CHEMISM - CHEMICAL ACTION
CHEMOTROPISM - MOVEMENT IN RESPONSE TO A CHEMICAL STIMULUS 

In the natural world and in scientific experiments chemicals do all kinds of amazing things. By mixing different chemicals together man has discovered how to make all kinds of things from explosions to vehicles that work as a result of small explosions; from things that can cause illness and death to things that can cure illness and prevent death. It is truly marvelous the way that God created this world and our minds to be capable of all this variety. Every chemical from the single element to the most complex combination has certain qualities that affect what it does when it comes in contact with other chemicals. 

In the church we sometimes need to have something that causes a reaction or an action like chemicals do in the physical world. There are other times when a chemical reaction is the thing that we don’t need. It all depends on the chemical and what it will do. Spiritually there are as many different kinds of ‘chemicals’ as there are in the science lab. There are good ones like love and understanding, and there are dangerous ones like hatred and gossip. There are some that are neither good nor bad in themselves, but dependent on how they are used and what others they are used with. For example: anger used with love and truth can be very effective in correcting a sin problem, but anger used with hatred and lies can destroy all that come in contact with it. 

One thing of which we must beware is the way we allow these things to affect us. Chemism is the chemical action itself, and we need to never use a ‘chemical’ in a way that would cause a problem. Chemotropism is how we or someone else responds to the action of the chemical. We can’t control how another will respond, but we must control how we respond. You see, the spiritual world is not like the physical world. In the physical world if enough of a chemical that is deadly contacts you your body will die, you can’t control it. In the church, however, no matter how much of these deadly chemicals people use against us we still control the response. We can allow someone’s hatred of us to destroy our faith, or we can overcome that evil and continue to do what is right. 

The church must be on the alert so that we do not allow what society or other religions or even other congregations of the Lord’s body to control us or draw us away or push us away from the truth. We need to be a people who act on the Word of God and not a people who react to every trend or false teaching that comes along. Throughout the last 2000 years churches have split and split again because even though the Bible says “B” one group says “A”. Instead of countering the falsehood with the truth, the second group goes to the other extreme and says “C”. Christ’s Deity is a perfect example of that. One group says, ‘He was just a man’ and the other group says, ‘No, He was just God’. Then they begin to design all kinds of elaborate theories to prove their points rather than going to the Bible and seeing that He was both man and God. We need to be firm on teaching the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth. It is never right to counter one false teaching with another no matter what the intentions are. (Eph 4:13-15) “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: {14} That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; {15} But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:” 

CHAUVINISM - PREJUDICED DEVOTION TO ANY ATTITUDE OR CAUSE. 

There are many attitudes and causes to which we should be devoted. There are also many that we should not be devoted to at all. We can’t properly distinguish the two groups if we are prejudiced for or against something. I imagine that when some of our brethren first began using radio as a way of spreading the gospel message there were some who were prejudiced against it even though there was and is nothing scripturally wrong with it. In fact, anything we can do to spread the gospel farther, faster is something we should consider. We may determine that it isn’t the best way for our congregation to do it and that is fine, but we should consider all alternatives and then chose the best ones. 

But, Chauvinism is not prejudiced against something, rather it is for something. There are those who will be devoted to some cause and not be willing to consider any other even though the cause they are in favor of is no longer effective. Certainly, we must be devoted to the truth regardless of how effective we think it is, but methods and manners of getting the truth out there can change. The Jule Miller Filmstrips are a good example.  The teaching on them is good, and some think they are the best thing since sliced bread. Maybe when they first came out they were, but now with the people in them dressed in clothing that is out of date by 3 or 4 decades people won’t hear the message for laughing at the fashions. One congregation wanted to do a remake video with live sound and moving picture, and they were quickly turned down because someone was chauvinistic.  Sadder still are those who try to use the Bible to support their sinful chauvinism. There are men who want to treat their wives in anything but a Christian way, and then claim they are doing as the Bible teaches. These men will read every verse in the Bible about how wives are to behave and be in subjection to their husbands and so forth, but they never bother to read the verses that tell husbands how they should behave. (1 Cor 7:4) “The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.” If a man thinks he can beat his wife, then he better allow her to do the same to him. (Eph 5:25) “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;” Can you imagine Christ running around on the church with other religions, or making cruel jokes about the church, or beating the church. These pictures are incomprehensible, yet the husband is to love his wife like Christ loves the church even to the point of giving himself for her. 

