…trying to become more like Jesus.
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According to one personality test,
I am an ENTHUSIAST
(The Busy, Fun-Loving Type: Spontaneous, Versatile, Acquisitive, and Scattered)
I just completed my series of messages on the Bible (see sermon series Shhhh! God’s Talking) and during the series I spent a good amount of time dealing with tough questions of the Bible and tough questions about the faith, but one of the toughest questions that I had to deal with is God’s take on homosexuality.
Actually, I wasn’t able to give it the time it deserves in the brief message or two I was able to address it, so I thought I would go into a little more detail here on my blog.
During my senior year of college, one of my best friends sat me down to talk with me one night.
I was disturbed to see this video from Barack Obama talking about his intentions regarding the abortion issue…
I learned about this video from http://theologica.blogspot.com/2008/08/obama-and-freedom-of-choice-act.
This last Sunday, a lady in my church gave me a blue card with some questions on it regarding tithing. Since my email to her was rather long-winded, I thought I would share some of those thoughts here.
Deuteronomy 26:2-15 Verse 2 says to take “some” of the firstfruits.
My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge.—Psalm 62:7
I was reading Psalm 62 this morning for my quiet time, and this verse popped out to me. Reading it sparked a little “wow” moment somewhere inside me.
In the church I pastor, ReCOMMITMENT is something we do once a year in terms of church services, but it certainly shouldn’t be so in terms of our spiritual lives. The Bible is clear that the spiritual life is not one that can be lived on the basis of one commitment made many years in the past. Of course, the Bible teaches that once a person has come to faith in Jesus, that person will be forever in the grip of the saving grace of God regardless of future behavior.
I believe in God because the universe needs a creator.
The first reason I have for my own belief in God is that the universe needs a creator.
WARNING: I have a degree in philosophy and some of the concepts I use for my belief in God require the use of some technical terms.
Every year at this time, I begin to think critically about the resurrection of Jesus. Yeah, you heard me right. I said, “critically“.
I read this article recently where the author is talking about how to make users of your product or service happy. The basic premise of the article is that you should make the right things easy and the wrong things hard.
A great illustration of this is a three pronged electrical plug.
This week at my Life Group, we looked at the clearest teaching in the Bible regarding the rapture, and I’ve become even more convicted about one particular position. This post is intended to guide you through the same study we considered this week and to give an inside track on what I’m currently thinking about the matter.
What is the Rapture?
Before I talk about anything else, I should probably define what I mean by the rapture and why I want to talk about it now.
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Débutez et progressez facilement à la guitare, cours de guitare pros réalisés par un guitariste expériementé auteur de nombreuses méthodes pédagogiques. Des cours de guitare complets et progressifs avec vidéos pour rendre l'aprpentissage encore plus facile et ludique. Vous allez découvrir pas à pas les fondements du jeu à la guitare, à placer les différentes notes de musiques aux différents enrroits du manche de votre guitare, vous allez également apprendre les accords majeurs et mineurs à la guitare. Des cours de guitare réalisés par un véritable guitariste pour les guitaristes qui veulentaprpendre sérieusement et réellement la guitare dans els meilleures conditions. Une méthode pédagogique guitare complète ludique et terriblement efficace pour jouer rapidement vos morceaux de musique favoris, seul(e) ou en groupe.
Débutez et progressez facilement à la guitare, cours de guitare pros réalisés par un guitariste expériementé auteur de nombreuses méthodes pour étudier la guitare. Des cours de guitare complets et progressifs avec vidéos pour rendre l'aprpentissage encore plus facile et ludique. Vous allez découvrir pas à pas les bases de la guitare, à positionner les différentes notes de musiques aux différents enrroits du manche de votre guitare, vous allez également apprendre les accords majeurs et mineurs à la guitare. Des exercices de guitare réalisés par un véritable guitariste pour les guitaristes qui veulentaprpendre sérieusement et réellement la guitare dans els meilleures conditions. Une méthode guitare complète ludique et terriblement efficace pour jouer rapidement vos morceaux de musique favoris, seul(e) ou en groupe.
Thanks for the comments Morris.
I'd like to understand what you are saying a little better. Specifically, I want to know why you think my proposed solution doesn't make sense "outside the confines of a Western Evangelical Christian life."
My proposed solution has nothing to do with religious convictions but with a conviction that the problem of abortion starts as a problem with men not being able to control themselves. This isn't about religion. It's about the pragmatic consideration that the oppression of women is solved by men treating them properly. If every man kept his pants on, abortion wouldn't be a women's rights issue.
Your second claim about legislating morality is one that I understand and one that I agree with to a point. I don't believe we should "legislate religion" but legislating morality is what we do all the time. The government has said that murder is not just wrong but also illegal. Therefore, laws and morality have always gone hand in hand. Immoral laws should be eliminated. Moral laws should be enacted.
So what role should the church have in all this? Well, first of all, I want to agree with you that the past history of religion has not always been one of moral uprightness. There have been many atrocities perpetrated in history and evil people have used many excuses for their evil. It just so happens that religion has been used as an excuse far too often. Nevertheless, you can't blame religion as the cause of the evil unless there is something inherent to the faith that is taught which requires people to perpetrate that evil.
For example, the teaching of Jesus is that we should love our enemies, that we should show people grace and forgiveness, that we should proclaim good news to the broken-hearted. However, people who claim to follow Jesus have attacked religious enemies, have offered judgment, have proclaimed legalism, and have put a burden on the broken. Religious people were doing the same things in Jesus' day, and he railed against them repeatedly.
All I'm trying to say is that just because people claiming to be followers of Jesus have done stupid and evil things, you can't blame all followers of Jesus nor the church into which they are organized. It would be unjustified prejudice to negatively categorize an entire group of people based on the unfortunate acts of some members of that group.
Therefore, I do believe the church has something to say about current societal issues because the church was the first agency in history to promote the cause of women (see Paul's teaching on how husbands should treat their wives), the first in history to promote the welfare of children (Jesus, Peter, and Paul all taught the value of children), and the first agency in history to promote universal forgiveness and love for all.
My question, motivated by my faith and also by my concern for the pragmatic realities of life, is this: How can we ensure the welfare of every life--born, unborn, poor, rich, male, female, black, white, urban, suburban, rural?
In the case of women's rights and the rights of the unborn, I believe the answer lies partially in men being responsible, honorable, and respectful men.

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