The Cemers

As a Christian, I occasionally run into people who claim that they don’t believe in God. In this article, I’ll share with you some of their reasonings, and provide counter-arguments. Also, I’ll delve into some of the underlying motivations these people have for claiming to believe that there is no God.

First of all, let’s clarify a few things so you will understand where I’m coming from. I believe in the God of the Bible. I believe in the concept of Original Sin, which plunged the entire creation into a fallen state, and put all of mankind at odds with God. I believe that Jesus Christ is that God, and that He became a man, lived a sinless life, and died on the cross so that you and I could be reconciled to Him. I believed that He proved that He is God by rising again on the third day, and appearing to over five hundred people before finally ascending back to His throne in Heaven. I believe that all who reject Christ’s gift of salvation, all who reject Christ’s rightful position as Lord of everything (including their lives) will spend eternity in punishment, forever separated from God and all of His goodness, beauty and majesty. I believe that those who repent (change their thinking) and turn from their sins, throw themselves on the mercy of Christ, and put Him in His proper place on the throne, as Lord of their lives and of everything, will be granted the privilege of being in His presence forever, reigning and ruling alongside Him.

So, in light of this information, which is publicly available to all, why would anyone reject such a loving Lord and Savior? One word: Ignorance. Most self-proclaimed atheists are ignorant either of the proofs that the Bible is true and accurate, or of the nature of God, or both. But this is a willful ignorance because they refuse to listen to the truth about God. Instead, they avoid anything remotely connected with Him, so that they don’t have to face the truth, and their conscience. Willful ignorance or not, they are in rebellion against the very one who created them and lovingly sustains them, giving them every breath they breathe, every beat of their hearts. How ironic that they would use the very life He mercifully gives them every second they’re alive, to continue in rebellion against Him.

Let’s take a look at this subject from a purely physical point of view. Science tells us that whatever begins to exist, must have a cause. Science also tells us that the universe has not existed forever. In other words, it had a cause. How can matter come into existence from nothing? That is one question that science will never be able to answer. They will forever be saying “we’re getting closer”, but they will never be able to answer how the universe came into existence. The Bible gives us the answer. We can read in Genesis 1:1 that “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” The word for “created” means “made from nothing”. He spoke, and it came into existence. This may seem fanciful or fairytale-like, but it makes more sense than any of the far-fetched theories that so-called scientists have come up with to explain the origins of the universe. To believe most of those, you have to throw out all logic and reason, and turn off your critical thinking skills. Who would you rather believe, some scientists who will live, on average, maybe 70 or so years, or the great God who was there when everything was made, and nothing was made without Him?

John 1:3, King James Version
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

In talking with self-proclaimed atheists, they present different arguments to support their purported views, none of which hold up under the light of scrutiny. Let’s look at some.

“If God were good all-powerful and all-knowing, then He wouldn’t allow evil, pain, suffering, etc. There is a lot of evil, pain and suffering in the world. Therefore, God must not exist, or at least He isn’t good.” This shows a complete misunderstanding or willful ignorance of the situation. Remember, we (the creation) rebelled against a perfect God. He owes us nothing. Therefore, anything good we get beyond eternal damnation and punishment, is an unmerited GIFT that God chose to give us, even though we deserve punishment and death. We live in a fallen world, and until Christ returns to redeem this world, pain, suffering and evil will continue. The evil is not God’s doing, but our own. Our sin (rebellion against God) has cut off all of creation from His goodness. He is simply letting us experience the natural consequences of our rebellion against Him. Even so, for those of us who love the Lord, even bad things work together for our good in the end:

Romans 8:28, King James Version
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

“When my [friend, relative or pet] was sick, I prayed so much for God to heal him/her, but he/she died any way. I was just a little kid. How could a good God allow an innocent child to suffer such a loss at a such a young age?” Some even tell stories of recent losses they experienced in their adult lives, but the argument is always the same: “How could a good God allow my friend/relative/pet to die?” Or maybe the one who passed on was a very young child. In any case, they’re misunderstanding the nature of God and the nature of man. God is perfect, and everything He does is for the good of others, including us. God owns the entire creation, including each of us. We are His property, whether or not we accept Him as Lord of our lives. He is free to do what He wants with us. But, here’s the thing: His ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. He is continually looking out for the well-being of His entire creation, down to every little individual:

Matthew 6:28-33, King James Version
And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Also, we must remember who defines good and evil. We don’t define it. God does. He is the one lawgiver with authority. We cannot, of ourselves, declare that anything is good or evil. Only God can. We can either agree or disagree with what He has proclaimed, but if we disagree, then it is we who are wrong, not God. He has declared what is good and what is evil, in His word. The Bible is the written Word of God. Christ is the Word of God in person. Christ lived it out for us, as an example for us to follow. We are to love God in spite of our circumstances. This is where all true blessing begins. Being content in Christ, no matter the circumstances, leads to great joy and blessings beyond anything we can achieve apart from Him:

Philippians 4:11-13, King James Version
Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

In this fallen world, we each need all the help we can get. Those who call themselves athiests, are on their own. They are trying to live their lives in their own strength. When they die, everything they have accomplished or accumulated, will either pass on for someone else to enjoy, or go to waste. They have stored up no spiritual treasures in Heaven. Indeed, they have rejected the very one who can save them and give them true life:

I John 2:17, King James Version
And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

Fundamentally, atheism in itself is a lie. Those who claim to be atheists are actually liars. The Word of God declares that everyone knows that God is real. He has made his invisible attributes visible in all of creation, and has written His laws on the hearts of men (our conscience). Here’s what God has to say about those who claim not to believe in Him:

Romans 1:18-32, King James Version
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, unforgiving, unmerciful;
Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

These are very strong indictments. If you’re thinking that this sounds a lot like our current generation, you are exactly right.

