In 1987, an eight-year-old boy stood on a picnic table with a slender stick in his hand. He bent his head back and opened his arms wide as if to encompass the great blue expanse and the cotton-white clouds blown about so high above. The boy was on a one-month visit to his grandparents’ house…
Category: Christian life
Should a Christian Ever Kill?
A country singer named Jason Aldean recently became the hot topic of the week when folks heard his latest hit: “Try That in a Small Town.” As an example of the many statements against Aldean, in an article slamming him, NPR printed: Threats to outsiders (and the implication those outsiders are from cities) are present…
Should Christians Keep the Sabbath? Part 2
Let’s continue to examine some arguments made by an article on the Church of God International website entitled “SUNDAY, SATURDAY—WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?”[1] We looked at their first four arguments in a previous article, and we finish with the last three and some final thoughts. They write: The command to keep holy the seventh…
Should Christians Keep the Sabbath? Part 1
Christians have wrestled with this question over the years, and several small groups preach even today that God wants Christians today to “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy,” in the same way the Israelites were commanded to keep it. The point out that the Sabbath is rooted in Creation (Genesis 2.1–3: “So God…
How Do You Want Jesus to Judge You?
I went to the “Churches of Christ” Wikipedia page and saw this at the top: This article is about a specific fellowship of Christian congregations. For Churches of Christ that do not agree with congregational support of church or parachurch organizations, see Churches of Christ (non-institutional). For groups of autonomous congregations in Europe using the name “church…
Satan Hates Sex
Whatever God loves, Satan hates. And Satan hates sex. Someone disagrees: “I thought Satan wants us to have as much sex as possible with as many people as possible. It seems he loves sex.” But God created sex, and when He created it, He pronounced it “very good.” He told the first man and woman…
Getting the Moral Cart before the Gospel Horse
Bekah and I were in our twenties living in a little house in Pinson, AL. Across the street lived a young couple, and we struck up a loose friendship with them. One might consider them, perhaps, typical of their culture and age. She tended towards the Goth trend with dark makeup, dyed hair, and conspicuous…
The Graveyards Will Be Empty
Abraham lost the love of his life in a land which was not his own. At the Lord’s command, he had been wandering about Canaan for the last 60 years or so, with Sarah constantly at his side. In fact, they had been married for most of Sarah’s 127 years. But the time came when…
Looking for a Sound Church
What Is Sound? Since only the letters to Timothy and Titus use the word “sound” in the context of our discussion (picking up from our last post), let us look to those letters to see what Paul says is sound. From the negative perspective, Paul defines what is contrary to sound doctrine: Now we know…
Easy to Please and Hard to Satisfy
This phrase recently caught my attention: “God is easy to please and hard to satisfy.” How does that strike you? Some picture God as the unsmiling coach who chides his team after winning a game, “You made mistakes; be at practice first thing in the morning so I can whip you into what you ought…