Questions Answered

Will animals be in heaven? Will I ever see my pet again?

Abrupt Answer: There will be animals in Heaven, but it’s unlikely you will see your pet again.  Unless…

Adequate Answer: God created animals and put them in the Garden of Eden (a perfect place), so why wouldn’t they be in Heaven?  Unfortunately, the Bible doesn’t tell us to expect our current pets in the next life, but if God brought your pet Salamander into Heaven by his grace and good-will… I wouldn’t be surprised. God does many amazing things simply to show how marvelous he is.

Analytical Answer: This issue always raises eye-brows and emotions. Some people believe so strongly that your pet will not be in Heaven they’ll argue for hours.  Many find absurdity in the idea that any animal would be in heaven, much less that mangy mutt who poops on their lawn!  On the other hand, some Christians want to see their pets again so intensely they would be willing to fight Mike Tyson (with or without losing an ear) if it made a difference. They are passionate because of the emotions connected to animals. The people who love their pets can love them deeply, and would scold anyone who suggests their animal is simply a passing fancy.

I would suggest that animals (but not necessarily our pets) will be in Heaven – more specifically they will be on the New Earth we will live on. When God created a perfect world in Genesis, he designed the Garden of Eden full of animals!  When Jesus returns and removes all sin and evil, he will restore all things!  They will be as God intended, and God intended for animals and man to live with each other in harmony.  We must, then, accept the likelihood that animals will be with us in the next life.

But will you see your pet again? This is a little tougher, and more emotional. True, people will be raised from the dead to spend eternity with God.  But our pets?  First, let’s dispel the myth than animals do not have a soul.  Great theologians have always said that animals do have souls!  We can see this when animals show desire or preference for one person over another – that is soulish activity.  We witness this when they snub some food because they don’t like the way it tastes in favor of another.  But, their souls are much different from the Human soul. The animal’s soul functions with a dependence on their physical body.  Human souls can exist apart from the body so physical death to a human is not damaging to the soul.  Since an animal’s soul is linked to its body we have no reason to believe God designed them with eternal life in mind, and we should not expect to see our pets in the next life. But, who am I? Just a man, who is feebly trying to understand God’s word.  And if there is one thing I have learned about him is that he is extravagantly surprising! Just when we lose hope, God shows up.  When there is no possibility of a man turning his life around, God’s spirit changes him.  So, honestly, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if God decided to allow your pet into our eternal dwelling. After all – He is God and if he decides to show his profound goodness by doing that who am I to argue? If this is his good will – then let it be so! Why should it bother me? My allergies will be gone by then!

What does a grasshopper taste like?

Abrupt Answer: Like grainy, squishy rock candy.

Adequate Answer: It has a sandpaper like texture, but it’s hard to tell when their still moving.

Analytical Answer: Well, if you read the above answers you probably can think of how they taste, but your’ probably wondering how I know. One nice summer day (at least it was nice until…) I was playing soccer with one of my best friend’s, Robby.  He kicked the ball past me, so I went to pick it up. As I reached to the ground a little grasshopper named “Steve” leaped with all his might into my mouth. I gasped and the grasshopper continued his trip down my throat. It was disgusting.  True story.

Answered Prayer

by: Vikki Mendenhall

I am in awe of the Lord’s work right now and decided this was the easiest way to share!

As most of you know, I had a seizure November 6th and then again November 23rd. There are STILL no clues as to what is causing them. Needless to say, we have been stressing about medical care as Steven and I have no insurance and really no way to get any without paying an arm and a leg! Years ago, I was a patient of Smoky Hill Family Practice. I wasn’t so thrilled, and since I was a minor still, my parents switched us all to ComCare. Well, I sure can’t afford to pay full price for an office visit, so I decided to see what other options I had.

I called and set up an appointment today at Salina Family HealthCare to see about getting some aid for medical care. I know Steven brings in a good amount of money right now, but between taxes and child support, we don’t see nearly enough of it to cover ALL of the bills we owe. Student loans are killing us right now. Anyways, so I took in his paystubs from the beginning of August to his paycheck yesterday. Any way she figured it, we still fell into the same bracket. We pay half price for medical care! That in itself was enough to almost make me jump for joy! I was so thrilled, I could barely contain myself! So as I am talking to the lady about my seizures and some questions I had, I mentioned that Dr Davis just changed my medicine.

