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'Winging It
by Stan Smith
We know this one, right? Let your good works shine as a light to others so they can glorify God. Nice. Good stuff. But ... what does it mean? I ask this because we so often read it in a vacuum rather than in context. Let's look at it in context. Jesus is just starting off His "Sermon on the Mount". He has just finished off the "Beatitudes". And then He gets into this conversation about "You are… ( Click for more )
Theodicy is the defense of God in the face of evil. The top question of the skeptic (and even a lot of believers) is "If God is loving and omnipotent, then why is there evil?" The premise is that a loving God would never ordain suffering.
My wise mother once told me, "Never use 'never'." She was, of course, joking, but making a point at the same time. Use of superlatives like "always" and "never" are overrated and often wrong. In fact, in terms of arguments, generally the easiest arguments to disprove include "always" and "never".… ( Click for more )
Whenever Christians trot out the Scriptures that say things like "A man shall not lie with a man as with a woman", there is almost a collective response. "Oh, yeah? What about shellfish?" Okay, it may not be shellfish. It may be "What about the prohibition to cut your beard?" or "What about the command not to mix threads?" or things like this. The assumption appears to be that if there is something in God's Law that is clearly not applicable, then neither is "A man shall not lie with a man as with a woman." I'd like to look… ( Click for more )
Come with me to an imaginary Tent Meeting. This Revival Gathering comes from from Hebrews 11, “the Halls of Faith”. Let's listen in to hear the testimonials and praise the Lord ...
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“Welcome tonight to your Hall of Faith Revival Meeting,” the preacher says. “Tonight we have something special for you. I won’t be preaching tonight. Instead, we’ve invited people throughout time to testify of God’s faithful care for them.” The congregation offers a polite applause, with a few “Praise Jesus!”… ( Click for more )
“He rules the world with truth and grace.” Somehow, this seems an understatement. Abraham asked, “Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Gen.18:25). The implication is, “of course!” Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6). Jesus is The Truth. In Isaiah we read, “For to us a child is born, to us a son… ( Click for more )
“No more let sins and sorrows grow nor thorns infest the ground.” “Here’s an impossible task,” you might conclude. “Who can prevent sin from growing?” Remarkably, Paul echoes the same theme: “Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires” (Romans 6:12). So what does it mean to “not let sin reign”,… ( Click for more )
“Joy to the world! The Savior reigns.” In America, we have sprung from a stock that says, “We will serve no sovereign.” Above all else, we cling to freedom. So it comes as a shock to us that “the Savior reigns.” This is a difficult concept for us to grasp and even harder to accept. Yet, in light of who the Savior is and what He has done, this… ( Click for more )
It's Christmas time. I'm going to do a Christmas carol. Well, actually, I'm going to take several weeks to cover a Christmas carol. I'm planning on taking four entries (four verses) to examine and expand Joy To The World. Let's see what we can learn from a classical Christmas hymn. Joy to the World! From Psalm 98, Adapted by Isaac Watts Joy to the world! The Lord is come; Let earth receive her King; Let every heart prepare him room, And heaven and nature sing, And heaven and nature sing, And heaven, and heaven and nature sing.
Psalm 98 says, “Shout joyfully… ( Click for more )
This text is a one of several that are a favorite among skeptics. "We don't hear you lousy Christians preaching on this very much, do we? And you call yourself followers of the Bible!" Well, since I do believe that the Bible is the Word of God and means what it… ( Click for more )
Behind the holiday is the famous "first Thanksgiving" put on by the Pilgrims in 1621. The Plymouth colonists and the local Indians shared a meal together. It wasn't until 1863 that the holiday became official. President Lincoln set aside the last Thursday in November as a national Day of Thanksgiving. Nationally, it made sense back then, but it's somewhat hard to believe today. I mean, religion in the public square is frowned upon. How in the world we get away with having a "national day of Thanksgiving" (let alone the day that follows) is hard to say.… ( Click for more )
This will be necessarily provocative. I apologize in advance. I like to "get along", but to go against Scripture is not wise. So I'm going to lay this out as it is, admitting along with you that it's not "pleasant", and leave it in your hands to accept or deny. We live in a world of upside-down pottery. No, that's not my idea; that's the idea from God. He gave the concept to Isaiah to express: "You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, 'He did not make me'; or the thing… ( Click for more )
It seems to be a standard question for people. "Why am I here? Why do I exist? What is my purpose in life?" Rick Warren wrote the popular book, The Purpose-Driven Life, because it is a principle concern for human beings. Of course, answering the question can be a little difficult sometimes, not because the answers are hard to find, but because there are so many. I am, for instance, a father, a son, a husband, and a brother. Each of these has its own implications for my purpose in life. And that's only scratching the surface. I am a father to my children as well as a… ( Click for more )
Last week I claimed that the point of Christianity is not to make bad people into good people -- not a moral code -- but to make dead people into living people. The point of Christianity is to restore a relationship between God and His creatures. It is not to make good people, but to save us from our own evil and the bad things that result from it. "So," someone might well say, "why all this morality stuff? If the point is not to make bad people into good people, why do Christians care so much about good and bad?" Good question. The claim of Ephesians… ( Click for more )
It's largely our own fault, really. I mean, look at us. We cry out against evils like abortion and sex outside of marriage and on and on, so it's an easy mistake to make. On the other hand, we have the assistance of the natural inclinations of the vast majority of people. The function of religion in almost all religions is to make people be good. Okay, "make" may be the wrong word. "Help." Is that better? Religion in the minds of the vast majority is aimed at making bad people into good people. You want to have a better world. You want people to get along.… ( Click for more )
"Does the Bible teach fathers to make their daughters into sex slaves?" One of the ever-so-popular objections that skeptics and critics like to raise is the complaint that the Bible approves of slavery. Now, I've already dealt with that. Remember two key points. First, regulating something is not approving of it. (We see this quite clearly in the parallel of divorce.) Second, slavery in the Bible was not the same thing as the slavery we recognize today. But this doesn't smooth too many ruffled feathers (as if reasoned arguments are what would do so), and when they get… ( Click for more )
Here's another popular objection to the Bible. Does the Bible teach slavery? Well, of course it does! Everyone knows that! Silly question! Or ... is it?
