Peter Harris ‘blogged’ some more significant answers to student’s questions.
Many of these have been crafted into the Wisdom & Wonders articles & Bible Stories found on the other tabs.
The Website ‘Team Member’ who assisted Peter and when:
Colin Groom
12/10/21
Peter’s Last Blog Entry – 10/11/21
Dear reader,
I, the answerer, am now 89 Years old and I write this memo in a hospital bed in my home state of Western Australia.I have been here for weeks.
And I have been thinking that because so many of my readers do not live in Australia, many might not know what the “Good News” is truly all about.
The “Good News” is the gospels -the story of the life of Jesus in Matthew,Mark,Luke and John.
Well, the Archangel Gabriel visited Mary to give her a message from God. It was that Mary was a favoured lady and that “….the power of the most high will overshadow you so that the child born to you will be called the Son of God. You are to name him Jesus for He will save the people from their sins.”
That little encounter (story)can be found in Luke
chapter one.(Luke 1:26-38).
Well people needed to be save because sin separates us from God.
Many people had drifted far from him so He planned to send his son Jesus to die in our place and make a way for us to get to heaven.It was Jesus who died instead of us and he was known as “The Lamb of God” the “Sacrificial Lamb”.
High above Rio de Janero is a 30m. (97 feet high) statue of Jesus with his arms stretched out over the city, yea the whole world, as a welcome to all to come.
It is named “Christ the Redeemer.”
I like very much the word ‘redeem’ and ‘redeemer”,because that is what. Jesus is. The “Good News” is that getting to heaven is a freegift.
It cannot be bought,earned or bargained for. You take it or leave it.
Jesus said: “ I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even though he dies.” (John 11:25).
Believing in Jesus and His father,God, takes only a moment-but you then have the rest of your life to learn more about God and his ways.
If you choose to join God’s family be sure to choose a good and serious church near you because there are some churches that are not much more than Sunday social clubs and people can enjoy singing and good company. Go to a church where the “Good News” is preached often.
May God be with you and bless you as long as you live.
Peter Harris. Nov. 2021
Ps. Give yourself a lift and Google up John Newton. Read of his many years of evil living and even captain of a “ Slaver”-a ship carrying slaves to America and his later becoming a Preacher and writing the much loved hymn “Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. “. It is more popular now than when he wrote it 230 years ago.
Colin Groom
01/10/22
Are You Ready to Hear?
Some people are, and some are not, and some never will be.
Jesus told this story to teach his Disciples (and us) of different people and how some will gladly receive His word, others are just ‘Too busy.’ to take it on board-and some gladly take it and keep on taking it. It is a truly wonderful story that illustrates our lives here on earth.
Farmers: Everybody likes to grow things and appreciates the farmer who grows it for us to eat and enjoy. Jesus told this story like this: (theanswerer’s version)
A farmer was sowing seed so he could have a crop of probably wheat or corn, and some money. No machinery then and the grain was thrown (scattered) buy throwing handfuls into the ploughed field (paddock). Some of the seeds fell on the path through the field and birds saw it and flew down and ate it. Other seed fell on stony ground and other seed fell among thorns and thistles and these weeds choked out much of the good seed and some seed fell on good soil. The seed on stony ground grew –but when the sun got hot the soil quickly dried out and the plant died. The seed in the good soil grew well and in the end produced (grew) 30 seeds from one plant. Other plants did better and produced 60 grains and some 100 grains from the one plant.
So it is the same with people who hear the ‘Good News’ (the Gospel of Jesus). Some are just too busy making money and buying ‘things’ for the family, others find it all a bit too hard to understand and believe it and in some cases Satan comes and ‘Helps them to forget’ what they learnt. But others are glad to hear such ‘Good news’ and want to hear and understand more and more. They gladly produce the extra grains and spread the ‘Good News’ to others.