There are many other forms of chauvinism that we could talk about, but suffice it to say we shouldn’t be devoted to any cause before we have examined the evidence. Even our faith in Christ must be based on the evidence, as the Bereans’ faith was. (Acts 17:11) “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” Don’t be a chauvinist. 

CHARLATANISM - THE PRACTICE OF PRETENDING TO HAVE KNOWLEDGE OR SKILLS THAT ONE DOES NOT HAVE.
 There are not many things in life that annoy us more than being duped by a charlatan. It happens to people everyday. Someone seems honest and sincere and we trust them and wind up buying something that doesn’t work, something that isn’t what it claims to be, or even get robbed flat out. Scam artists can sell anything to anybody it seems. 

The church is not free from these types of problems. All the way back in the first century there were charlatans who were pretending that they were apostles and slandering the real apostles. Paul warned the Corinthians about them: (2 Cor 11:13) “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.” The Corinthian church and possibly others had taken in these pretenders and had listened to them and had been led astray by them. We might think that since we have the word of God we are not so easily deceived. We need to be careful of arrogance in this area or we will be easy prey for charlatanism. Peter warned us that there are some who twist the scriptures to their own destruction. (2 Pet 3:16) “As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.” So in regards to our being safe from it today let me just point out: (1 Cor 10:12)  “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” 

As for ourselves, let us be sure that we are not putting up false fronts and thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought. There have always been charlatans and there will be until Christ returns, but we need to protect ourselves from them through study of the Word, and we need to avoid being with them by looking into the mirror of the perfect law of liberty and making corrections as they become apparent. We must realize that we are imperfect and not look down our noses at others for their imperfections with a ‘holier than thou’ attitude. Remember that it only took one sin in our lives to separate us from God, and whether we only sinned that one or sinned a thousand more before coming to Christ we were no further or closer to him.  The person who told a ‘little white lie’ is just as lost without Christ as the mass murderer. John says being a charlatan is worse than being a sinner.  (1 John 1:8) “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” We may deceive ourselves, our friends and neighbors, and even the whole world; but we will never deceive God. If we try we will be found out just like Ananias and Sapphira, so let us be honest with ourselves, others and God by acknowledging our weaknesses and limitations. 

CENTRALISM - A CENTRALIZING SYSTEM
 Businesses cannot survive long if they do not adhere to some centralizing system. The church also is dependent on centralism. There are only two kinds of centralism: the right kind and the wrong kind. Most religious groups have some kind of headquarters on earth. It doesn’t matter if there is one man ruling the church and sending down edicts, or a council of leaders that makes creeds for them to go by, they are still being led by men from an earthly headquarters.

 The Bible makes it clear that there is no authority above the local congregation other than God, Jesus, and Their Word. (Eph 1:22-23) “And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, {23} Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.” Despite the clear Bible teaching that we are to obey God and not men, the church in the early centuries succumbed to this very thing. It didn’t happen overnight. It was a process of years, starting in the second century with the idea that one of the elders in a congregation was “first among equals” as if that were possible. This ‘head’ elder was soon referred to as bishop while the others retained the office of elder. Through this process centralization of and apostasy of the church on earth continued and was completed when around 600 AD Boniface proclaimed himself to be the head of the church. Of course this was no longer Christ’s church, because only Christ is the head of His church.

 We might think that that could never happen again, but we are mistaken. The church is always only one generation (or less) from apostasy. Failure to teach our children properly will result in falsehood in the church. There are as I type men and women in the church that are not satisfied with the autonomy (rule of each congregation through the Word by men from within the congregation) of the church. There are elders who are not happy with being on equal terms with the other elders of that congregation and want to rule everything themselves. There are elderships that are not happy with overseeing the congregation where they are, but desire to spread their rule over other congregations.

 There are those like Diotrephes who want to have preeminence, and worse than him want to throw whole congregations out if there is anything they don’t like about the way the congregation is led. I am not saying that anything is ok, far from it. Those congregations who are not faithful to the word will be spewed out of the Lord’s mouth like Laodicea. However, we need to all be watching our own congregations and helping them to stay on the right path rather than sticking our noses into other congregations of which we are not even part.

