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By Nick P.
















While at work today I found a chance to further ponder an idea I'd had going in my mind. A young lady was in the back room who I'd tried to hook up with a friend of mine because she wanted a good guy. She said "He may be too good for me." I'd found out later she could be a bit "wild" so I suggested she tone down. She said, "I can't. This is who I am."
 
I took her to the example of going through a hospital. Imagine seeing all the babies. Now what are those babies capable of doing? She didn't know so I gave some answers. Whining, crying, wetting themselves, pooping in their diapers, and other such things. None of those sound too cute. But then I asked "Are the babies cute?" Well she had to say yes to which I asked "Why?" Sadly, she told me then I'd gone over her head and had to go but maybe the point was made.
 
I saw this later as a cashier I was bagging for began to cry. Now I like to have fun and laugh and cut-up but when a friend is in need, it's time to get serious. I was with her quickly asking what was wrong. I was told her boyfriend was verbally abusive to her. I reminded her that she deserved the best and she said "I don't. I'm not a good person." Notice something? Both of these people were determining their values by what they did.
 
Now what we do is important, no doubt about that, but it's not the source of our value. Our value is intrinsic. This means that it's rooted in our being created in the image of God. We have value because we bear his image. We are not valuable for what we do but who we are.
 
I often find this in debating Jehovah's Witnesses. I am told all too often when I disagree with Jehovah's Witness doctrines, I am told I am bashing JWs. Now this is a fundamental flaw. These people are making themselves equal to their beliefs. They should realize that they are persons first, and JWs second. To attack a belief is not the same as attacking the holder of the belief. Our champions of "tolerance" could bear to learn this today.
 
I also recall another debate with a JW. I had brought up Psalm 27:4 where it says to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. Now this is something I've been pondering lately. The thought is deep but if you hear me out I'm sure you'll find it fascinating and something to really think about.
 
When I see a beautiful lady, I can tell she is beautiful by her outward form. Now what makes this outward form beautiful I really don't know as I've asked my male friends but I remember what Blake said when he wrote "The naked woman's body is a portion of eternity too great for the eye of man." I read Song of Solomon 4 often and wonder about this beauty. I will get back to this beauty later also.
 
I can also listen to a symphony and decide it is beautiful by how it sounds. Take me to the Baskin Robbins after church on Sunday night and if I see Peanut Butter & Chocolate ice cream I will have a religious experience. I also recall we used to have some Cookie Dough scent air freshener. I loved the stuff. The smell made it beautiful. I also think of petting my cat and what a beautiful feeling it has to the touch.
 
The beauty comes through the senses but you cannot see God. You cannot taste God. You cannot smell God. You cannot touch God. God can speak in an audible voice but the Bible doesn't really tell us to expect to hear God. Yet still, we all know the Lord is beautiful and perfectly beautiful.
 
My guess is that this is because of the soul. The JWs deny the existence of the soul but I believe one can tell a soul is beautiful only through their own soul. This is the way it is with women. Some women are knockouts not simply because of their external form but their 1 Peter 3 qualities as reading that passage will reveal. These ladies have what I call "simple beauty" that causes the outer to glow. This is why some couples can stay married so long and 50 years down the road the husband will stay say she's the prettiest woman in the world.
 
Now I asked this JW then though how he knew God was beautiful. He made the remark that we simply look at the creation. The creation reveals that he is beautiful. Now I will admit that the creation reveals many things of God. It reveals his plurality within, his power and intelligence, his personality, and his love among other things.
 
However, the answer is horribly wrong too. God never changes for one and thus, God was beautiful before he ever created. The argument assumes that if we weren't here to see God, he wouldn't be beautiful. God is beautiful rather or not anyone acknowledges that. Simply put, God is, and whatever we believe doesn't change the fact that God is, and that God is what he is.
 
God has value in himself as well. He is beautiful in himself. He is wise in himself. He is love in himself. He is virtue in himself. He is complete in himself. He needs nothing, neither you or I although we may think otherwise at times on some levels. As a friend of mine once said, "Many people want to serve God but only as advisors."
 
What's my point in all this? To look at your real value. Friend. We've all made mistakes in our lives and we've all got things in our lives we don't want known. Everyone has a skeleton in their closet. The thing is that God can hate your problems and your sins without hating YOU. He can love you not because of what you've done but in spite of what you've done. It gets even better. He does!
 
After all, you do bear his image.
 
In Christ,
Nick
















Email the author at ApologiaNick@wmconnect.com