Those who hear the ‘Good News’ are the people who hear it, believe it and want to know more and serve God in any way He directs them- even to becoming missionaries to their own people. That is what Jesus meant in saying “…some produce 30, 60 or even 100 times what was sown by the ‘Farmer’”-meaning a Christian who shares the ‘Good News’ with others.”
Just suppose now that you were among those listening to Jesus telling the story. “Which group do you think you would be in?”
The first three are those who let ‘things’- possessions and money-be first in their thinking. Others are just not interested, and some others get enthusiastic, but when troubles or persecution come along they blame God for bad things and forget about the ‘Good News’ that they heard. The ‘Jesus way’ is not all happiness and good times. These teach wise people many good things, if he or she will understand that God is not, maybe, in the hurry that they are in.
Mark 4.1-24 and Matthew 13:1-23
Colin Groom
01/10/22
Take heed how you treat these my little ones.
Punishment for child abusers. – Matthew Ch.6:11-18
NB:‘theanswerer’ has no doubt that children were Jesus’ favourite people. How do I know? Not once did Jesus criticize children- but plenty of times He ‘told off’ the grown-ups!
Children cannot say “No.”, and are defenceless against a strong adult, and if they are abused they cannot grow into happy normal adults. Child sexual abuse, as one friend told me is: “Murder of the soul”.
Currently in my country, Australia (in 2016-2017) there is a long running Royal Commission on child abuse, mainly by church and church institutions. Some of it is horrific: grown–up people mentally and emotionally crippled by priests and others. They mostly have little hope of a happy family life and such things, some have suicided (killed themselves). No wonder Jesus used his strongest words of punishment for the abusers. Severe judgement awaits them!!
Please note that in the Old Testament God separated children from the unbelieving adults. “All those twenty years and older will never enter the Promised Land.” Meaning even 19 year olds were not considered old enough to be a serious ‘doubter’ of God’s goodness, ie. not yet mature enough to be classed as adults! (See Numbers, Chapter 14:26-35)
This is what Jesus said: “It will be terrible for people who cause even one of my little followers to sin (or ‘to stumble’ or ‘To lose his faith in me’). These people would be better off thrown into the deepest part of the ocean with a heavy stone tied around their necks.” (Mt.18:6) And: “Don’t be cruel to any of these little ones! I promise you that their angels are always with my Father in heaven.” (Mt.18;10-11 From The Bible for Today)
One of the world’s finest Bible scholars, Dean Farrar, a former Dean of Canterbury, spent several years of his life in the land where Jesus lived and died. He lived with the local people, took the original Greek scripture text and wrote his story as a book: Life of Christ. My copy is 103 years old and from his understanding of Jesus, wrote this comment on the words of Jesus. Do understand that this man, Dean Farrer, understood the very feelings that Jesus put into his words –things we cannot always get it in our English translation. They are powerful words indeed!! He wrote this:
“ And then gently resuming His discourse-the child nestling in His arms, and furnishing the text for his remarks-He warned them of the awful guilt and peril of offending, of tempting, of misleading, of seducing from the paths of innocence and righteousness, of teaching any wicked thing, or suggesting any wicked thing, or suggesting any wicked thought to one of these little ones, whose angels see the face of His Father in heaven.
Such wicked men and seducers, such human performers of the devil’s work-addressing them in words of more bitter crushing than any which He ever uttered-a worse fate, He said awaited them, than to be flung with the heaviest millstone around their neck into the sea.” Farrer, Dean; Life of Christ. p366.
Only God devises what their punishment will be, something very awful I am sure!
This book can be seen on the WWW-the same as my 103 year old copy.
Post Script: If you dear reader in the past, have done serious wicked things-there is forgiveness for you. John wrote: “If we confess our sins He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” We then have a ‘New start’ and begin again, leaving our sinful life behind. (I John 1:9 NIV)
Colin Groom
01/10/22
Our Body – The Miracle We Take for Granted
I recently read a book titled: THE BODY. A guide for Occupants, by BILL BRYSON.