To my surprise, she says that Dr Davis is in their clinic once a month!!!! Then she also tells me that many of the patients that see him, visit him in his office and he still gives the same discount as would be at their office. This kept getting better and better!

As we were finishing up, she checked with the lady that handles a program called MAP, which I believe stands for medicine assistance program. Anyways, I guess the medicine they have me on now is not one that they are able to get samples of yet, but the lady said she still keeps trying!

So, at this point, I have half price medical care, my neurologist is in this same program AND they are trying to get some of the medicine I take!?!?! How much better can it get, right?

When I was pregnant with Christopher, I found out I had two cavities in opposite corners of my mouth. Because of where they were, the dentist wouldn’t do them at the same time, so I only was able to get one done. NOW, I also have half price dental!! The pricing bracket is good at the clinic AND the dental office! I am so ecstatic. It is a huge weight lifted. There are some things that both Steven and I need to go to the dr for and this was a major answered prayer as to how we would do this!

I am just so in awe of God’s work that, like I said, I had to share!!! And everyone tagged means so much to me and/or worries about us 🙂 So I wanted to let everyone know!

To the People from the Piepho

Who wrote Genesis and how did they know about Adam and Eve?

Abrupt Answer: Moses wrote Genesis and God told him about Adam and Eve.

Adequate Answer: Many theologians believe that Moses (the guy who helped the Israelites get out of slavery) wrote Genesis (the first book of the Bible). There are scriptures that describe Moses spending time with God speaking face-to-face, and this may be when God gave him the information.

Analytical Answer: Most likely Moses wrote the first book of the Bible, Genesis, about 1440 B.C. Of course there was a multitude of years between Moses and the first people on the block, Adam and Eve, so it’s a fair question to wonder how he could know such things.  Moses may have relied upon oral tradition of the Israelites for information.  But, there are so many details it seems unlikely it would all be perfect (and note that no errors in geography or otherwise have been noted).  The Bible says in Exodus 33:8-11, “whenever Moses went out to the tent…The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp…” Many people who study the Bible, including me, would say that this may be a time when God gave Moses the information to write.  They spoke “face to face” with each other.

How do you know when your room is too dirty?

Abrupt Answer: When flies avoid your room.

Adequate Answer: When your neighbors re-organize the neighborhood watch program to include air sample from your side of the house.

Analytical Answer: Your’ room might be too dirty if…   If you can’t see your floor – and your carpet is bright orange. If you can’t find the gift you bought someone, only to realize you’ve been standing on it. If smelling your clothes is part of your getting dressed routine. If it’s already so dirty you didn’t feel bad about dropping that piece of pizza – and not finding it again. Finally, you know it’s too dirty when you would prefer to sleep on the couch because it would take too much time to clear off your bed.

Jeff Speaks…

Why did God make plants like marijuana if we aren’t supposed to use drugs?

Abrupt Answer: God made plants – we make drugs.

Adequate Answer: Whenever we talk about drugs that “God made”, we usually are thinking about drugs from plants such as marijuana. Think about it for a minute.  God made the plant, true.  But he didn’t tell us to roll it, light it on fire, and breathe it.  Plus, many of these drugs go through human-directed changes from the time when they are planted until the time they are used as drugs. God didn’t really make the drugs, we did.

Analytical Answer: When we ask, “Why did God make drugs” we are trying to argue that if God made it, then it should be okay. Well, that’s ridiculous.  Think about it – God made us, with anger. Sometimes we get so angry enough to kill someone… Does that mean it’s okay?  Just because God made us with the ability to get angry does NOT give us permission to use that anger inappropriately.  Likewise, just because God made certain plants that do odd things to our minds doesn’t mean we should use them for that purpose.

Think about it for a minute.  God made the plants such as marijuana, but nowhere did he tell you to roll it, light it on fire, and breathe it.  In fact, God created many other plants that are poisonous – he never commanded us to eat them (and I doubt you want to).  The question we should ask ourselves is, “am I using God’s creation appropriately?”  We should ask that question about drugs, anger, sex, and pretty much anything in our lives.

In addition, God wants us to have “self-control.”  Self-control is listed as one of the “fruits of the Spirit” in Galatians 5:22-23.  If we have the Holy Spirit we will have self-control, and anything that inhibits or removes self-control is against the Spirit of God!  Including hypnotism, addictions, uncontrolled anger, or drugs.