But is belief in God enough? Here’s what the Bible says:

James 2:19-, King James Version
Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

So what are these “works” that the Bible is talking about? Well, simply put, it means obedience to God. Putting God in His rightful place, on the throne of our lives. Letting Him have control of our lives. Giving up our own will, desires, passions, and letting God take it all and make something beautiful out of us. Letting Christ direct our footsteps daily. Yes, we will stumble, and we will still sin sometimes, but our sinful nature will be changed. Our overwhelming desire will be to obey God and to follow Christ, to bring honor and glory to His name, and to point others to Him so that they too may receive salvation and be counted as righteous Friends of God. On the occasions when we do stumble and fall, Christ is there to pick us up, dust us off, and set us on our way again.

Each of us before God is like an infant, helpless, knowing nothing. Will we trust in the One who knows everything, to take care of us, to guide our footsteps? Or will we, in our ignorance, reject Him and suffer the eternal consequences of our sin?

Precious one, if you’re reading this, God is calling you to repent (change your thinking), accept Christ’s sacrifice for your sins, put God in His rightful place on the throne of your life, and live for Him. Only then will your life have true and lasting meaning and value. This isn’t about praying the Sinner’s Prayer. Of course, that’s a start. This isn’t about “fire insurance” to avoid going to Hell. It’s about changing your whole outlook on life. It’s about laying down your life, and letting Christ live in and through you. It’s ultimately about surrendering everything you have to Christ, asking Him to take it all and make something beautiful out of it. We have nothing to offer but our lives, which belong to Him anyway. He has everything to give in return.

This article may be freely republished without special permission, as long as the following copyright and links are maintained:
Copyright (c) 2008 Ronald B. Cemer, all rights reserved worldwide.
http://www.cemer.com
http://www.roncemer.com

Darwinian Macroevolution has been scientifically proven to be the process which created all of the life forms we see today. Right? Well not so fast… To the naive college student just wanting to pass a class, this article may be bad news.

With academic institutions teaching Darwinian macroevolution as if it were proven fact, should we be taking a second look at Creationism as a possible explanation for how we got here?

There are many philosophical and scientific arguments for and against Darwinian macroevolution. Many scientists believe that it is proven fact, and indeed it is taught as such in many academic institutions. But a groundswell of scientists have come to reject this theory as unproven and unscientific, in light of new knowledge.

Today I’ll share some philosophical arguments against Darwinian macroevolution and for Creationism. I’ll also give you some links to articles and books which do a much better job than I ever could of explaining the case against the crumbling theory of Darwinian macroevolution.

Moral Relativism in a Post-Modern Society

Without a divine Lawgiver that all are accountable to, any person’s idea of right and wrong, is just as valid as anyone else’s. When people start to think this way, moral relativism, situational ethics, and justification of all kinds of atrocities abound. We see this in our society today with rampant acceptance of homosexuality, along with the silent holocaust of over 40 million unborn American children since abortion became legal in the U.S. in the early 1970s.

As far as knowing what is right or wrong in a very basic sense, there are some things that people generally have a good sense for. Certain things we do, we know are wrong, because there is a universal sense of basic right and wrong among all men. But even this comes from God. Otherwise, how could one possibly explain the fact that, for example, murder is considered wrong in every culture? Or that it’s wrong to sleep with another person’s spouse? Or that lying, cheating, stealing are all wrong? Or that it’s a good thing to help out someone in need? Indeed, we humans do have an innate sense of basic right and wrong. We see God’s claim to have written His law on the hearts of men, in Romans 2:14-15. If you don’t have a Bible, here it is:
14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

It’s About Credibility

I believe the Bible’s account of creation in Genesis chapter 1 is true enough to be relied upon as the most credible account of how we got here. An increasing number of scientists agree, and are becoming increasingly outspoken in this area. Scientists who are intellectually honest, will at least consider it as a possibility, as it does a much better job of describing our origins than macroevolution, which has always been just a theory,
has never been scientifically proven, and falls apart when the circular reasoning which is used to support it is exposed. Even in his book,
Origin of Species, Darwin admitted that it was all just a theory, and new scientific discoveries could prove him wrong. His research was so
primitive, that he thought that a cell was nothing but an outer membrane filled with water.