It sure was a ‘can’t-put-it-down’ sort of book. It is a ‘Best seller’ too. Bill does not attribute the making of us to God- but I do. Bill is a highly respected writer and a very popular man. He writes so well. ALL SHOULD READ IT!
I simply put before you a few descriptions as to how our bodies are made up that I did not know about, but was amazed by how it was. Why?
At the finish of the book (it was on loan) I was amazed that my Mum lived to 100 years and I am now 88.
In the 100 years that my mum lived, the work that her heart did –if it was added up to ‘work’ or effort, would have lifted a one-ton weight 150 kilometres into the sky. Phew! (it would have gone past Richard Branson’s space flight!)
Also: An adult human being has about 25,000 km of blood arteries, veins and capillaries (very thin veins) to transport blood to the right places, at the right time and place to keep us warm, or to cool us down.
In a cell (not a drop of blood) there is about a metre of DNA. DNA is deoxyribonucleic acid and it holds chromosomes and genes. Somehow these all combine together to decide our eye colour, eye shape, nose shape and size, skin colour hair and millions of other features that make us look and work as we live our lives. The DNA is composed of-as Bill says: ‘exquisitely fine strands’. These are so fine that it would take a million of them to be as thick as a human hair. If, somehow these DNA strands in all of our cells were put end to end (in a long line) it would stretch out to Pluto … about 1.8 billion km. (1,800,000,000 km). Did God design it?
And antibiotics: These are truly wonderful lifesaving drugs and have saved millions who would otherwise have died. BUT-stupid people are abusing them and using them when they should not. RESULT: Quite a lot of ‘Antibiotic resistant bugs’ that, sometimes, cannot be killed. In 20 years they may be of much less use and millions could die because of the stupid misuse. They also kill gut ‘bugs’- leaving us vulnerable to severe sickness. DO READ THE BOOK because it might save your life later!!
God put millions of ‘Gut flora’ (good bugs) in our digestive system that keep us healthy and fight off infection and sickness. Please believe that.
Ps: The book is not Bill’s opinions. He liberally quotes maybe thousands of experts in the book. People from major research places, major hospitals and people who work only on one problem and ‘Know their stuff’. All are good sources of knowledge about problems.
Google up “how our eyes work” then “how our ears work”.
Beauty and the Beast (Abagail and Nabal)
Some years after Samuel had anointed David, who was then just a young teenager, as the future king of God’s people, Israel, King Saul had grown to hate David and sought (tried) to kill him several times. David had to run!
After several serious attempts on his life David gathered around him several hundred young men who knew he was their future king and swore loyalty (no cheating) to David. They lived away from King Saul and even lived with a Philistine king for a while!
But while being around some shepherds who looked after their master’s flocks (3,000 sheep and 3,000 goats), David and his group were helpful in keeping away bandits and thieves so that they lost no sheep or goats.
Sometime later David heard that the rich owner Nabal, was shearing. Now at shearing time it is a time of hard work and ‘partying’, because the owner would soon come into much money from the sale of the wool. Food and wine was around in abundance.
David heard of this so he sent several men to Nabal to ask him for some food and wine (a handout-a gift) for watching over his shepherds especially because no sheep or goats had been lost for quite a while.
One translation I have –The Living Bible-says of Nabal and his wife: “His name was Nabal and his wife, a beautiful and intelligent woman, was named Abagail. But the man, who was descendant of Caleb, was uncouth, churlish, stubborn, and ill mannered. (Caleb would have been ashamed of him I am, sure).
Well, Nabal refused any thought of gifts or handouts and that was very bad for him- because he insulted David’s men –and David!!
They brought his words of refusal and insult to David who said
“Strap on your swords-we will go and teach this guy a lesson.”
A ‘lesson’ meant the death of him or some of his workers.
Note well; Insults are a very important part of the Middle East culture then, and still are today. Insults are not taken lightly and can lead to a death.