 I often express to our congregation the beauty of autonomy like this: Because each congregation is ruled from within and the only outside force is from God through the word, it doesn’t matter if every other congregation in the U.S. or even in the world goes astray, we can still be faithful. It doesn’t work that way with any earthly centralism. Under any central system you believe what the council or the Pope, or the Apostle of that denomination commands (whether you want to or not).  Of course as is obvious from this emailing itself, that doesn’t mean that we are not all part of the same body of Christ because we live in different places. We are all brothers and sisters as many of us as are in Christ. So keep encouraging your brothers and sisters no matter where they may be, and be sure to thank God for his wisdom in providing the only kind of centralism that can work, a system with Him as the Owner/President/CEO at the headquarters in heaven.

CELTICISM - A CELTIC CUSTOM
 Customs as long as they don’t interfere with obedience to the Word of God are not a problem. The danger occurs when we allow customs to be intermixed with or even to replace the doctrines that the apostles gave. I don’t suppose that Celtic customs are any more likely to do that than any other kind.

 The Celtic religion is a pagan religion and thus the customs of that religion like any other non-Christian religion should be shunned. We should never allow the customs or traditions of men to interfere with our obedience to God whether it be a family tradition, a religious doctrine, or a national, ethnic, or cultural custom.

 Some Celticisms that we should watch out for are Easter, Christmas trees, and St. Patrick’s Day. Although all of these things have become associated in one way or another with religious activity, we need to watch out that they don’t get in the way of the truth. I am not saying that we should not have anything to do with these three things or any other custom as long as it does not cause sin. We must, however, remember that these pagan oriented traditions have no more place in our assemblies than do Halloween, Valentine’s Day, or July 4. The time that we are assembled together is a special time set aside for praising God in song, studying His Word, praying, observing the Lord’s Supper, giving of our means, and exhorting and encouraging our fellow Christians.

 We don’t need to celebrate Easter as a religious holiday (holy day), but if we enjoy hunting Easter eggs and giving candy that is all good and fun. We remember Christ’s resurrection each week when we partake of the Lord’s Supper, and that is sufficient. Christmas trees are fun to decorate, pretty to look at, and a good place to store presents, and there is nothing sinful in that. There have been sins associated with trees in times past, and the custom does come from a pagan form of worship, but as long as we recognize God’s creative power and don’t fall to worshiping the created rather than the Creator we are not sinning with them. (Jer 10:3-5) “For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the ax. {4} They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. {5} They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.” Jeremiah points out the sin of worshiping or attributing some special powers to a tree, but not the use of it as decoration.

 (Gal 4:8-11) “Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. {9} But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? {10} Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. {11} I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.” Paul makes it clear to the Galatians that there is only one God and only the commandments that He makes are to be heeded. If we like these Galatians observe all of these “holidays” and think that we are in some way better for it, we are mistaken. They are fun and enjoyable, and we get to be with family, but there is nothing HOLY about our Holidays.

 There are many that use these traditional gatherings as well as others like family reunions as an excuse to miss the assembly of the saints. When we allow that to happen we have sinned. Let us put forth every effort to observe God’s Holy will and not man’s holy days.

CATHOLICISM - FOLLOWING THE TEACHINGS AND PRACTICES OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.
 There are enough dangers with Catholicism that I could spend the rest of the year on this subject alone. If you are interested in further study on this topic you might be interested in two books:
1) Traditions of Men Versus the Word of God, by Alvin Jennings, published by Star Bible Productions, Inc., P.O. Box 821220, Fort Worth, Texas 76182, 1-800-433-7507.
2) Catholicism Against Itself, by O. C. Lambert, published by Star Bible Productions, Inc., P.O. Box 821220, Fort Worth, Texas 76182, 1-800-433-7507.  There are probably other good books on the subject as well, and the Bible itself is full of incriminating evidence against the Catholic religion.  Let’s look at just a few of the teachings of Catholicism that contradict God’s Word.

1) They claim to trace the Papacy back to Peter. According to their own regulations, however, Peter could never have been a ‘Pope’ because he was married (Mat 8:14) “And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother laid, and sick of a fever.” Further, according to history the first Pope proclaimed himself such, it was not passed down to him, and that was Boniface in 608 AD. No, the Catholic church is not the same church that Christ established in the first century.

2) Priests are called ‘Father’. (Mat 23:9) “And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.”