The Mafia of the So-Called “Educated Elite”

There are many cases where professors are being expelled from universities for even questioning the asserted factuality of Darwinian macroevolution. Remember, it was always just a theory, not fact, and again, has never been proven except by flawed circular reasoning, which starts with the assumption that it is true, and therefore doesn’t actually prove anything. If you go through the same set of arguments used to support this theory, only with the assumption that it may not be true, then it doesn’t pass the muster of the industry-accepted Scientific Method. In other words, it is a faith, a religion, but even at that, it is a less credible one than belief in a Creator, since the scientific evidence at least supports creationism as a reasonable explanation of how we got here. Yet when scientists consider Darwinian macroevolution, they speak of it as a proven scientific fact, never questioning whether the industry-accepted Scientific Method has been applied to it to test whether or not it is true. Indeed, under the scrutiny of the Scientific Method, Darwinian macroevolution would be disproven, or at the very least, not proven to be true).

I would posit (as has been admitted by many of the early believers in Darwinian macroevolution) that the reason most scientists place their faith in this religion, is that by believing in it, they can trick their minds into thinking that they are not accountable to a higher power (God) who is perfect and holy, and therefore they can live any lifestyle they choose, without accountability to a Creator.

To those who are still stubbornly pushing this counterfeit on our students, I would say REPENT, which means to CHANGE YOUR THINKING. You may have yourself fooled, but you don’t fool God and you don’t fool anyone who knows Him. We live in a world where there is so much information and so much research, that anyone who is intellectually honest, who truly desires to know the TRUTH, and can find it. There is no such thing as something being “true for you, but not true for me”. What is true is TRUE, to the EXCLUSION of everything else. What is true is true, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER A PERSON BELIEVES IT. Truth doesn’t require belief in order to be true, it remains true anyway, and woe to those who ignore it. Jesus pronounced judment on unbelievers who have heard His word, seen miracles, and yet were indifferent, in Matthew 11:20-24 (I thank my pastor, Rick Kress, for expositing these verses this very day):

20 Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent:
21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
22 But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be[a] brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.
24 But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.”

If you remember anything about Sodom and Gomorrah, those were the two cities God burnt up because of rampant homosexuality and other immoral sexual behavior.

So, What Is the TRUTH?

Ok, so back to the original topic. Here’s a challenge for you. If you’re truly intellectually honest, then I challenge you to read This Article which compares Creationism and Darwinian macroevolution. It originally started out as an attempt to discredit Creationism, but went horribly wrong. I would encourage you to read the whole thing. They also have lots of other articles there that would be a great read, since they offer related information.

Recently, I’ve been reading a book title “The Case for a Creator” by Lee Strobel. I must say it’s very compelling. I would challenge you to read this book, I think it will really get you thinking. There are many deep thinkers who are interviewed in this book, and their testimonies of how they became believers in God THROUGH their studies of science, is very enlightening. It stands in stark contrast to the shallow-minded, circular reasoning that is used to support Darwinian macroevolution.

What I Believe

I do believe that God is holy, and that He has given us His law and made us accountable to Him to live by it. I do believe there will be a day when every one will stand in front of Him and give an account for our lives. I also believe that in our fallen state, since the original sin of Adam, we are unable to keep God’s law perfectly. I also believe it’s not what we do, but who we know, that gets us in. I believe Christ was
God who became a man, lived a sinless life, and died to pay the death penalty for our sins. This Web Site describes it pretty well.

In short, I believe that Christ is God, and that He already paid the penalty for our sins, and that we can know Him in this life, and have fellowship with Him for all eternity. It all depends on whether we will submit our will to His, and recognize Him as Creator, Savior, Redeemer and Lord of all. The one who spoke, and the universe exploded intoexistence.

I believe if you will seek Him in prayer, He will make Himself known to you. I would just encourage you to at least try. The difference in your life will be night and day. It’s so wonderful to know the God of the universe is by your side every step of the way, bearing your burdens. I’ve been a believer for over 22 years now. I’ve backslidden at times, but God always called me back and put my life back together better than ever before. I owe everything to Him.

My prayer is that you will know Him and be blessed by your relationship with Him, in the same way I have been. He created each and every one of us, made us unique for His pleasure and His glory. He loves you enough so that if you were the only person who ever lived, He still would have come to die for you.

If you would like to know more, you can contact me on the “Contact” page of this site or at http://www.roncemer.com.

God Bless!

This article may be freely republished without special permission, as long as the following copyright and links are maintained:
Copyright (c) 2008 Ronald B. Cemer, all rights reserved worldwide.
http://www.cemer.com
http://www.roncemer.com

For those of you who are looking for cheap car insurance, we recently discovered a decent car insurance company: Safeco.

For many years, we’ve been a faithful Progressive customer, and have enjoyed their great service and decent prices. However, my wife and I were able to save about 20% by going with an insurance carrier that was sold through the same agent as our homeowner’s insurance company. In this case, it was Safeco.

At this point, we haven’t needed to file a claim, so as far as quality of service is concerned, that remains to be seen. But again, if you’re looking for cheap car insurance, check with your homeowner’s insurance agent and see if you can get a discount by purchasing homeowner’s insurance and car insurance through the same agent. That approach, combined with Safeco’s lower rates, could save you about 20% as compared to Progressive.

This is a RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed reader / parser class, written in PHP, compatible with PHP version 5 and later.

The original RSS reader / parser (rss_reader.php) was written by Richard James Kendall and can be downloaded from his web site at http://www.richardjameskendall.com.

This version is re-written as an Object-Oriented PHP class, and has been reorganized to be more functional and robust, and to eliminate problems with the original implementation which caused pollution of the global namespace and potential function naming conflicts with other XML parsing code within the same PHP page.