Well it happened that Abagail’s servants heard of Nabal’s insults to David and they told Abagail –and she knew what David would do. They said: ”You’d better think fast,for there is going to be trouble for our master and his whole family -he is such a stubborn lout that no one can talk to him.” (1 Sam.25:17 TLB) And –it seems that Abagail knew that David was to be the future king too. That was very good.
She immediately loaded up several donkeys with ‘party goodies’ and headed for David and his men…on a peace mission and to avoid any fighting with Nabal. What a lovely woman!
She arrived –and bowed down with before David as befits a future king. She asked for forgiveness for her stupid husband and begged David not to kill anyone. She said: “I accept all blame in this matter, my Lord” she said. “Please listen to what I want to say. Nabal is a bad tempered boor, but please don’t pay any attention to what he said. He is a fool-just like his name means. But I didn’t see the messengers you sent.” Abagail went onto praise David for his goodness and wished him well as the future king. (read her fine speech in ! 1 Sam 25:24-31. She truly was truly an intelligent woman.
David praised her and thanked the Lord for her wisdom and good sense. Then she went home. She said nothing to Nabal because that night he was drunk. (drunk people do not hear wisdom or common sense).
Next morning when he was sober after a good night’s sleep she told him. Nabal had a stroke and was in bed for ten days –then he died. The scripture says:“…for the Lord had killed him.” (v38)
David heard of it- she was now a widow, so he sent for her and she agreed to become his wife…a beautiful and intelligent woman too. Good for David!
There could not have been any children from the marriage, otherwise Abagail would never have left them. And I wonder who got the money from all the wool of 3,000 sheep?
Message from this story: Take care with your words!
2 Samuel Chapter 25:1-44
Colin Groom
01/18/22
BIBLE STORIES-CREATION OR EVOLUTION?
That means: ”Did God make the world and all that is in it…or did it all ‘just happen’ by ‘Evolution’ over millions of years?
Or “You say I Came From a Monkey!?”
Or “My Ancestors Were Monkeys?”
Or “Were my Ancestors gorillas in Africa?”
This editorial/opinion is entirely and solely the work and responsibility of Peter JB Harris. ie, ‘theanswerer’.
This writer has thought about this for many years. I now write some thoughts about a creator-an intelligent, loving and creative thinking God, or ‘Evolution’ where everything just came about by chance to make humans and the huge variety of animals, plants and birds and the air we breathe.
LIFE FROM ‘NO LIFE’ IN A SWAMP TO A LIVING CELL. Millions of years ago, we are told in scientific books and by many teachers, that a very primitive life form became ‘alive’ because about twenty (20) or more proteins, chemicals and so on somehow came together and life began. That life has, since then, developed by millions of stages and additions or mutational changes, into us humans.
As a start, with several thousand years of scientific knowledge behind us, why cannot scientists create in their laboratories life from nothing, like it began in the beginning? New life in a test tube-please! They can’t.
I mean they have learnt huge amounts of new information about cells, DNA, genes, stem cells and in humans producing babies for sterile (unable to have babies) ladies. And ‘Yes’, lesbian women having babies without having sex with a male…but ‘They’ cannot create life from chemicals.
Also, our nearest ‘relative’ in the wild and earlier life forms is the monkey or gorilla. We are related to them! “Our DNA is 95% the same a monkeys.” That maybe so but life is more than DNA and our brain 30% bigger.
As a beginning, and some evidence, I would like to see a chimpanzee, maybe look at a rock and think! Think what? “Maybe if I dig out a bit of that rock, smash it into little pieces then build a large fire, and smelt (separate) the orange stuff (copper), from it in the fire. Then I could borrow a hammer, flatten it out into a flat sheet and make a whistle or a cornet (bugle) later on to make music.”
