Do you check expiration dates?

It is my normal mode of operation to use these “Question of the Month” articles to explore various interesting topics in a fairly simple manner, while making an important “larger point”. This month will only be a slight, temporary diversion from the norm, taking somewhat of a break and providing some comical relief.

I recently received an interesting package in the mail from John P., one of the ministry’s supporters. It was a bulky envelope which piqued my curiosity. Upon opening the package, I discovered a salt shaker and a brief note stating the following:

“I hope you find this as humorous as I did. Perhaps I was just in a good mood. I was at a friend’s home and found this salt shaker on the table. Being a fanatical label reader, I picked it up and began reading. The label states that this salt is ‘250 million years old’. Not surprising, but then I read the label on the bottom and it said, ‘BEST BY 12 2023’. I’m glad I can use it up before it expires!”

Very funny!

Sometimes we walk into a store, and it just happens to be the last day of a week-long sales event. How lucky we may feel!

In the case of the salt, what a fortunate coincidence to have happened upon this very valuable, multi-purpose substance within the last 0.0000024% of its useful “shelf-life”! (Side note: Where did I come up with that figure? I divided the remaining years [6] by its current age [250 million years]). The obvious question is– if the salt is truly about 250 million years old, how do they know it’s just now soon to expire? And a closely related question– since the 250 million years is just an approximation, how can they be so precise with the “Best by” date?

As an added note of interest, the reason the label even mentioned the alleged age of the “Himalayan” salt was to make the point that this salt was created at a time when the Earth’s eco-environment was much more pure and pristine which, therefore makes their product more valuable than salts produced in more modern times.

Those of you who know me (and the ministry) realize I personally don’t believe the millions and billions of years designations are scientifically justified, but it is not my intention to turn this into a discussion of radiometric dating methods and the whole “age of the Earth” controversy. I simply wanted to pass along something of a humorous nature. I’m also not the kind to contact the company that produced this product to challenge them regarding their claim. Most likely, they are not experts in geology and simply had a clever marketer develop this label as an effective way to increase their bottom line. If you look carefully enough and often enough, you will find quite a few of these types of examples throughout the retail world.

How’s that for a brief article? I partially wanted to provide a slightly less serious “change of pace”, but maybe even more so, I was just too busy (with Christmas coming up in a few weeks) to write anything significantly more in depth or lengthy. (How’s that for transparency?)

What exactly is a shaman?

Seems like nowadays you can’t go anywhere without seeing the word “shaman” plastered all over the place. It’s on billboards, sides of buildings, storefronts, lawn ornaments, and even the paper wrappers around our hamburgers. OK, maybe not… but you’ve at least heard the word before, right?

Is “Doctrine” Divisive?

Have you ever been told that you were divisive or met someone who was markedly divisive? Many of us would answer in the affirmative to this question.

Christians … Are We All Just Biased?

“You’re just biased… that’s why you believe what you do!” What comes to mind when you hear a claim like this? It probably isn’t anything positive. The initial response from many Christians is to become defensive and possibly more emotional. But what do you think about this? How should we respond?

What is Elephant Hurling?

No, it’s not an Olympic event, although we’ve had some unusual ones in the past (tug-of-war, club swinging, live pigeon shooting, croquet and underwater swimming to name a few). This phrase refers to a debate tactic in which the critic uses summary arguments from various areas to give the impression that voluminous supporting data exists, when little or none is actually given.

Is the Bible always rightin a world that is constantly changing)?

I remember hearing a woman say she finally met “Mr. Right”. Unfortunately, she soon after found out his first name was “Always”! I’m not going that direction with this month’s question, so you can breathe a sigh of relief.

How can I use “starting points” in witnessing?

Some people will actually approach a total stranger and ask them point blank if they have placed their trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. There’s a pretty good chance that you’re not one of these people. I would not say this approach is wrong, but it takes somewhat of a special personality to have the desire to do so and to do it effectively. For the rest of us (myself included), we need to consider a different approach.