How To Really Lose Your Marbles#
The insult goes:
you may not have lost all your marbles but there is definitely a hole in the bag.
As a marble cannons off a marble, July 16 1969 (I was 11) strikes my mind to this very day.
The playground teacher played with a transistor while I played with marbles. This was a strange sight. Teachers on duty never carried radios close to their ear, they just never carried radios.
Suddenly, and far more strangely he jumped for joy; he began to clap as one possessed and yelled:
“Neil Armstrong has just landed on the moon”.
As wise students we had learnt to feign interest in our teachers. Obviously we made a series of amazed grunts and general guffaws, only to return to our game of marbles.
I had no reason to disbelieve the moon landing. It’s just that if you lost the game of marbles you lost your marble, and that was important at the time.
Now I hear 20% of Americans believe that the Moon landing was a fake – a trick to beat the Russians to be 'first'.
Sceptics will point out the evidence for their strength of conviction – the waving flag (when there could not be a breeze); the lack of an impact crater under the lander; multiple shadow directions meaning multiple light sources (when the only light source should be the sun); lack of stars in photos (when the moon has no clouds to block them); unexplained objects reflected in the astronauts visors - etc.
Amazing stuff! Now really- who’s lost their marbles?
I believe that Neil Armstrong landed on the Moon. One reason for my belief is that in the 47 years since, nobody has come forward to declare it a fake – none of the camera-men, set designers, politicians or the astronauts themselves. Imagine the fortune they could make and star status they'd gain, just by declaring the truth?
This is also a compelling reason to believe in the birth, life and resurrection of Jesus, although the largesse of the world believes Jesus' and His resurrection is a lie. There exists too in this case a host of historic (non-Biblical) verifications and eye-witnesses.
Perhaps most amazing of all was that the disciples, did not die peacefully. To mankind they lost their marbles. Liberty and life was sharply defined for them by the choice to not deny the truth. None did.#
- Matthew - Suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia, killed by a sword wound.
- Mark - Died in Alexandria, Egypt, after being dragged by horses through the streets until he was dead
- Luke - Was hung in Greece as a result of preaching to the lost.
- John - Faced martyrdom when he was placed in a huge basin of boiling oil during a wave of persecution in Rome. Miraculously survived and was exiled to Patmos. He died as an old man, the only apostle to die peacefully.
- Peter - Was crucified upside down on an x-shaped cross. The story goes that he told his tormentors that he felt unworthy to die in the same way that Jesus Christ had died.
James - The leader of the church in Jerusalem, was thrown over a hundred feet down from the southeast pinnacle of the Temple when he refused to deny his faith in Christ. When they discovered that he survived the fall, he was clubbed to death.
- James - Son of Zebedee, was beheaded at Jerusalem. The Roman who guarded James watched amazed as James defended his faith at his trial. Later, the officer walked beside James to the place of execution. Overcome by conviction, he declared his new faith to the judge and knelt beside James to accept beheading as a Christian
- Bartholomew - Was a missionary to Asia. He was flayed to death by a whip.
- Andrew - Was crucified on an x-shaped cross in Patras, Greece after being whipped by seven soldiers.
- Thomas - Was stabbed with a spear in India during on what became his last trip to establish the Christianity in the sub-continent.
- Jude - died from arrows for refusal to deny his faith in Christ.
- Matthias - The apostle, was stoned and then beheaded.
- Paul - was tortured and then beheaded by Emperor Nero at Rome in A.D. 67.
The disciples chose to die for the truth rather than play marbles on a lie.
While the truth takes no prisoners, lies truly take lives.
... the truth will set you free (John 8:32b)
There is eternal liberation in holding steadfastly to the truth, and finally a deadly bondage in denying it.
POSTSCRIPT - The time is nigh when modern western disciples will too die for The Truth.
Today's Soul Snippet:
We need never fear that God will be dethroned, or over-reached, or defeated. ~William S. Plummer
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#Today's SoulSnack was written by Dr Stuart Quarmby, Principal of Wollondilly Anglican College. It is reproduced with kind permission.
Read more at - 'How all the Apostles died'