Here is the code:

<?php
    /**
    * <blockquote>
    * PHP RSS Reader v1.1
    * By Richard James Kendall
    * Bugs to richard@richardjameskendall.com
    * Free to use, please acknowledge me
    *
    * Added CSS class names and offset,limit item paging functionality.
    * - Ron Cemer, Feb 13 2006.
    * http://www.roncemer.com
    * http://www.cemer.com
    * http://www.crosswordlovers.com
    *
    * Converted to a proper PHP class and added phpDocumentor comments.
    * - Ron Cemer, Jul 25, 2006.
    *
    * How to use this script:
    *
    * Create an instance of the class.
    *
    * Set member variables to control behavior (optional).
    *
    * Call read($url, $itemOffset, $itemLimit) function.
    *
    *   For example:
    *  $rssReader = new RSSReader();
    *  $rssReader->outputChannelTitleHTML = false;
    *  $rssReader->outputChannelDescriptionHTML = false;
    *  $rssReader->read(’http://news.search.yahoo.com/news/rss?p=automobiles+cars&ei=UTF-8′);
    *
    * The read() function returns an array that is filled with data from the feed.
    * Every RSS feed is different but by and large it should contain:
    * Array {
    *  [TITLE] = feed title
    *  [DESCRIPTION] = feed description
    *  [LINK] = link to their website
    *
    *  [IMAGE] = Array {
    *     [URL] = url of image
    *     [DESCRIPTION] = alt text of image
    *    }
    *
    *  [ITEMS] = Array {
    *     [0] = Array {
    *       [TITLE] = item title
    *       [DESCRIPTION] = item description
    *       [LINK = a link to the story
    *      }
    *     .
    *     .
    *     .
    *    }
    * }
    *
    * $itemOffset is the number of initial stories to skip.  The default is
    * to NOT skip any initial stories.
    *
    * $itemLimit is the maximum number of stories to return, after optionally
    * skipping a number of initial stories (see above).  If zero (the default),
    * all (remaining) stories are returned (and optionally output as HTML).
    *
    * If $outputHTML member variable evaluates to true (the default), the
    * stor(y/ies) will be output in HTML.
    *
    * If outputting HTML, $outputChannelTitleHTML controls whether to output
    * the channel title.  true (the default) means output the channel title.
    *
    * If outputting HTML, $outputChannelDescriptionHTML controls whether to
    * output the channel description.  true (the default) means output the channel
    * description.
    *
    * The HTML elements which are output (if outputting HTML), can be styled
    * using CSS classes.  Here is an example of the HTML which is output by
    * default (extra junk removed and remainder reformatted for readability):
    *
    * &lt;div class=”rssChannelTitle”&gt;
    *  &lt;a class=”rssChannelHref” …&gt;
    *  &lt;img class=”rssChannelImg” …&gt;
    *  &lt;/a&gt;
    *  &lt;br&gt;
    *  &lt;span class=”rssChannelName”&gt;Slashdot&lt;/span&gt;
    * &lt;/div&gt;
    * &lt;div class=”rssChannelDescription”&gt;
    *  &lt;i&gt;News for nerds, stuff that matters&lt;/i&gt;
    * &lt;/div&gt;
    * &lt;div class=”rssItem”&gt;
    *  &lt;a class=”rssItemHeadlineHref” …&gt;
    *  &lt;h2 class=”rssItemTitle”&gt;(First item title goes here)&lt;/h2&gt;
    *  &lt;/a&gt;
    *  (First item text goes here)
    *  &lt;br&gt;
    *  &lt;a class=”rssItemFullStoryHref” …&gt;Full Story&lt;/a&gt;
    * &lt;/div&gt;
    * &lt;div class=”rssItem”&gt;
    *  &lt;a class=”rssItemHeadlineHref” …&gt;
    *  &lt;h2 class=”rssItemTitle”&gt;(Second item title goes here)&lt;/h2&gt;
    *  &lt;/a&gt;
    *  (Second item text goes here)
    *  &lt;br&gt;
    *  &lt;a class=”rssItemFullStoryHref” …&gt;Full Story&lt;/a&gt;
    * &lt;/div&gt;
    *</blockquote>
    */
    class RSSReader {
        /**
        * boolean true (the default) to output the selected items as HTML.
        */
        public $outputHTML = true;
        /**
        * boolean true (the default) to output the channel title.  Only applies
        * when outputting HTML.
        */
        public $outputChannelTitleHTML = true;
        /**
        * boolean true (the default) to output the channel description.  Only applies
        * when outputting HTML.
        */
        public $outputChannelDescriptionHTML = true;
         
        private $currentlyWriting;
        private $main;
        private $itemCounter;
        private $channelData;
         
