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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 )

Jesus assures us that the world will hate us (John 15:19). Given. Paul says that our Gospel -- our good news -- is offensive (1 Corinthians 1:18). Why is that? I can't make sense of it based on the gospel I hear in so many places. There's the "Jesus loves you, so come" gospel. That is warm and friendly and inviting. Why would it be offensive? There is the therapeutic gospel, the "God has a solution to all your problems" gospel. How can that be a bad thing? There is the "God has a wonderful plan for your life" gospel. Okay, maybe that might edge…  ( Click for more )

They made the news in Greenville, SC, when the historic First Baptist Church opted to allow ordination and marriage of homosexuals (sorry, "LGBT"). The South Carolina Baptist Convention has asked the church to either recant or withdraw from the denomination. "But ... why?" some will ask. "They're baptists, aren't they?" Oh, it gets stickier than that. In their Report from the LGBT Discernment Team (yes, they had an "LGBT Discernment Team"), they affirmed, "In all facets of the life and ministry of our church, including but not limited…  ( Click for more )

Peter writes, "Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul." (1 Peter 2:11) A nice, solid, straightforward beginning to a rather large set of instructions (1 Peter 2:12-3:22). Who is Peter talking to? Well, clearly it is Christians, but he describes them (us) as "aliens and strangers". Interesting description. We are not part of this world anymore (Galatians 6:14). As aliens and strangers to this world, he has a simple instruction: "Abstain from fleshly lusts." It's funny. I…  ( Click for more )

We Americans live in a mostly "religious" society -- some 90% or so still believe in God in some sense or another -- but we primarily serve another deity: independence. There is nothing more important than American independence. This sounds good at the surface, but aren't we supposed to be dependent? You know, like, on God? On each other? We worship independence at least in name. And that, I'm pretty sure, is the reason for the growth in the "I'm spiritual, not religious" crowd. A growing number of people classify themselves as "spiritual" but not connected…  ( Click for more )

We are commanded in Scripture, "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." (1 John 2:15) Pretty harsh. Okay. Fine. And then we read, "God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16) Okay, now wait! On one hand we must not love the world, but on the other hand the Father loves the world. Now, how is this making any sense? As it turns out, the term "world" is not as simple as you might think.…  ( Click for more )

There is a segment of Christianity -- has been all along -- that believe that Jesus was a pacifist. "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' "But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you. You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor…  ( Click for more )

It was some time ago now, but one of the first people I had to ask not to comment on my blog anymore was a guy who made it a practice of accusing me of "playing the victim card". I tried to explain I wasn't. He disagreed ... in a less than friendly manner (the basic rule of commenting on my blog). I explained that repeated accusations like that made conversations difficult. And after awhile, we parted ways. We know what it means to "play the race card". It might be something like, "She gets away with it because she's white." Or "You wouldn't treat…  ( Click for more )

I spent several years in the Air Force in my younger days. My job was Avionic Navigation Systems. I remember one night when they asked me to do a "ride along" to see if one of our systems was working. It was a KC-135 out of Rapid City, SD. We started making runs between Memphis and Albuquerque refueling C-5's, at the time the world's largest aircraft. We had a pilot-in-training at the helm and a pilot-in-training in the C-5 and I was riding in a flying fuel tank with a refueler-in-training trying to stick a jet-fuel-filled stick into a small hole above the windshield of…  ( Click for more )

Why were we created? What was God's purpose in creation? Specifically, in creating us? Here's what we know. "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1) In that process, God made Man. Here's what He said about that. "Then God said, 'Let Us make man in our image, after Our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.'" (Genesis 1:26) Now, isn't that strange? I mean, doesn't the Creator…  ( Click for more )

There are a lot of things written about the question of people leaving the faith. Of particular concern are the kids who grow up in a Christian home, seem to be fully involved, and then leave for college and come back without faith. It happens a lot. And lots of people are trying to tell us why. For instance, research tells us that a lack of training in apologetics is a serious problem. Kids simply don't have the arguments to retain their faith. One author suggests that failed fathers is a key factor. Those who leave cite things like disillusionment and a lack of "Christian authenticity".…  ( Click for more )

The Bible is clear that all humans face a final judgment at the end of time. Sure, there are temporal judgments. A drug addict faces the consequences of his or her choices in his or her body in this life. That kind of thing. But theactual judgment, the final judgment of human beings is yet to come. The same is not true for nations. Israel faced judgment in the Old Testament from their repeated idolatry. From the thousands killed over the rebellion of Korah (Numbers 16) to the exiles into Assyria and Babylon, the nation of Israel encountered the clearly stated judgment of God in real…  ( Click for more )