3) Only a priest can mediate between the congregation and God. The Bible says that only Christ is our mediator and that all Christians are priests. (1 Tim 2:5) “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;” and (1 Pet 2:5) “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” and (1 Pet 2:9) “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:”

4) Tradition and teaching of ‘Popes’ and councils is held above the Bible and study of the Bible is not encouraged. Jesus condemned tradition that violated God’s law, and Bible teaches that it is all sufficient and should be studied.  (Mat 15:3) “But he answered and said unto them, ‘Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?’” (2 Tim 2:15)  “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Tim 3:16-17)  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: {17} That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.  There are many more doctrines that are held by the Catholic church in direct opposition to the Bible (idolatry, prayer to those who are not God, infant baptism, confusion over saints, etc.), but I suppose that is what happens when you believe that man’s ideas are better than God’s. Let us always look to God and his revealed will for our authority in religion and in life.

CATECHISM - A BOOK CONTAINING A SUMMARY OF THE PRINCIPLES OF A RELIGION, IN THE FORM OF QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.
 Unless I am mistaken, there is a book that contains the principles of Christianity. Last I knew it was called the New Testament, and had references to prophecies in the Old Testament as well as the teachings of Christ and the Apostles. I would hope that we would all study the scriptures in order to answer any questions we have. (1 Pet 3:15)  “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:” One of the problems with a system like a catechism is that those involved are not encouraged to study the Word for themselves, in fact, in many instances they are told not to or that there is no need. ‘Why study when you have all the answers right here?’ They don’t think about the fact that the Bible is inspired of God and a catechism is written by fallible men.  Even if I had a book that gave me a pat answer for all these questions, and I had memorized the answers, I would still not have an understanding of why that was the answer. 

How many religious people believe what they believe for the following reasons:

1) My parents told me that was the way it was - What if your parents were wrong?
2) The ‘pastor’ told me - What if the ‘pastor’ was taught the wrong thing?
3) I read it in a book - What if the author was mistaken?
4) That is what my church teaches - What if the church isn’t founded by and on Christ and his teachings as it should be?

The problem with all of these and many other reasons for us believing something is that we are depending on someone else to get us to Heaven.  (Phil 2:12) “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” You see we alone are responsible for what we believe. Our salvation is far too important for us to leave it to someone else. I am taking my car to the shop on Friday to have it worked on, I have to go to the dentist to get my teeth taken care of, I had to study books to learn to read and write and do math, but I better not go to anyone besides Jesus to find salvation.

 Here is an answer that is much better than the others. I believe it because the Bible teaches it in such and such book, chapter, and verse. Let us all strive to have a biblical answer for what we do, believe and teach.

CATABOLISM - THE BREAKING DOWN OF COMPLEX SUBSTANCES INTO SIMPLER ONES.
 Generally, our bodies use the food we eat to build more complex structures. We eat amino acids and proteins, and our bodies use those to make muscle. We drink milk with calcium, and our bodies use it to make bones. Under certain circumstances, however, some people not only don’t make the more complex substances, but also begin to break down those already made. The best known case of this happening would probably be kidney stones or gall stones. What has happened is the bones (usually because of osteoporosis) are being eaten away and breaking down into calcium which is then deposited in the kidneys or gall bladder resulting in a very painful experience.

 You are probably thinking that this has nothing to do with the church, but it does in a couple of ways. We as Christians are Christ’s body. If we are doing what good body parts should, then we are helping to build up the entire body as well as growing as individual body parts. Sadly, there are many cases where we tear down work that others have done and in so doing we break down the body of Christ. Allow me to illustrate: Perhaps a song leader in the congregation I am in is encouraging some of the young men to get up their courage and lead a song, and suppose he gets one of them to lead a song on Wednesday night before we go to class. Now, obviously this young man is not going to do as well as the song leader who is encouraging him, and maybe he doesn’t even do as well as I think I can. I can destroy all of the work and encouragement my brother has been involved in with this young man if I criticize him for his imperfection. I have been breaking down rather than building up.

 False doctrines and traditions of men can tear a church down very quickly if they are allowed.  Judging based on opinions and not on God’s word will result in catabolism. Division in the church no matter what the cause brings about a catabolistic state. Laziness will cause a reversion back to simpler substances.

 An individual who spiritually suffers from catabolism must be taught again and again the foundational principles of the faith. They never grow beyond infancy and if ever they do learn any deeper doctrines they quickly forget. In (Heb 6:1-3) “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, {2} Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. {3} And this will we do, if God permit.” the writer makes it clear that we should be able to leave (not departing from the things we have learned, but rather not continuing to dwell on them) the foundation, the basics, the gospel that converted us and strive for deeper knowledge, and even perfection. He also says, (Heb 5:12) “For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.” How sad and yet how common in the Lord’s church today, that men and women who have been part of Christ’s body for years must be taught the essentiality of baptism, the significant difference in faith only and a working biblical faith, the existence of Hell, or the authority of scripture. Is it any wonder that churches are suffering from apostasy and division when those who ought to be teaching need to be taught again.

