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It seems to be a common idea these days. We ought to avoid conflict. The mentality of earlier America, for instance, when "Live free or die" was an actual motto and people thought that fighting for freedom was noble is no longer "in". We prefer now a "kinder, gentler" perspective. Do not take up arms. Do not go to war. There isn't anything worth fighting about, at least not seriously. Well, at least not Christians. Christians are not supposed to fight. You know, like the Bible says: "Wrestle not." Except that's not what it says. Here's what…  ( Click for more )

Little children, keep yourselves from idols (1 John 5:21).

A "word of the day" entry: "anthropocentric". We can find a dictionary definition, but let's see if we can figure it out from its roots. "Anthropos" is the Greek word for "man" -- primarily "man" as a group, not a gender. You know ... humans. Then there is the "centric" part. I think most of us can figure that out. So, simply put, "anthropocentric" means "centered on humans". On one hand, it is fundamental to humans to be anthropocentric.…  ( Click for more )

I'm going to use a phrase which, I'm pretty sure, will conjure up an image to most of you with reasonable similarity. "I went to church last Sunday." Okay, now, I'm pretty sure that most of you now have some sort of an image that involves a building, a sign on the front, maybe a cross or something, a place in which people gather. And if I were to tell you that phrase, that image would be fairly accurate. Here's the thing. Nowhere in Scripture can you find anything remotely like that image associated with the word, "church". Jesus said, "Upon this rock I…  ( Click for more )

You know as well as I do that many (most?) people pit faith against reason. That is, they assume something like, "Faith is something you believe for no reason." Some go further and claim that faith is when you believe in something that the evidence says isn't true. Not the absence of reason, but in the face of it. So imagine my surprise when I came across this interesting statement from the pen of Luke, the physician. In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when He was taken up, after he had given commands through…  ( Click for more )

So, the pastor was preaching from Paul's first letter to the church at Corinth when we came across this item. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. (1 Corinthians 2:3-5)

He said before that, "I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." (1 Corinthians 2:2) He said "I was weak" and "in…  ( Click for more )

It is argued that the entire "inerrancy of Scripture" thing is a fabrication, a new thing. (Oddly enough, most of those who make this argument are fully invested in new things and happy to embrace them if they coincide with what they want to believe. Apparently, it is only when a belief opposes their preferences can a perceived "new thing" be considered bad.) But is it true? Is this a new thing? Iranaeus (130-202 A.D.) believed in divine inspiration and argued that not a single detail, word, or letter could be considered insignificant. Clement of Rome (150-250…  ( Click for more )

"You know, the inerrancy of Scripture is not in the Bible," they'll tell you. Really? Oddly enough, many of those at war with biblical inerrancy consider themselves not only followers of Christ, but Christ-focused. So it's odd that they appear to have missed biblical inerrancy from the lips of Christ. It was Jesus who said, "Scripture cannot be broken" (John 10:35), which, read in context, does not mean "inviolable", but "inerrant". And it follows logically. (Scripture claims not to be merely inspired, but "God-breathed" (2 Timothy…  ( Click for more )

When His disciples confessed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God (Matthew 16:13-16), Jesus started telling them that the plan was for Him to suffer and die and be raised again (Matthew 16:21). Peter objected. Jesus responded in what might appear a schizophrenic way. "Get behind Me, Satan! You are a hindrance to Me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man." (Matthew 16:23)

It might seem to be confused because He told Peter "Get behind Me, Satan." Now, we know Peter was not Satan, so what was He saying? The term…  ( Click for more )

Christians read in their Bibles -- you know, the Word of God -- that it is a sin (for instance) to engage in homosexual practices, so they say it is a sin. They read that humans are made in the image of God and murder is a sin, so they say that killing humans in the womb is a sin. They see that sexual relations outside of marriage is sin, so they consider sexual relations outside of marriage to be sin. It's not rocket science. What is, apparently, difficult to figure out is just why we say these kinds of things. The world would like to argue that we say it because we're haters.…  ( Click for more )

That's something solid, determined, clear. Proof. It isn't an argument; it is ... proof. It's not evidence; it is evidence and argument that convinces. And therein lies the problem. The dictionary defines the word as "the cogency of evidence that compels acceptance by the mind of a truth or a fact". That sounds pretty settled. Except it does not offer a standard of "compels acceptance by the mind." Consider the recent debate between rapper B.o.B. and Neil deGrasse Tyson. B.o.B. insists that the earth is flat. "Look at any picture with a horizon. It is flat.…  ( Click for more )

I'm convinced that the primary authority on matters of faith and practice for Christians is the Bible. I've said more than once that the Bible is the God-breathed Word, infallible and inerrant. These things make the Bible a pretty important book. Oh, maybe not "sacred" like the Moslem's Quran, but pretty important. So ... what's the problem? We believe that the Bible is God's Word and authoritative for Christians. So why is it that Christians seem to be so biblically illiterate? It appears to be rampant in the church. I heard a discussion over the holidays about how Joseph…  ( Click for more )

Recently I went over the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12). You know ... from Jesus's famous Sermon on the Mount. There are (essentially) eight "blesseds" in there. And I thought they deserved a look here. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall…  ( Click for more )