        /**
        * Read an RSS feed, and optionally output it as HTML.
        * @param $url string The URL for the RSS feed.
        * @param $itemOffset int The number of initial items to skip, or <code>0</code>
        * (the default) to start reading at the first item.
        * @param $itemLimit int The maximum number of items to read (after optionally
        * skipping the specified number of initial items), or <code>0</code> (the
        * default) to read all remaining items in the feed.
        * @return array An associative array, in the following (general) format (contents
        * may vary slightly by feed):<br>
        *<blockquote>
        * Array {
        * [TITLE] = feed title
        * [DESCRIPTION] = feed description
        * [LINK] = link to their website
        *
        * [IMAGE] = Array {
        *    [URL] = url of image
        *    [DESCRIPTION] = alt text of image
        *   }
        *
        * [ITEMS] = Array {
        *    [0] = Array {
        *      [TITLE] = item title
        *      [DESCRIPTION] = item description
        *      [LINK = a link to the story
        *     }
        *    .
        *    .
        *    .
        *   }
        * }
        *</blockquote>
        */
        public function read($url, $itemOffset = 0, $itemLimit = 0) {
            $this->currentlyWriting = ‘’;
            $this->main = ‘’;
            $this->itemCounter = 0;
            $this->channelData = array();
             
            $xmlParser = xml_parser_create();
            xml_set_object($xmlParser, $this);
            xml_set_element_handler($xmlParser, ’startElement’, ‘endElement’);
            xml_set_character_data_handler($xmlParser, ‘characterData’);
            if (!($fp = fopen($url, ‘r’))) {
                die(“RSSReader: Could not open XML input: $url”);
            }
             
            while ($data = fread($fp, 4096)) {
                if (!xml_parse($xmlParser, $data, feof($fp))) {
                    fclose($fp);
                    $errorCode = xml_get_error_code($xmlParser);
                    $lineNumber = xml_get_current_line_number($xmlParser);
                    xml_parser_free($xmlParser);
                    die(sprintf(
                    ‘XML error: %s at line %d; url %s’,
                        xml_error_string($errorCode),
                        $lineNumber,
                        $url));
                }
            }
            fclose($fp);
            xml_parser_free($xmlParser);
             
            if (isset($this->channelData[‘ITEMS’])) {
                if ($itemOffset >= 1) {
                    if ($itemOffset >= count($this->channelData[‘ITEMS’])) {
                        $this->channelData[‘ITEMS’] = array();
                    } else {
                        array_splice($this->channelData[‘ITEMS’], 0, $itemOffset);
                    }
                }
                if ($itemLimit >= 1) {
                    array_splice($this->channelData[‘ITEMS’], $itemLimit);
                }
                // Decode HTML entities within the descriptions.
                for ($i = 0, $n = count($this->channelData[‘ITEMS’]); $i < $n; $i++) {
                    if (isset($this->channelData[‘ITEMS’][$i][‘description’])) {
                        $this->channelData[‘ITEMS’][$i][‘description’] = htmlspecialchars_decode($this->channelData[‘ITEMS’][$i][‘description’]);
                    }
                }
            }
             
            if ($this->outputHTML) $this->outputHTML($this->channelData);
                return $this->channelData;
        }
         
        /**
        * Output RSS data from an associative array as HTML.
        * @param $channelData array An associative array of channel data, as returned
        * from the <code>read($url, $itemOffset, $itemLimit)</code> function.
        */
        public function outputHTML($channelData) {
            if ($this->outputChannelTitleHTML) {
                print(‘<div class=”rssChannelTitle”>’);
                if (isset($channelData[‘IMAGE’])) {
                    print(
                    ‘<a class=”rssChannelHref” href=”‘ . $channelData[‘LINK’] . ‘” target=”_blank”><img class=”rssChannelImg” border=”0″ src=”‘ . $channelData[‘IMAGE’][‘URL’] . ‘” align=”middle” alt=”‘ . $channelData[‘IMAGE’][‘TITLE’] . ‘”></a><br>’);
                }
                print(‘<span class=”rssChannelName”>’ . $channelData[‘TITLE’] . ‘</span>’);
                print(‘</div>’ . “\n”);
            }
            if ($this->outputChannelDescriptionHTML) {
                print(
                ‘<div class=”rssChannelDescription”><i>’ . $channelData[‘DESCRIPTION’] . ‘</i></div>’ . “\n”);
            }
            if (isset($channelData[‘ITEMS’])) {
                for ($i = 0, $n = count($channelData[‘ITEMS’]); $i < $n; $i++) {
                    print (‘<div class=”rssItem”>’);
                    if (isset($channelData[‘ITEMS’][$i][‘LINK’])) {
                        print(
                        ‘<a class=”rssItemHeadlineHref” href=”‘ . $channelData[‘ITEMS’][$i][‘LINK’] . ‘” target=”_blank”><h2 class=”rssItemTitle”>’ . $channelData[‘ITEMS’][$i][‘TITLE’] . ‘</h2></a>’);
                    }
                    print($channelData[‘ITEMS’][$i][‘DESCRIPTION’]);
                    if (isset($channelData[‘ITEMS’][$i][‘LINK’])) {
                        print(
                        ‘<br><a class=”rssItemFullStoryHref” href=”‘ . $channelData[‘LINK’] . ‘” target=”_blank”>Full Story</a>’);
                    }
                    print(‘</div>’ . “\n”);
                }
            }
        }
         
