PeteShepherd

Jesus once healed a blind man, but it took Him two tries to get this man to see properly.   The first time the man said he saw men as trees, walking .   The second time he saw clearly.   Now, we know that Jesus didn’t make mistakes, so what exactly was that all about?   There must have been a point to this man saying that he saw men as trees, walking (the other question, of course, is, how did he know what a tree looked like, but, unless he was sighted earlier on in life, I don’t even have a... Read Full Story

There are those who call themselves Christians who seem to be angry all the time.   They fuss and fume about every little thing, whether they have any control over it or not.   Some of them will protest certain things.   I am not necessarily against protests, sometimes that seems to be the only way to get people’s attention, and let them know that you disagree, but sometimes people protest and it seems like they are looking for a way to vent their anger. Christianity isn’t supposed to be a... Read Full Story

The question for the week is, “Why Christianity? Why not some other religion, or even atheism?”   That’s a good question, really, and I will try to give you a fair, honest, and even compelling answer. It is not my purpose to criticize other religions, however, I do intend to give a cursory examination of the other main religions.   For starters, the Hindu religion has a pantheon of different gods.   Atheism has no god at all.   There are three basic monotheistic religions:   Judaism... Read Full Story

The topic for this week is marriage.   The first point that I would like to cover is what we, in this country, call bigamy.   There are some, even in this country, who insist that there is nothing wrong, in God’s eyes, with a man having multiple wives.   They point to numerous examples in the Old Testament of men who were considered to be men of God who had more than one wife, and also point out that nowhere in the New Testament is this practice even criticized.   They are right that it was... Read Full Story

The topic of the week is homosexuality.   I imagine that we are all aware that there are people from a “church” in Kansas that have been picketing funerals, spewing hate and discontent, claiming that the death of U.S. soldiers and Marines is the direct result of God’s wrath at the U.S. for its leniency towards homosexuality.   They, of course, refer to Scriptures that describe homosexuality as an abomination .   There are other Scriptures that refer to eating shellfish as abomination... Read Full Story

The topic for this week is church attendance.   Is it important?   Should I go?   If so, when should I go?   How often should I go?   What’s in it for me? Well, let’s start with the obvious question, “Is it important?”   After all, if it isn’t important, then the rest of those questions don’t really matter, anyway.   Romans 10:14 asks the question, “How shall they hear without a preacher.   So, evidently, having a preacher (or a pastor) is an important part of the Christian life.   Jeremiah 3... Read Full Story

            The topic for this week is, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”    The easy answer is that we have an enemy who has, from the beginning of human existence, tried to trip us up and trick us into forsaking the good gifts that God has for us.   Don’t believe me? Read Genesis 3 .   The more complicated answer is that, although God is good, and wants the best for us, we have (with a lot of help) managed to mess this world up pretty badly.               What it really comes down... Read Full Story

I had someone recently tell me that they wouldn’t want to be like Peter, because he didn’t have enough faith to be able to walk on the water without Jesus’ help.   I can sort of see that point, but it occurs to me that I would like even less to be like the other eleven who didn’t have enough faith to get out of the boat.   To be perfectly honest, most of the time I have more in common with the other eleven than I do with Peter.   That shouldn’t come as a surprise:   In Isaiah, we are told... Read Full Story

There are many occasions in life where you can pick and choose what you want.   If you are following Weight-Watcher's, for example, you may choose to stick with the prescribed diet plan on some days and not on others; that's up to you, although your weight goals will probably be easier to reach the closer you stick to the plan.   At Subway, you can choose what meats and vegetables you want on your sandwich, and even choose whether they toast the bread before loading on the ingredients.   If... Read Full Story

What, exactly, is the name of God?   Some people seem to think that His name is ‘God.’   In some ways, that makes sense, after all we capitalize the word God when we are talking about Him, but, then again, we capitalize the pronouns He and Him in much the same way, and those are obviously not His name; the same term is used (without capitalization) for false gods.   The capitalization just indicates that we are talking about the one true God. When Moses asked God’s name, God told him, simply... Read Full Story