts 2:38).
Don’t wait for an errant golf ball to strike you on the head before you go to the Word of God and learn of your true condition as well as the Savior’s remedy. Allow Him to perform the life-saving surgery that you need today. He will save your life, eternally. Won’t you?
Works Cited
Murphy, Kathleen. “Golf Saved My Life.” Golf Digest. 8 Oct 2012. <www.golfdigest.com>.
If There Is No God
Randall Evans
Atheists are people who believe there is no God. Of course nothing could be more opposite to what we believe as Christians. We believe in the Almighty Creator – One who is eternal, who created the universe with His words, who sustains the universe as it is today, who will destroy the earth one day with fire, and one before whom we will stand in judgment. However, atheists scoff at such notions. They think God-believing people are weak, imagining up a God that does not exist to use Him as a crutch to get through life.
Atheists view themselves as intellectuals who have achieved some higher knowledge than Christians. They’re smarter than we are; just ask them, they will tell you. However, have you ever considered what really would be the outcome if they were right? What if there really was no God? John Lennon wrote these words in his now famous song “Imagine”: “Imagine there’s no Heaven; it’s easy if you try. No Hell below us, above us only sky.” So what would the world be like if God did not exist?
If There Is No God, Then
We Are All Here By Accident
Christians believe that mankind is uniquely special because we were created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27). Atheists believe there is no greater power that created us. We all just evolved. If that is the case, then we have no purpose for being here. We are just animals – just molecules in motion. We have no souls. We are no more valuable than the ant crawling on the sidewalk.
If There Is No God, Then There Is
No
Ultimate Standard of Right or Wrong
Christians believe that the Bible is the standard for morality. We believe the Bible is God’s Word (2 Timothy 3:16). We believe we must obey God’s Word (Hebrews 5:8-9), and we believe we will be judged by His Word (John 12:48). However, what standard of morality exists for atheists? There are only two alternatives for them. One is that there is no standard. With no standard anything goes. With no standard, then, the ant on the sidewalk is equal in value to us. Killing a human being would be no different than killing it. With no standard, there would be complete chaos.
The other option with atheism is that mankind determines the standard of morality. This direction is the one our world is traveling now. Yet, man is not capable of setting his own standards of morality. The prophet Jeremiah said it this way. “Oh Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his own steps” (Jeremiah 10:23). When man sets his own standard, then, everyone’s opinion about what is right is on an equal plane. Everyone, then, is right, which ultimately means that no one is right. This is the reality of a world if there is no God.