Your Value(9 sections)
contemplating his value?
Your Value
I am here to declare your personal worth.
If you grew up fatherless, maybe you were conceived out-of-wedlock.
Many fatherless people doubt their personal worth.
Give me a few minutes to take a heavy load off your shoulders.
If you grew up fatherless, maybe you were conceived out-of-wedlock.
Perhaps you've heard that God says 'no' to sex outside of marriage (it's true).
So - people created out of wedlock might wonder:
"How can I please God - or be loved by God
if the act that created me - was outside of His will?"
This is a sticky situation that must be confronted,
but Beloved, a happy answer awaits you ...
photo of my typed-out New testament
I don't spy....
Friends, I have literally typed out the entire New Testament, word-for-word, on my computer,
(no cut-and-paste) and I never read anywhere in the New Testament -
where Jesus scolded or pushed away anyone for how they were conceived.
And it is God that sets our ultimate personal value -
not our families,
not our neighbors,
not society,
nor our employers.
(no cut-and-paste) and I never read anywhere in the New Testament -
where Jesus scolded or pushed away anyone for how they were conceived.
And it is God that sets our ultimate personal value -
not our families,
not our neighbors,
not society,
nor our employers.
God love us all and offers Himself to us.
YOUR VALUE
My value?
What is Eric Rose's value?
I have a certain social-value as a carpenter, but I also have no value as a singer.
I have a certain value as a husband, another value as a fellow-motorist.
My social value fluctuates according to my role in life and how well I do it.
I have a certain value as a husband, another value as a fellow-motorist.
My social value fluctuates according to my role in life and how well I do it.
Yet, I have a true personal-value, set by God, just between He and I.
This value is immense, no matter how I was conceived,
and my value is equal to the value that God bestows on every other human.
This value is immense, no matter how I was conceived,
and my value is equal to the value that God bestows on every other human.
Our main value to God is our possible companionship.
Our companionship has a great value to God.
God reserves this right to Himself - the right to choose His value of us.
God reserves this right to Himself - the right to choose His value of us.
Heaven has no voting booths.
People have no right to tell God who He can love.
And God's opinion of you and of I - began as a one-cell baby,
when that one sperm and that one egg came together inside your mother's body.
Let's put a microscope on this topic.
And God's opinion of you and of I - began as a one-cell baby,
when that one sperm and that one egg came together inside your mother's body.
Let's put a microscope on this topic.
photo: uijunkie.com
I was made with one sperm cell from my father and one egg from my mother.
(I think my conception is the only speed race I’ve ever won.)
My father served in WW2 in the US Navy, in the Pacific Theatre.
Consider all the men who died during WW2, (407,300). Many left behind widowed wives.
These women often remarried and had children by their new husbands.
Those 2nd-tier children exist because of the selfishness of Hitler, Mussolini and Hirohito.
Yes, as much as people hate Hitler, he had a direct hand in the conception
(I think my conception is the only speed race I’ve ever won.)
My father served in WW2 in the US Navy, in the Pacific Theatre.
His ship took hits from two kamikaze planes,
and another time, the USS Chilton broke up in rough seas and sank.
If he had been killed, I could not have been conceived.
Consider all the men who died during WW2, (407,300). Many left behind widowed wives.
These women often remarried and had children by their new husbands.
Those 2nd-tier children exist because of the selfishness of Hitler, Mussolini and Hirohito.
Yes, as much as people hate Hitler, he had a direct hand in the conception
of many of America's 76,000,000 baby-boomers, and their descendants.
More of my backstory: I am the fourth child conceived to my parents,
with two older sisters and an older brother.
My brother died when he was a few hours old.
I was told that I was tried-for because my older brother died.
Though it was meant to be a positive message, I later realized that if my brother had lived,
I would not have been tried for.
God imagined human life, then designed and created human life.
with two older sisters and an older brother.
My brother died when he was a few hours old.
I was told that I was tried-for because my older brother died.
Though it was meant to be a positive message, I later realized that if my brother had lived,
I would not have been tried for.
My perspective on the Human Race?
Based on my interpretation of The Old Testament Book of Genesis,
and my understanding of DNA science, which God created:
God imagined human life, then designed and created human life.
He imagined, designed and created human DNA, human hormones and their processes.
And He imagined free-will.
God then created Adam, and then created Eve.
He then set the world loose, to operate as people made their choices...
fully intending to love every human created.
BUT...
always maintaining His sovereignty, which I explain in the next segment, below,
artwork:Pinterest
"So, what about God's sovereignty?"
God's Sovereignty v. Human Free Will.
God's right to rule v. People's capacity to chose one thing over another.
How do we believe in both things at the same time? How do they blend, or do they?
Good question.
I believe that God is sovereign, yet regularly shares his right-to-decide ... with humans.
Genesis 2:
19 Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them;
and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.
20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.
See what I mean? God immediately gave away some of His authority to Adam.
God could have labeled the animals, then told Adam what they were...but He didn't.
He let Adam pick their names.
Now let's look at Jonah and the great fish, as some translations call it.
In the Old Testament Book of Jonah,
Nineveh was once the capital of an ancient nation called Assyria.
God saw Nineveh as an evil city, but he wanted to redeem them.
God told the prophet Jonah to go there and preach repentance.
Jonah hated Ninevah,
because Assyria was very cruel to its enemies, including Israel.
Jonah did not want Nineveh to have the opportunity to repent.
To short-circuit God's mercy-plan, Jonah boarded a ship going away from Nineveh.
*********
God ordered a storm that eventually put Jonah overboard into the sea
where he was swallowed by a whale.
After three days, the whale spit-up Jonah, (a reverse catch-and-release)
on the shore near Nineveh - a city so large, it took three days to walk across.
Jonah decided to obey God. He preached a successful revival in Nineveh.