I'm sure you've seen the scene repeated over and over in different movies. The bad guy has someone important in their power -- a loved one, a president, an innocent victim, whatever -- with the threat of deadly violence to them if the good guy doesn't drop his own carefully aimed, tightly held weapon. And how many times have we yelled at the screen, "Don't do it!"? Why? Because disarming yourself in the face of evil is stupid. But, that's Hollywood. That's writers. I mean, it's fiction. Except it's not. Not when it comes to Christians in today's world. These days…  ( Click for more )

I've written before about forgiveness, about how it is not unconditional and about how it is not "feeling better toward" someone. That's what it is not. What is it? Basically, forgiveness is releasing someone from further obligation. The forgiver has been wronged and grants to the forgivee a pardon from future punishment or restitution. Note that this is not cheap or free. It's not as if the debt isn't paid. When forgiveness is granted, the forgiver takes the payment of the debt on himself. The way the Old Testament expresses forgiveness is to "remember no more"…  ( Click for more )

Perhaps you've been told that Christians shouldn't be so mean. You know, judgmental, intolerant, speaking out against sin, that sort of thing. And then I came across this. I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. (2 Timothy 4:1-2)

Now, of course, if the Bible is not a book about God's will for our lives, then this has nothing to say. I, of course, operate…  ( Click for more )

Jesus said, "If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, 'I repent,' you must forgive him." (Luke 17:3-4)

What does "repent" mean? We can use a dictionary and find out that it means "sincere regret or remorse for one's wrongdoing." Okay, fine, but is that what the Bible means with the term? Not exactly. The Old Testament has a couple of words that can be translated "repent". One (nâcham) means literally "to sigh"…  ( Click for more )

There is a reasonably large portion of skeptics that like to claim that God requires rape victims to marry their rapist. "See," they conclude, "if God exists, He's evil!" (I cannot quite fathom why someone who believes no such being exists would wish to debate about the morality of such a being. I mean, the Chinese portray dragons as good and wise and the Europeans portray them as evil, but I'm not debating the existence of dragons based on whether or not they're either.) So, where do they get that claim? #1 "If a man meets a virgin who is not betrothed,…  ( Click for more )

There is a large segment of our world, whether Christian or not, that believes the positive-thinking mantra. You know, that "you can do it" attitude intended to get us all through whatever we're going through. We appreciate that "pick yourself up by your bootstraps and accomplish anything" attitude. Even Christians are pretty sure that's what we're supposed to do as Christians. But the "fringe elements" of Christendom, those less immersed in a biblical worldview and more comfortable in the only remaining alternative -- the humanistic worldview -- are…  ( Click for more )

We all know that Christmas, like many other holidays, is shrouded in myths. There is the Santa Claus myth with the whole North Pole, flying reindeer, and elves thing thrown in, the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer myth, the myths surrounding Christmas trees (Were they of pagan origin or of Christian origin? Whichever is true, the other is myth.), and even the complaint of Christians that "XMas" is sacrilegious. (For those wondering, the "X" comes from the Greek -- remember those IXOYE fish stickers? -- for Christ and, thus, is a valid representation of Christmas.)…  ( Click for more )

Jude's little epistle urges us to "contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints." (Jude 1:3) (Note that "once for all delivered to the saints" requires that we're not getting new stuff for the faith.) The reason for this urging is that there is a really big problem. "Certain people have crept in unnoticed" among the believers and they "pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ." (Jude 1:4) Almost the entire rest of this little 25-verse epistle is in regards to these false…  ( Click for more )

Let's just say you're a good Christian. You know, not just a professing Christian, but genuine. You read your Bible. You go to church. You have faith in Christ and a real relationship with Him. You try to be a godly person. A real Christian. I have to ask, are you an economic deist? We all know the difference between a theist and an atheist. The theist believes in God and the atheist believes there is no God. Clear enough. What's the difference between a theist and a deist? Well, deism is the belief that God created the world and then sort of took His hands off, so to speak. It…  ( Click for more )

Some thoughts from Hebrews. Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 12:1-3)

What "cloud…  ( Click for more )

The University of Georgia did a study of 468 married individuals. In their study they found that the most consistent, significant predictor of marital quality was ... get this ... spousal expression of gratitude. Didn't see that coming, did you? Not sex, finances, or communication. Gratitude. They said it decreased male and female divorce proneness. They said that when couples engaged in negative conflict patterns, "expressions of gratitude and appreciation can counteract or buffer the negative effects of this type of interaction on marital stability." Imagine that! So,…  ( Click for more )

I remember reading one atheist's argument that if God exists, He is evil. It went something like this. A man is sitting by a pool, reading a book. A two-year-old comes into the pool area and falls into the pool. The man does nothing. He could put down his book, jump in, grab the child and haul her to safety. But he does nothing. Is that man good or bad? You can feel the pull at the heart strings. Clearly this man is evil. And you can feel the pull against God. "Yeah, why doesn't God save us all?" So before our brains are ever engaged, our stronger emotions on the…  ( Click for more )