        function startElement($parser, $name, $attrs) {
            switch($name) {
                case ‘RSS’:
                case ‘RDF:RDF’:
                case ‘ITEMS’:
                $this->currentlyWriting = ‘’;
                break;
                case ‘CHANNEL’:
                $this->main = ‘CHANNEL’;
                break;
                case ‘IMAGE’:
                $this->main = ‘IMAGE’;
                $this->channelData[‘IMAGE’] = array();
                break;
                case ‘ITEM’:
                $this->main = ‘ITEMS’;
                break;
                default:
                $this->currentlyWriting = $name;
                break;
            }
        }
         
        function endElement($parser, $name) {
            $this->currentlyWriting = ‘’;
            if ($name == ‘ITEM’) {
                $this->itemCounter++;
            }
        }
         
        function characterData($parser, $data) {
            if ($this->currentlyWriting != ‘’) {
                switch($this->main) {
                    case ‘CHANNEL’:
                    if (isset($this->channelData[$this->currentlyWriting])) {
                        $this->channelData[$this->currentlyWriting] .= $data;
                    } else {
                        $this->channelData[$this->currentlyWriting] = $data;
                    }
                    break;
                    case ‘IMAGE’:
                    if (isset($this->channelData[$this->main][$this->currentlyWriting])) {
                        $this->channelData[$this->main][$this->currentlyWriting] .= $data;
                    } else {
                        $this->channelData[$this->main][$this->currentlyWriting] = $data;
                    }
                    break;
                    case ‘ITEMS’:
                    if (isset($this->channelData [$this->main] [$this->itemCounter][$this->currentlyWriting])) {
                        $this->channelData [$this->main] [$this->itemCounter][$this->currentlyWriting] .= $data;
                    } else {
                        $this->channelData [$this->main] [$this->itemCounter][$this->currentlyWriting] = $data;
                    }
                    break;
                }
            }
        }
    }
?>


Have you ever wondered why we’re here on this little speck of dust we call Earth?

Consider this: In all of the known universe, throughout all of the untold billions and trillions of galaxies, there is only one planet which we know of, which can support life: planet Earth. Is that a mere accident, or an on-purpose? Our solar system is so huge that it’s unfathomable, but it’s just a tiny speck in the galaxy we call the Milky Way, which is our tiny little corner of what appears to be an infinite universe. The more powerful telescopes we develop, the further we see. Billions of light years away, we see galaxies, super novas, gaseous formations, you name it. To put this in perspective, to travel a distance of one light year, you would have to go 186,000 miles per SECOND, for a WHOLE YEAR, nonstop. But we’ve only begun to scratch the surface of a universe which, for all we know, goes on forever.

Quoting from Wikipedia:

The Milky Way Galaxy is about 80-100 thousand light years in diameter, about 3,000 light years in thickness, and about 250-300 thousand light years in circumference. It is composed of 200 to 400 billion stars (exact number not yet known). As a guide to the relative physical scale of the Milky Way, if the galaxy were reduced to 130 km (80 mi) in diameter, the solar system would be a mere 2 mm (0.08 in) in width.

The Milky Way is just a little galaxy, in which our solar system is found. Our Sun is one of those “200 to 400 billion stars”.

It is believed that Earth is the only planet in the entire universe that can support life. Is this an accident?

I challenge you to think this through very carefully. Is it possible that this entire, limitless universe could come from a single point of infinitely small size, as the “big bang” theory asserts? I assert that it takes more blind faith to believe that, than to believe that this universe, and everything in it, was created by an all-powerful, all-caring, infinite Creator whose purposes are higher than our own. Yes, the universe may have originated as an infinitely small point in space. But let’s qualify that assessment. In the natural world, we observe that nothing comes from nothing, and things that were, also become nothing. In other words, the universe is running down. When it came into being, the universe was endowed with a certain amount of energy, and as that energy is expended, things degrade into what scientists call “entropy”. Entropy is simply the natural decay of valuable energy and material into worthless waste. We see this in our universe, as stars burn out, black holes collapse on themselves, and so on.

There must be an infinite source of energy in order to be able to cause something to come from nothing, right? After all, how would it be possible to cram an apparently infinite (or finite, if you prefer) universe into an infinitely small point in space, as the “big bang” theory asserts? Let’s assume the universe has a finite (measurable) size. The “big bang” theory asserts that the universe began as an infinitely small point in space, “exploded” into what it is today, and is still expanding at an ever-decreasing rate. Well, let’s think the math through. Let’s say you have an object the size of a pin head. How much energy would it take to cram it into an infinitely small point in space? The answer: an infinite amount of energy. I’m no genius, but I get this. I hope you do too, because most third-graders can grasp the concept of infinity, if it is explained properly. Infinity is one divided by zero. No matter how many zeros you add together, they’ll never equal one. So if the universe started as an infinitely small point in space, as asserted by the “big bang” theory, then it would have taken an infinite amount of energy to cram all of that matter into that infinitely small point in space. Once you achieve infinitity with regard to energy, you can do anything. It takes the same amount of energy to jam an object the size of a pin head into an infinitely small point in space, as it does to jam an infinitely large universe into the same point: an infinite amount of energy.

So, how did it happen? Scientists, to whom I credit much blind faith, believe it just “happened”. They offer no explanation as to how or why, just that it happened. To any clear-thinking person, there has to be a reason. The conclusion: for matter to exist at all, there had to be an origin of that matter. Something or someone who has existed for all eternity. Some continual power that (who) has been around forever, and will continue to be around forever, and is the source of all things. Time to meet God.

