Last week I mentioned that we Christians sometimes come off as judgmental, and that we put too much emphasis on what a person outside the faith is doing or not doing other than coming to Christ. I neglected to mention that when a person (whether they are of the Body or not of the Body) commits sin, and we just stand by, as condoning that sin, then we become partakers of that sin. We have been commissioned to warn people about the wrath to come.When the adulterous woman was taken before Jesus,... Read Full Story

I think we’ve all heard the expression, “Nobody’s perfect.” That’s true; God doesn’t create perfect people. Even the best of us have our faults and foibles. A lot of us are painfully aware of our own, although there are many that seem to be blissfully aware of theirs. To be honest, that kind of makes me wonder if I don’t have traits that I am unaware of, that other people are all-too aware of… Part of the problem with that is that people outside the church will often judge the church by the ... Read Full Story

The last time a posted a blog, I discussed the difference between urges and sin. It occurs to me that I may not have made one point in that discussion as clearly as I could have, so I will try to rectify that now. Jesus said that if a man looks after a woman to lust after her, he has committed adultery with her already in his heart. John said that a man who hates his brother is guilty of murder. I think that it’s a pretty safe assumption that that same train of thought applies to other things... Read Full Story

I recently heard from someone who has written a great many Christian songs, with powerful lyrics, and, if I understand him correctly, has chosen to give up the fight. His logic comes down to, God made me what I am, but what I am doesn’t conform to Scripture, therefore, the Scripture must be wrong. Surely God created me as He wanted me to be. That’s a strong argument, and, to be honest, one that I have fallen for myself, in the past. I will admit that I get urges that don’t conform to the dic... Read Full Story

It occurs to me that there seems to be some confusion concerning tithing in the New Testament.Really, not a lot is said about tithing in the New Testament. Jesus once got onto the Pharisees about paying tithes of mint, cumin, and anise. He didn’t say that they were wrong for tithing, but he did tell them that they had neglected the weightier (or more important) parts of the law. I had someone tell me once that the Pharisees were so legalistic that they were counting the leaves on the plants i... Read Full Story

This past weekend I watched the movie In My Country (also known as The Country of My Skull) starring Samuel L. Jackson (A Time to Kill as well as many other movies) and Juliette Binoche (The English Patient and Chocolat). In this movie, she plays an Afrikaner writer, and he, a writer for the Washington Post. Both have been asked to cover the Reconciliation talks after the collapse of Apartheid. Obviously, they go into it with very different attitudes. She feels that it is important to find ou... Read Full Story

This week I’ve been posting from Mark chapter 9. Up until now, I’ve been going off of the middle part of the chapter (a man brought his son to Jesus’ disciples, and they were unable to help, but Jesus healed the son). The first part of the chapter talks about the Transfiguration. Jesus took three of His closest disciples, Peter, James and John, up to the mountaintop. While they were there, Jesus was transfigured, and Moses and Elijah appeared. Now, the disciples didn’t quite know what to make... Read Full Story

Yesterday I posted about the man in Mark 9 whose son was demon-possessed. Today I would like to look at another aspect of that incident. At one point, the man asked Jesus to “have compassion on us.” He could have asked Jesus to have compassion on the young man who was possessed, but he made a point of asking for compassion for both of them. I think that it’s important to note that when a family member isn’t right, then it affects the entire family. King David had a son named Absalom that he l... Read Full Story

In Mark chapter 9, we are told that Jesus, having separated from most of His disciples for a time, returned and found the scribes disputing with them, and a man with a demon-possessed son. For many years, in reading this, I assumed that the son was a child, however it never says that, in fact, Jesus asked the man how long his son had been tormented, and the man said, “Of a child,” which would imply that the son was no longer a child. In other words, because the son was possessed by a demon wh... Read Full Story

In Luke Chapter 5, it says that Jesus was teaching the multitude by the shore, and there were some fishing boats there, and He stepped into one of the boats and asked Simon to take Him out a little way from the shore. When He finished His teaching, He told Simon to let down his nets for a draught. Simon protested that they had just spent all night fishing and hadn’t caught anything, but, since Jesus said so, he let down the nets. They ended up catching lots of fish. Now I personally am not a ... Read Full Story