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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 )

The other day I was talking to a guy about what it means to be a Christian. You know, the standard difficulties. "It means being good." "I mean, why would God allow bad things to happen?" "How is it fair for God to send people to hell who never heard about Jesus?" The regular mistakes and objections. The difficultly (for me) is that there are answers. The problem is that they are not generally emotionally satisfying. I mean, which feels better? "I worked hard and got into heaven" or "By grace you have been saved through faith; and that…  ( Click for more )

Anyone who has read very much of my stuff knows that words are important to me. Not just the recent redefinition of "marriage". All kinds of words. Are we saying what we mean and do our words mean what we intend to express? Over and over it seems that words, in their natural shift, are moving so fast that it's becoming increasingly difficult to actually express what we mean to say. So "love" now means mostly sex and perhaps warm affection. A lot of words have been hijacked from their original meaning to an almost exclusively sexual connotation. But beyond that…  ( Click for more )

How much is too much? Evangelism is a biblical command. And lots of churches are working on it. They have strategies and plans like "Set a goal for the number of professions of faith, conversions, or baptisms." Use more entertaining music, better videos, more inviting language. Build bigger churches with more room and comfort and programs. Because that's what works. One of the worst evangelical strategists was in the Bible. When the jailer asked Paul, "What must I do to be saved?" (which, you must agree, is a soft pitch to any evangelist), he quickly offered,…  ( Click for more )

The Great Commission. It isn't new. Or controversial. Most believers know what it is. "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20)

"Yeah, yeah, we get it. Go and preach the gospel." No, that's not what Jesus commanded. That was part of it, but it was much, much more. What's interesting to…  ( Click for more )

The phrase is biblical. "The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds." (Matthew 11:19) So it must be true, right? And, so, if Jesus was the friend of sinners (I'm not so sure these days we'd be willing to extend that totax collectors), what are we doing bringing up the whole "sin issue" these days? We claim to be followers of Christ. Follow Christ. Be a glutton and a drunkard and hang out with sinners! Of course, I'm making a leap,…  ( Click for more )

We feel pretty free here in America. We have plenty of comforts and luxuries. We're doing pretty well. We get to vote on representatives and leaders and laws, even if sometimes the courts counter the people. We mostly get to decide what's good or bad. It's the luxury of a democracy. (Okay, a republic, but you know what I mean.) For some reason, there are lots of people that seem to port that over to places it cannot go. They seem to think that truth is something to vote on. That is silly at best and dangerous at worst. They seem to think that God's views are variable and, let's…  ( Click for more )