Let’s crack open our Bibles. Bible, you say? What’s That? It’s that book that sits on your bookshelf and collects dust. More accurately, it’s God’s love letter to mankind. His instruction book for how to live life to the fullest. If you don’t have a Bible, here’s a great way to get one for free online: http://www.e-sword.net/. I prefer the New King James version because it’s written in reasonably modern English, and is pretty accurate with regard to translation. Unfortunately, because NKJV is copyrighted as of 1982, it will be at least 50 years before the copyright expires, so the free Bible program above will not include the NKJV translation. The second most accurate translation is the King James Version, which was translated in the 1600s, so there are no copyrights on it. It is included in the E-Sword package, but you have to wade through 17th-century English to read it. Take heart, it’s not that bad. I’ve spent the majority of my life reading KJV, so it’s no biggie.

Okay, so we’re going to start at the beginning. The first book of the Old Testament: Genesis. Why is it called Old Testament? That’s an exercise I leave to you. In fact, I challenge you to learn the difference between the Old and New Testaments (or more accurately, Covenants). Hint: a Covenant is an Agreement. Did you know that God made two different Agreements with mankind? Did you know that the New Covenant does away with the Old Covenant? Well, then why even read the Old Testament chapters? One word answer: History. If you don’t understand the beginning, you won’t understand the end.

Genesis 1:1: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Really? Are you sure it didn’t explode from some infinite point in space? Take some time to think about this. If you’ve been through the public school system, or in any secular university in the past 50 years, you’ve probably had a different story crammed down your throat. Well, I’m here to tell you that it takes more faith to believe what the “educated elite” would have you believe, than what the Bible says. Pure, simple, innocent and true. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Who is God? Well, let’s put it together. Let’s give science a resonable benefit and say that the entire universe exploded into being from this infinitely small point in space. By the way, how can one conceive of an infinitely small point in space? If something is infinitely small, does it even exist? The answer: no.

Use your Bible program. The word for “created” is the Hebrew word “Berah”, which when translated to English, means “made from nothing”. In other words, if we were to measure the universe scientifically, everything would indicate that the universe came into being from nothing. If something as infinitely huge as the universe came into being from nothing, then there has to have been some cause to make it come into being. There can’t be something where there had previously been nothing, unless someone or some power put it there. Again, “created” (”Berah” in Hebrew) in Genesis 1:1, means “made from nothing”.

Can you make something from nothing? I’m a software developer. One could argue, in a shallow way, that I make something from nothing every day. I write software — computer instructions that tell a computer how to produce certain results based on input. But in reality, this is not producing something from nothing. I have to breathe air, eat food, drink liquid and sleep indoors (ok, the last one is by preference) in order to continue to exist. As I expend the energy that is produced by the resulting chemical processes that keep my physical body alive, the universe moves closer toward that state of entropy that scientists talk about, where there is no more energy to expend (or all energy has degraded into an un-harnessable, unusable state), life ceases to exist, and the entire universe has wound down. So the answer is simple, right? You can’t make something from nothing. We all require energy to continue to live, and energy comes from various sources, all of which require sacrificing a portion of the universe’s energy which can never be reclaimed. The universe is a physical machine which was put into motion and endowed with great energy by a great Creator God. So in order to be honest, we must credit God with our very existence, including the very air we breathe, food we eat, water we drink, and everything we enjoy. When we understand this, there is cause for great thankfulness. God created this entire universe for us to enjoy, because He loves us.

Isaiah 40:12 tells us that God measured the entire universe with the span of His hand (the distance between the thumb and forefinger).

There IS a God, and He loves each and every one of us, and knows each of us personally. In fact, He knows each one of us better than we know ourselves. He created each of us as a unique, wonderful person to share in fellowship with Him. Our strengths and weaknesses, everything that we are, all come from Him. We are each created by Him, and are special to Him. If you want to know Him more deeply, continue to visit this site. God willing, I will be posting more Bible studies over the upcoming months.

In the mean time, meditate on Genesis 1:1: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

He created the entire universe for our enjoyment, and He desires a close, intimate relationship with each and every human being on this Earth.

You are deeply loved by Him, and nothing you can do will change that.

If this article has sparked your interest, I suggest that you read Does God Exist - Six Reasons to Believe that God is Really There, which goes deeper than I have gone.

This article may be freely republished without special permission, as long as the following copyright and links are maintained:
Copyright (c) 2008 Ronald B. Cemer, all rights reserved worldwide.
http://www.cemer.com
http://www.roncemer.com

Thought I’d start off with something simple.