One more thing:  most drugs are combinations of natural ingredients, chemicals, cooking, burning, and just nasty stuff. God didn’t make them. We did. It’s kind of like making a bazooka (or gun) and then asking, “Why did God make this weapon?”  Just because it has naturally occurring metal doesn’t mean God endorsed it.

What is it like to wreck a four-wheeler?

Abrupt Answer: Like watching a good movie, but with real pain.

Adequate Answer: You know those slow motion scenes in movies where you see the guy flying through the air and he’s desperately trying to correct himself before he hits the ground?  It seems to take five minutes even though it was about two seconds?  That’s exactly what it is like, except you know it is going to hurt… a lot.

Analytical Answer: The last crash I remember having (the most recent one I don’t remember… hit my head pretty hard) went something like this: I was driving along having a nice day when I noticed a small ledge with a five to eight foot drop leading to a rock-bed.  I decide, against better judgment, to see if I can launch the quad down this outcropping.  The only problem was I decided to drive rather slow.  It would’ve been much better to go fast, thus giving me enough speed to leap down the ridge – but now, as I rolled up to it I tried to pull a wheelie while driving off of it.  The motor didn’t rev up enough.  This could not be my fault.  Really.  So instead of jumping off a five foot ledge, I now basically rolled my 500+ pound four wheeler down a steep drop-off… not good.  Landing five to eight feet below it sat vertical on its front two wheels while continuing to tilt forward with me on the seat. Eventually it fully flips over and I land chest first, right on a large rock followed by the four wheeler smashing down on top of me.  This happened in about three seconds, but seemed like three minutes. During that time I was braking, throttling, shifting my weight, trying anything to get the four-wheeler to correct itself… no dice.  So there I sat under the beast crushing me.  I couldn’t breathe because the rock-bed had knocked the wind out of me and giving some nice bumps and bruises, before the machine even landed on me.  My Father, who was with me, ran over and pushed the quad off of me while I tried to stand up.  No dice.  It hurt.  A few minutes later I caught my breathe, shook off the pain and got back on the four wheeler. It was time to look for something else to try to launch off of, or jump.  And that my friends, is what it is like to wreck a four-wheeler.

Jeff Speaks

What’s One Piece of Evidence I Can Use to Help People Know Jesus Rose From the Dead?

Abrupt Answer: Jesus’ brother James was a Christian.

Adequate Answer: Jesus actually had a brother named James. He wrote the book of James in the Bible! Now ask yourself this question: what would it take to convince you that your sibling was the son of God? Quite a bit. The fact James believed in Jesus is a big deal.

Analytical Answer: Jesus’ family didn’t always support his ministry. In Mark 3:21 we hear exactly what his family thinks about their brother and son. Jesus is surrounded by crowds of people who want to see him, he appoints some guys to be his disciples and then we read this: “When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, ‘He is out of his mind.'” They literally thought Jesus had gone crazy.

But what do we read in the book of James just 30 years later? In chapter 2 verse1 James refers to his brother as “our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.” Consider the amazing chain of events that must have occurred for this to happen.

Let’s imagine it was our sibling. Your brother claims to be God and the long awaited Jewish Messiah. Oh great, just what our family needs – a nut. Then your brother starts giving long speeches and making people his followers. What would convince that he really is the son of God? Would having a lot of followers convince you? Not likely. It would take something miraculous, wouldn’t it? Something like seeing your brother rise from the dead.

Finally, consider the death of James. He was stoned to death for believing in Jesus. It is one thing to claim your brother is God. Maybe James was lying – although we cannot figure out why he would ever claim his brother was God. But he was actually put to death in AD 64 for his belief in Jesus, proving that this was a sincere faith.
What would it take to convince you that your sibling was God come to Earth, if you believed he was insane?

Why are most pop singers good looking?

Abrupt Answer: Computers fix all their vocal mistakes so they only have to look good.

Adequate Answer: Because they really don’t have to sing anymore since computers fix everything for them, and they only have to look good, kind of.

Analytical Answer: They are good looking because first of all they don’t have to know how to sing anymore. All the studio needs is a computer and decent software and they can fix any mistakes the “singer” makes. I know because I’ve been there. Why do they always look good? Besides the fact that looks and dance moves are the only criteria, thanks to computers — computers also make them look good. Their appearances are changed, a lot. As well as fancy photography making them look better. I’m not impressed with them. Please don’t you be either. If you want to be impressed, be impressed by their producer who actually does most of the music stuff now days.