There is no doubt whatsoever that the word "slave" in its variety of forms (slave, slavery, bond-servant, servant, etc.) appears in the Bible. There is no doubt, either, that there are many regulations given in the Old Testament about slavery. I wish to point out first and foremost that nowhere does the Bible command slavery. So don't let anyone tell you otherwise. The biblical regulations around slavery limit slavery… ( Click for more )
I really like the Bible. No, that's not accurate. I consider the Bible of utmost importance. To me, the Bible defines reality (rather than vice versa). It is God-breathed and, therefore, infallible and inerrant, the sole authority on matters of faith and practice. I also know that not everyone sees it that way. The Bible, according to polls, is falling into less respect by "Christians". And some of the reason for that is those difficult passages. So maybe I'll do a series here. Maybe an irregular series. I've heard too many of these accusations that the Bible teaches what… ( Click for more )
I've been reading in John recently and was struck by this: Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. So the sisters sent word to Him, saying, "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick." But when Jesus heard this, He said, "This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it." Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when… ( Click for more )
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for His seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God (1John 3:9) (KJV).
This has always been a gut-wrenching read for me, taking the Bible as seriously as I do. What does John mean? Is this a call for sinless perfection? Or is it hyperbole? "Oh, no, everyone sins and sins a lot! He's just saying that, well, we shouldn't." Is that all it is? Let's take a closer look. First, the King James (and other older translations) all say it like that -- "doth not commit sin". Taken at face value,… ( Click for more )
(I wrote this in the days following Sep. 11,2001. I wrote it for myself. Not too many others have seen it. But on this, the 10th anniversary, I thought I'd share it with others.) The events of September 11 and following have been shocking, frightening, unnerving, devastating. They have stirred emotions and responses that one wouldn’t have found a week before the aircraft hit those buildings and killed thousands of Americans. In the aftermath, an interesting series of events has unfolded. A resounding “God bless America!” has been shouted around the country… ( Click for more )
I think it is safe to say that one of the major disputes with Christianity is the Christian concept of Hell. To be fair, I think that most Christians aren't entirely comfortable with the concept. I say that because so many have tried to explain it away. The first objection, of course, is the enormity of "eternity in torment." "No, no, that can't be. That's just ... too big." I mean, eternity is hard enough to grasp. An eternity of torment? Way outside our comfort range. And then there's the obvious objection, "That's not fair!" How is it fair to have… ( Click for more )
Sure, sure, we know. People do bad things. You know, "To err is human." Our own saying. But as almost every religion on the planet will tell you, it's just not that bad. As long as your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds in the end, you'll be okay. We find this concept denied on one hand and supported on the other when it comes to Christianity. Sure, we know that "All have sinned" and "The wages of sin is death," but, look, how bad can it be if God can just forgive it all? What's the big deal? We have a problem with definitions here. First, we think… ( Click for more )
Paul boldly said, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, 'The righteous shall live by faith.'" (Romans 1:16-17) We like that "I am not ashamed" thing. Bold. Brash. Good stuff. Why is Paul not ashamed of the gospel? Well, because it's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. Good reason not to be ashamed. But how is it the power of God for salvation? Did we read… ( Click for more )
I'm sure you've heard the term, or, rather, the warning. "If you hold your position, you'll find yourself on the wrong side of history." Or something like it. The idea is that things change in history and these changes are always for the better, so if you don't change with them, history will show that you're a loser. It's the idea that "newer is better," that "progressive" is enlightened and improvement. Now, certainly things change with history, but I question the second premise. Always for the better? But if that's not the case, the whole thing comes… ( Click for more )
The Barna Group has brought us another study that tells us of "significant changes" in the church in the last 20 years. That we need a study to tell us that might in itself be a sad statement. But what changes do they see? They see declines in church attendance, Sunday school attendance, volunteerism, Bible reading, and the claim of being "Christian". There has been a drop in those who claim to have made a personal commitment to Christ and a drop in those who believe that "God is the all-knowing, all-powerful and perfect Creator of the universe who… ( Click for more )
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