Today’s code sample is a Java application which generates random wordsearch puzzles given a list of words in a file. It is a command-line application which is run like this (I’ll leave it up to you to figure out how to compile the application):


java -cp . WSGen <width> <height> <wordlistfile> <outfile>


The <width> and <height> parameters are the width and height of the word search puzzle, in characters. The <wordlistfile> parameter is the filename of a text file which contains words to include in the word search puzzle. The file should be a plain text file containing one word per line. The generator will use as many words as possible from this file, until it can’t fit any more words in the puzzle. The <outfile> parameter is the name of the output file into which the resulting puzzle will be saved. I typically end it with a “.wsp” extension, which stands for “Word Search Puzzle”. The output file will be in the following format (this is an example):

grid:15,15
word:10,14,6,CADILLAC
word:3,10,0,HUMMER
word:11,14,0,SUZUKI
word:11,8,5,SATURN
word:1,13,0,VOLKSWAGEN
word:2,7,4,DODGE
word:12,7,4,PONTIAC
word:0,2,0,KIA
word:3,12,1,MERCEDESBENZ
word:6,4,6,NISSAN
word:5,11,1,HYUNDAI
word:9,4,5,TOYOTA
word:0,5,4,MINI
word:13,12,0,MITSUBISHI
word:14,12,0,ISUZU
word:7,0,2,MERCURY
word:4,7,4,SAAB
word:0,12,0,BMW
word:5,12,1,HONDA
word:14,0,5,VOLVO
word:12,2,6,LANDROVER
word:7,5,6,SUBARU
word:7,11,1,SCION
word:6,1,2,FORD
word:12,12,7,AUDI
word:6,3,2,ACURA
word:1,0,2,BUICK
word:14,7,0,JAGUAR
word:10,13,6,INFINITI
word:1,1,2,LEXUS
word:5,3,6,JEEP
word:9,5,5,MAZDA
word:10,7,1,GMC
fillchars:ZYWXPZMMIVKOXVHPVQEBMLPTHIVWWPOWHCBPOXX

The first line (”grid:”) defines the grid width and height.
Each line that begins with “word:” contains a word’s position and orientation, and the word itself. The position is in x (horizontal), y (vertical) format. The orientation is one of the following:

• 0 = up
• 1 = up/right
• 2 = right
• 3 = down/right
• 4 = down
• 5 = down/left
• 6 = left
• 7 = up/left

The last line (”fillchars:”) contains exactly enough characters to fill the remaining unfilled character spaces in the grid, going from left to right, top to bottom.

Here is the main class, WSGen.java:

// Copyright (c) 2005 Ronald B. Cemer
// All rights reserved worldwide.
	
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
	
public class WSGen
    implements WSWordOrientation {
    public static final int MIN_WIDTH_HEIGHT = 8;
    public static final int MIN_WORD_LENGTH = 3;
	
    private int gridWidthChars, gridHeightChars;
    private char[][] grid;        // [y][x]
    private Random rand = new Random(System.currentTimeMillis());
	
    public WSGen(int gridWidthChars, int gridHeightChars) {
        if ( (gridWidthChars < MIN_WIDTH_HEIGHT) || (gridHeightChars < MIN_WIDTH_HEIGHT) ) {
            throw new Error("Width and height must each be at least "+MIN_WIDTH_HEIGHT+".");
        }
        this.gridWidthChars = gridWidthChars;
        this.gridHeightChars = gridHeightChars;
        grid = new char[gridHeightChars][gridWidthChars];
        for (int y = 0; y < gridHeightChars; y++) {
            for (int x = 0; x < gridWidthChars; x++) {
                grid[y][x] = ‘ ‘;
            }
        }
    }
	
    public void process(File wordFile, File outFile)
        throws IOException {
	
        process(wordFile, outFile, true);
    }
	
    public void process(File wordFile, File outFile, boolean fillUnusedCellsWithRandomCharacters)
        throws IOException {
	
        List sourceWordList = readWordList(wordFile);
        PrintWriter out = new PrintWriter(new OutputStreamWriter(new FileOutputStream(outFile)));
        try {
            out.print("grid:");
            out.print(gridWidthChars);
            out.print(",");
            out.println(gridHeightChars);
	
            int failuresInARow = 0;
            while ( (sourceWordList.size() > 0) && (failuresInARow < 100) ) {
                int wordIdx = (rand.nextInt()&0×7fffffff)%sourceWordList.size();
                String testWord = (String)sourceWordList.get(wordIdx);
                if (fitWord(out, testWord)) {
                    failuresInARow = 0;
                } else {
                    failuresInARow++;
                }
                sourceWordList.remove(wordIdx);
            }
///
///printGrid();
///System.out.println();
            if (fillUnusedCellsWithRandomCharacters) {
                fillUnusedCellsWithRandomCharacters(out);
///
///printGrid();
///System.out.println();
            }
            out.flush();
            out.close();
            out = null;            // Setting out to null indicates successful completion.
        } finally {
            if (out != null) {
                // Not successful because out != null.
                try { out.close(); } catch(Exception ex) {}
                outFile.delete();
            }
        }
    }
	
    public void fillUnusedCellsWithRandomCharacters(PrintWriter out)
        throws IOException {
	
        out.print("fillchars:");
        for (int y = 0; y < gridHeightChars; y++) {
            for (int x = 0; x < gridWidthChars; x++) {
                if (grid[y][x] == ‘ ‘) {
                    char c = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ".charAt((rand.nextInt()&0×7fffffff)%26);
                    grid[y][x] = c;
                    out.print(c);
                }
            }
        }
        out.println();
    }
	
    private List readWordList(File wordFile)
        throws IOException {
	
        BufferedReader in =
            new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(new FileInputStream(wordFile)));
        List wordList = new ArrayList();
        try {
            String s;
            int