Giving Answers (1 Peter 3:15)

Image courtesy of iosphere at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Are you a Christian?  Now before you answer, please understand, this is not a trick question.  But it also isn't a question that can be flippantly answered because you have gone to church, been baptized, walked up front at some camp or conference during the altar call or even read the Bible.  If you were about to base your answer on any of those qualifications, you might have a little anxiety right now. Many people who have done many or all of those things and who would enthusiastically proclaim "yes" to the question posed at the top of the page will find themselves standing before Jesus on judgment day hearing the words they never thought was true...Jesus never knew them (Mat. 7:23).   It speaks to the point of this post:  Claiming that you are a Christian doesn't necessarily make you one. It is just like me claiming that I am an auto mechanic.  I can give myself the title.  I migh...

Image courtesy of Naypong at FreeDigitalPhotos.net I admit, I love my electronic gadgets.  I love my smartphone and the music I can play from it.  I love my computer and the ability to write this blog...and play games on occasion.  I love the fact that I can watch Netflix or the current NCAA tourney from my computer or phone.  I love the advances given by man that make it easier to be entertained.  (Have I ever mentioned how much I love Disneyworld?)  I love discovering the "new" thing...whether that new thing is a movie I'm looking forward to, a new electronic gadget that I am sure will revolutionize my life, or a new ride at my favorite amusement park. While many of my enjoyments revolve around being entertained, I'm sure you could easily fill in the blanks of the above paragraph with the interests you find so easy to enjoy, as well. Despite many of the grumblings we may have in the current state of affairs in our nation or world, we are living in...

I find it ironic that some of the biggest online arguments with atheists I've been a part of revolve around morality.  As I have mentioned in a previous post, the atheist worldview doesn't ultimately allow for good and evil.  As such, their claim that God is evil (or unjust) falls flat. Yet, in many of these conversations that I have had, atheists tell me that you don't need God to be a good person.  Often, right after those statements, they will point to themselves as an example of this being true.  They just happen to be led by science and logic.  That doesn't make them a bad person, but it does give them freedom from what they claim is the false god in the sky. Then they will go on and use examples from the Bible or the actions from those who claim Christ as examples of why religion is evil, unjust or immoral.  They will bring up slavery in the Old Testament as an unjust treatment of people or the Israelites slaughter of the Canaanite peoples in the...

It happens all the time.  I just had another conversation from a faithful member concerning sin in their lives.  If you think this blog is about you...it is...but it's about me too.  So don't worry, I will happily go through this trial with you. I was told how their particular sin was hindering their lives.  No matter how many times they tried to defeat this sin, it came back and bit them in the butt again.  Every single time they failed over the sin, they felt like a hypocrite.  And there was no place more evident for these feelings than when they were at church in community with other believers. Don't worry...I go through the same thing. I mean, how can anyone honestly sing praises to God when we've struggled so mightily just this last week with sin and failed the very God we say we serve?  Doesn't that make the time of praise full of just empty words devoid of any true meaning?  In our minds, it becomes just a...

Image courtesy of stockimages / FreeDigitalPhotos.net I saw it again the other day in an article that I read.  I almost blew a gasket.  However, I am also a patient man (well, sometimes) and I am reminded that a righteous man is supposed to be quick to listen and slow to anger (James 1:19-20). I decided that before I started my rant I should do some research in case I was wrong.  So I turned in my Bible (in this case biblegateway.com) to see if I could find any evidence in the Word of God that this was even supposed to exist.  However, try as I may, the word "revelant" wasn't found anywhere in the Bible concerning the church...as a matter of fact, it is nowhere in the Bible at all.  Just to be on the safe side, I also inserted the word "interesting" in its place and came up with similar results. For nearly 17 years, through Bible college and nearly every Christian publication that I have ever read, pastors and Christian leaders h...

Image courtesy of cooldesign / FreeDigitalPhotos.net Those of you who know me know that I am organizationally challenged.  Actually, that last sentence is probably an understatement.  But when I say that I am organizationally challenged, it only involves the physical things in life (messy offices, clean houses, meeting deadlines, etc...).  However, in the area of spiritual matters, I am very organized because God is very organized. Within the Scriptures, God has given us several lists on the right order our priorities are to take.  I find this comforting because I am a guy and guys tend to want things spelled out for them.  Give me a task and I can complete it with ease.  Expect me to do a task, hint at it overtly, but never tell me directly...you've only got about a 10% chance of it happening (that number is probably high). Because God is so organized, I have come up with a list based upon the Scriptures on how our lives are supposed to look. 1....

Image courtesy of khunaspix / FreeDigitalPhotos.net A few years ago I had a student come to me before youth group and ask a very insightful question.  He asked, "Why is it that when I come to your church I hear one thing about the Bible, God & Jesus, but when I go to my mom's church I hear the exact opposite?" How can the message of Christ be so radically different from one church to another?  Why is it possible to find one church that affirms gay marriage, gay clergy, living together relationships, etc... while another sees these same actions as abominations?  I could mention many other areas of disagreement in varying degrees of importance, however, I would like to stick with the one I've already mentioned because it is the lightning rod issue of the day and needs to be boldly addressed. The confusion in this student's question was sincere.  He wanted to have a basis for belief to know what was right, but he was given a contradi...