Animals cannot and do not think such things! Why? They are not capable of imagining (thinking of things they would like to have in the future). They do not get ‘ideas’ nor do they make plans for the future. They are not made to and never have. All they CAN do, or make, is offspring (babies) and nests/homes to grow them in and find food. And they do not think of drugs, alcohol, aeroplanes, cars, cities and ‘Going to the moon!!
Neither can they speak or make music and sing songs. They do not have the brain as humans have- call it what you will and no vocal chords to speak any words…only singing/calls to attract a partner for breeding babies. The Australian Lyre bird CAN imitate sounds it hears beautifully. How or why- I know not, but it does not originate sounds.
MY FAVOURITE EXAMPLE: The northern hemisphere woodpecker is a truly amazing bird. Did God plan and make it- or did it just happen to be that way?
This bird can fly up to a tree and take hold of it. No branches needed thank you. With eight forward facing claws and two facing backwards the bird simply grips the rough bark. It also has very stiff tail feathers and if needed these feathers help to hold (stabilise) the bird while it begins to make a nest hole (a nest) five (5) to ten (10) times bigger than itself in the trunk of the dead tree. “How?”
The woodpecker uses its beak like a carpenter’s chisel to chew away the wood. It pecks at 400 to 600 pecks per minute-and sounds a lot like a machine gun.
Brain damage? No Sir! Every time it strikes the tree the skull (brain case) moves back a tiny bit –and the skull has a unique (like no other) shock absorber around the beak. There is no brain damage!
The SOUND it makes is heard by lady woodpeckers in the forest who may come and check out (have a look at)how the male nest builder is going. There may even be a ’Marriage’- if she likes his style of work- and I guess how he looks, then a family. The nest builder’s lungs are protected from breathing in sawdust by a filter that comes over the nose to keep out sawdust. Cool don’t you think? Created like that-or just modified over millions of years to be like no other bird?
A Question for you: Lake Eyre in South Australia fills up say, five (5) to ten (10) times in a century. The water takes three (3) months to get there after rain in Queensland. “How do waterbirds (pelicans and seagulls) know that it is full of water and food- so the fly there?” The lake is thousands of miles from the ocean! Sydney is 1,500 km away and Adelaide is 500 km away. How do they know?
Photosynthesis.
This truly borders on a miracle because without it there would be little food or trees or plants for us 7,800,000,000 humans to have food and many resources.(things like wood, food crops, flowers and yummy fruits to eat).
In the amazing work of photosynthesis the leaves of green trees and plants take up water, carbon dioxide and sunlight to make wheat, wood, corn, potatoes and apricots and strawberries and many other plant foods. AND…the leaves give out oxygen in the photosynthesis process. Without this ‘Work’ there would not be enough oxygen in the air for us all to live. “Cool Eh?”
Also in the ‘Largest Living Thing” on the earth (General Sherman –a sequoia tree in California) the needed water goes up one hundred metres (100 m.) to the leaves at the top of the tree!! No pumps needed thanks!! Did God plan and create it all- or is it all a ‘happening’ that occurred all by itself? (and this tree is around 2,500 to 2,700 years old.
And about trees. Trees had to be there in the beginning…fully grown for the birds to find nectar in the flowers(a honey like liquid) to feed on. Then seeds to feed birds that live on seeds…and wood (timber) to build houses, nests, shelter and some seeds to grow into new trees if some trees are cut down or die.
Think about what you think!
AND: “Just suppose our earth was 1% closer to the sun –how hot might it get?” One percent (1%) would put this planet 93,000 miles closer to the sun. WOULD THAT BE COMFORTABLE-JUST 1% CLOSER? In my city, Perth, when it gets to 40 degrees Celsius I am so glad we are not 1% closer to our Sun! I think God got it ‘Just right’. Do you agree?
Colin Groom
02/27/22
The Good News
This writer, (www.theanswerer.com.au) recently turned ninety years young (maybe old) and has been thinking a lot lately.