 Simplicity is a marvelous thing in its place. The gospel is simple, and yet at the same time it is more complex than we can comprehend. The human body is a simple thing in its components, but the complexity with which those components are pieced together is stunning. In the body of our Lord we cannot please him if we remain always simple and never growing. All of us began as a single simple cell, had we remained at that stage of development, or worse, had we after being born reverted back to that single cell how sad a condition that would be. As Christians be always growing, always deepening your faith, and working toward the simply complex goal of perfection.

CASTROISM - THE POLITICAL, SOCIAL, AND REVOLUTIONARY THEORIES AND POLICIES ADVOCATED BY FIDEL CASTRO.
 Oh, how Castro has been a thorn in our side for years. Because of his dictatorship we have been on the verge of war, and are currently fighting to avoid being overwhelmed by the refugees trying to flee Cuba for the US. All of this because one man wants everything done his way. Of course, that could never happen in the church, could it? How many congregations have been split, choked, smothered, stunted in growth, and even killed because someone wanted things done their way?

 There are no doubt many congregations, some with elders and some without, which suffer under a form of Castroism. This type of dictatorship is certainly nothing new. John spoke of a man in this position in 3 John 1:9 “I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.” Diotrephes was obviously a very intimidating man to be able to control the others in the church to such an extent that he would not even receive one of the apostles. He had apparently taken the place of Christ in this particular congregation and John let it be known that the arrogance shown would not go unpunished. Diotrephes should have known that Christ is the only one to have preeminence in the church; (Col 1:17-18) “And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. {18} And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.” And we should know the same today.

 The reason these individuals are able to succeed in the first place is because there is no one to withstand them. Many times they will bring in their whole family to support them in their power grab. Unfortunately, we often let it go. John said it was something that could not continue. (3 John 1:10) “Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.” The situation was backwards here as it is in many places today. The one who should be cast out of the church is the one who desires to be like Castro.

 It is never an easy thing to “... put away from among yourselves that wicked person.” (1 Cor 5:13), but there are many things in Christianity that are not easy. We cannot shy away from doing what is right just because it is harder than doing what is wrong or doing nothing. Don’t be like Diotrephes and don’t let the church come under the power of one like him.

CAREERISM - DEVOTION TO A SUCCESSFUL CAREER, OFTEN AT THE EXPENSE OF ONE’S PERSONAL LIFE, ETHICS, ETC.
 What does it mean to be successful in life? The world around us believes that success is being wealthy, having popularity, having fame, living in the right neighborhood, and driving the right car. Anyone who takes a lower stress, less time consuming job in order to spend more time with family is considered lazy or at best just not ambitious enough. I want to suggest to you that God never intended for life to be lived the way many of us do today.

The Bible tells us that anyone who does not provide for his family is worse than an infidel, but what does he need to provide? The necessities of life are really not that many. Paul said that with food, and raiment we should be able to be content. I know I am not usually content with that, are you? We always want a little more than we have. Just when we think we have everything we want, some new invention or some new style comes along and suddenly, we are right back where we started. Jesus came that we might have life more abundantly, not that we might have things in more abundance.  We are driven many times by materialism that can only be fulfilled by practicing careerism. We somehow have been fooled into the belief that our lives won’t be fulfilled and our children won’t grow up ‘normal’ unless we buy everything that everyone else has. We constantly see people promoting ‘quality time’ but never ‘quantity time’. We need to have both.  I am going to start asking myself the following questions about my priorities, time, money, etc.:

1) Will this bring me closer to God or pull me farther away?
2) Will this draw me closer to my family or pull me away?
3) Will this encourage me to be moral and ethical or will it tempt me to be otherwise?
4) Will my life be better, really better, in any way because of this?
5) Will this interfere with something which would better help me in the above areas?

Not everything is clearly good or bad. Many of the things we spend our time and money on are neutral tools that become good or bad as a result of how we use them. Computers are a perfect example; they can be used for wonderful purposes like keeping in touch with family, friends and other Christians, or they can become destructive addictions that isolate us from life around us or draw us into sinful activities like pornography.

When I see how miserable the people who are supposedly successful by the world’s standards are I think to myself there must be a better way to live.  Let’s look to the Bible for guidance in life. After all God made us it wouldn’t surprise me if he knew what would make our lives worth living.