This was because God gave Jonah a specific message to preach:
"40 Days until God destroys Nineveh for its wickedness."
(look it up)
The cruel people of Nineveh understood harsh consequences.
They decided to repent and follow God's ways.
This is an example of Human Free Will v. God's sovereignty.
We can choose, but God can script our circumstances to make His will appealing to us.
Back to the results of misused free will
Our genealogies are rooted in human selfishness.
adultery, murder, early widow(er)hood, fornication, work accidents, reckless driving,
human trafficking, defective DNA, etc. created our lineages;
...and this is why we each exist.
We are all 'illegitimate' in some way.
Being a crime-show watcher, it also occurs to me that the children of murderers,
who were conceived after the murder; should they have ever been conceived?
I wonder how these children-of-criminals feel?
BUT...
I wonder how these children-of-criminals feel?
BUT...
Does our conception-status brand us as unworthy of life? NO.
Does our conception-status brand us unworthy of God's love? NO.
But it does say something about God, that He is willing to love people like us,
who never would have been conceived, had there been no sin in the world.
.
Perhaps this is the real rub; some people want to deserve to exist.
And if they deserved to be conceived, then life must owe them something.
Not true.
God does not legally owe us anything, except what He has promised us.
Does our conception-status brand us unworthy of God's love? NO.
But it does say something about God, that He is willing to love people like us,
who never would have been conceived, had there been no sin in the world.
.
Perhaps this is the real rub; some people want to deserve to exist.
And if they deserved to be conceived, then life must owe them something.
Not true.
God does not legally owe us anything, except what He has promised us.
We do not decide what God owes us.
Repeatedly throughout the Bible, God has promised His love toward us.
What He gives us, including his love, is always an act of His Grace.
Again, God assigned His chosen value to us - the moment we were conceived.
Laws, declarations, votes and court decisions - that demean unborn children -
Again, God assigned His chosen value to us - the moment we were conceived.
Laws, declarations, votes and court decisions - that demean unborn children -
do not change God's assigned value of all children.
A one-cell child, conceived out-of-wedlock, has the same God-given human-value as:
* any elected official at any level of government, from a city council member to POTUS;
* any law official at any level, from a city meter maid to a US Supreme Court Judge;
* any social activist at any level, from a street protester to the president of ACLU or NOW;
* any level of servant in any Church, from a part-time volunteer to a Billy Graham.
Heaven has no voting booths. We don't get to decide who God loves.
As you seek relationships in life,
your best personal relationships, such as family, neighbors, work and church ...
will be with people who believe your value began at the moment you were conceived,
no matter the circumstances of your conception.
These people will show you dignity.
Now let’s talk specifically about Minority America,
which includes Indigenous, Black and Latino Americans.
Today’s diaspora African-Americans exist because of slavery.
* George W. Carver, Frederick Douglass,
Today’s diaspora African-Americans exist because of slavery.
* George W. Carver, Frederick Douglass,
* Harriet Tubman, Elizabeth Cotton,
* MLK Jr., Oprah Winfrey, or Maxine Waters,
* Wilt Chamberlain, Lonnie Johnson or Lavar Burton
could never have been born unless their ancestors had been sold to white slave traders
by rival African tribes or by Muslim traders selling human flesh.
Strangely, a small percent of those slaves were then sold to free blacks,
by rival African tribes or by Muslim traders selling human flesh.
Strangely, a small percent of those slaves were then sold to free blacks,
who then directed their lives and their mating options.
Most of these folks with a slave-heritage or a heritage of racial oppression,
they know that they couldn’t exist unless someone else had done something very wrong, very bad.
They are the result of other people's sins, both large and small.
This makes some of them feel illegitimate, right?
Well, Good News, of sorts. They share that carnival ride with every other human on earth.
Most of these folks with a slave-heritage or a heritage of racial oppression,
they know that they couldn’t exist unless someone else had done something very wrong, very bad.
They are the result of other people's sins, both large and small.
This makes some of them feel illegitimate, right?
Well, Good News, of sorts. They share that carnival ride with every other human on earth.
Let's look at my white maternal grandfather, the next article down -------->
my maternal grandparents, Harry & Bertha Stifle
My maternal grandfather. Harry Stifle.
A note to people struggling with fatherlessness:
Other than abortion,
intentional fatherlessness may be the ultimate disenfranchisement.
But intentional fatherlessness is not always the fault of the father.
He was apparently conceived out-of-wedlock, then adopted by a man
that my great-grandmother later met and married.
He was 'illegitimate', as they used to say.
But fatherlessness and illegitimacy, while related, are not exactly the same thing.
Since he was 'illegitimate', then so am I;
He was 'illegitimate', as they used to say.
But fatherlessness and illegitimacy, while related, are not exactly the same thing.
Since he was 'illegitimate', then so am I;
I am 'illegitimate' but I was not fatherless,
so I haven't had the difficulties that truly fatherless boys often have.
so I haven't had the difficulties that truly fatherless boys often have.
*****************************************
A note to people struggling with fatherlessness:
Other than abortion,
intentional fatherlessness may be the ultimate disenfranchisement.
But intentional fatherlessness is not always the fault of the father.
Mothers can also engineer intentional fatherlessness - against the father's will.
Nope, not a bit.
I never thought that my granddad's situation limited me.
I went to Sunday school for years before I knew about my grandpa's birth circumstances.
I understood enough about God - to know that my heritage didn't matter to Him.
PS. Some people will wonder if this website is generated out a personal angst
of knowing my grandfather was 'illegitimate'...
Nope, not a bit.
I never thought that my granddad's situation limited me.
I went to Sunday school for years before I knew about my grandpa's birth circumstances.
I understood enough about God - to know that my heritage didn't matter to Him.