Part of his thinking is that millions of my readers do not normally speak English but like the simple words that I mostly use. So, he has decided to try to explain exactly what “The Good News” truly is.
- About three or four thousand (3-4000) years ago God chose Abram , later known as Abraham to be the’ Grandfather ’ or ‘The Grand Patriarch’ of his chosen people -the Jews ,Israelites, or Hebrews for evermore.(Gen.15:1-6)
Later, one of their own people. Joseph was sold into Egypt as a slave- but God helped Joseph to later become PM (Prime Minister) of Egypt (see Genesis ch. 37 to chapter 43). The Pharaoh of Egypt chose Joseph because Joseph explained the meaning of the two dreams Pharoah had.
The dreams were that there would be seven years of abundant harvests followed by seven years of drought or famine so Joseph was now PM of all Egypt. Joseph had God with him (unseen) and bought, and stored up ,all of Egypt’s excess grain in the seven years of plenty. They had so much that they stopped counting it!! Then began the seven years of drought and famine and Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt to buy food (grain) – but they did not realise that the PM was their brother whom they sold into slavery years ago. Pharoah liked Joseph’s. family and urged them to stay in Egypt. He gave them the area called Goshen to live in. Here they stayed (70 of them) for four hundred (400) years and multiplied to about two million (2,000,000) people.
Sometime in that four hundred years, a new Pharoah thought that the Jews could be a threat and join with some enemy to rule Egypt. So- he forced the Jews to be slaves by building cities by making bricks by the million. God saw and took notice of the forced slavery. He chose Moses to lead them.
Moses did God’s bidding (his instructions) and the Nile turned to blood, hail that killed all cattle and ruined crops happened plus flies, frogs and locusts- but Pharoah still refused to free the slaves. Until “Passover”. Passover occurred in the night when God’s angel of death passed over the Hebrew homes, but killed the firstborn in every Egyptian home. Such sorrow!!
Pharoah agreed to let them all, go. All of this story can be seen in the great movie: The Ten Commandments, a Cecil B De Mille blockbuster. Very soon after leaving Egypt many grumbled about conditions and refused to believe that God and Moses would bring them to ”The Promised Land”. So-God told Moses that “…..none of those 20 years and over would see the ‘ Promised Land’. They wandered around for forty (40) years till all the unbelievers had died. Then they entered the long promised land….Israel! Moses received The Ten Commandments during this time. (Exodus Ch 20)
Still many disobeyed God and his instructions by worshiping idols of stone, wood, silver and gold, married heathens and generally turned their backs on God- but many remained true to God.
However God still sent them, after many warnings, into Babylon (now Iraq) as prisoners, and slaves. This was by King Nebuchadnezzar. (The song By the Rivers of Babylon was inspired by the sacking of Jerusalem by King Nebuchadnezzar.)
Still many years later God concluded that “we”, his chosen people ,could never be good enough to be in heaven with him…..so God began his “rescue package” that enabled us all to enter heaven after we died.
He would send Jesus, his only begotten (created Son) to teach us many things about love, about God himself and that Jesus would actually die for us (instead of us dying) and would rise to life again. This was the beginning of Christianity.
This was prophesied (told and written down by many of God’s prophets) over three hundred (300 times) in the Old Testament.
The ”Good News” is simply that anyone who believes in Jesus life and his God (our Heavenly Father) is given pardon for sin- and a gift ticket into heaven. IT IS A FREE GIFT AND CANNOT BE EARNED, PAID FOR OR BARGAINED FOR. It takes but a moment to accept this gift-but a long time to get to know God himself. That is the “Good News” for all people, everywhere.
Finally, the best bit: Paul wrote: “….eye hath not seen, no ear heard ,nor has entered the heart of man, the things God has prepared for those who love him.” (1 Cor.2:9)
And Jesus himself said to the criminal being crucified beside him when he asked Jesus to remember him when he came into his kingdom:” I assure you that today you will be in with me in paradise..” (Luke 23:38-43 TLB)