Category Archives: Christianity

Ever feel like you’re alone?

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Elijah is one of the better known prophets of the Old Testament.  Just after defeating the prophets of Baal, however, Elijah does something very strange considering his victory.  He hides out in a cave and simply asks God to kill him.  1 Kings chapter 19 is the very well known passage where there is a wind, but God was not in the wind; there was an earthquake, but God was not in the earthquake.  Finally he hears the voice of God in a small still voice.  I’m sure you’ve at least heard of this story.  But twice in this passage Elijah expresses his concern that he is the only true believer left in the world.  God basically tells him to get over his pity party, and informs him that there are 7,000 still in Israel that never bowed the knee to Baal.  The lesson for us is that we are often not as alone as we think.

In Genesis chapter 14, Abram is the only man of faith we know about.  After the flood, the population of the world grew, and very quickly forgot about God.  As far as we know, Abram is the only person God is talking to period.  Then he meets Melchizadek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High (El Elyon in Hebrew).  Melchizadek blesses Abram, and Abram gives the priest a tenth of all he has.  What’s weird about all this is the tribe of Levi, from which the Levitical priests are anointed, will not exist for hundreds of years yet.  Levi was Abraham’s great-grandson, but not yet, not in Genesis 14.  The New Testament book of Hebrews makes a big deal of this, and has a lot to say about the relationship between Abraham the patriarch and this priest not of the Levite order.  Simply put, Abram was not alone in his belief of the True and the Living God. 

At times, we are placed in tough places to grow.  Remember the sunflower story?  It can be discouraging, but recall the words of Jesus in Matthew 28: “I am with you always, even until the end of the age.”  Just before that he said all authority was given to him in heaven and on earth.  Not only are we not alone, who better could we ask be with us? 

Here is this sermon in mp3: abraham-and-melchizadek

Things that Grow in Tough Places

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Pictured at left are my wife’s wildflowers growing in front of our house.  I’ll get back to those in a minute. 

I noticed something while driving this morning.  They did some roadwork not far from our home earlier in the spring.  The road was widened and a gravel shoulder was added on each side in case you did need to move over.  A few feet over from the edge of the gravel there still stands a large mound of dirt that was either used in the construction or pushed aside, and there is grass growing in the in-between space.  I noticed this morning that 3 large sunflower plants have come up seemingly on their own, in the rough dry soil next to what was a construction area just several weeks ago.  Each plant was about 5 or 6 feet high, and had very large sunflower blossoms.  The sunflowers my wife tried to grow at our house didn’t do nearly so well this year.  We planted them in potting soil, watered them regularly, but they always look like they’re about to wither up.  They put out sunflowers, but the plants always look like they’re suffering; not like the wild growing plants beside the highway just down the road.  Fascinating.

Remember the wildflowers at the top of the page?  Each spring we plant a variety of wild flowers in the beds around our home.  We buy a mix of seeds designed to attract humming birds and butterflies.  When we were dating, my wife made sure I understood she would rather have wildflowers than store-bought roses.  She also prefers gemstones to diamonds; she says diamonds are boring, you could cut glass to look the same way. 

We’ve all heard stories of a dandelion growing up through a narrow crack in the sidewalk, or a tree growing out of the side of a barren cliff.  Why do you think God does that?  When we see a flower growing right up through a crack in solid rock, you kind of say to yourself “Wow, that’s really something.”  It’s nothing special when a plant grows in lush, fertile soil.  That would be easy.  I think sometimes God puts us in difficult places to grow, so that when we do grow he can say “Wow, that’s really something.”  Growth in a difficult place means more than if everything were easy.  My wife thinks wildflowers of many different varieties are more interesting than a dozen roses all genetically engineered to look the same.  I think God raises Christians that way too.  It’s often us who want all Christians to look and act the same.  I believe God made us wildflowers.

Update – separation of church and state

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If the image of the cross appeared on every license plate that South Carolina produced, that would be unconstitutional.  Unwilling drivers would have religious symbols thrust at them by the state.  But if you don’t want an “I Believe” plate on your car, all you have to do is not ask for one.  Why should it be illegal for the state to sell me one?  In our society of free-market capitalism, consumer sovereignty says the buyer decidies what get produced and sold, not the government. 

This post is an update to my original article Separation of Church and State.  There is a lively discussion going on over at Americans United for the Separaton of Church and State about the South Carolina lisence plate issue.  Here’s a link. 

Let’s also keep this in perspective: Christians in China would probably find the heated debate over this issue laughable.  Any underground church, hiding from their government in order to meet, has bigger issues to actually worry about.  We are so spoiled rotten by being blessed beyond measure in this country, we don’t know what persecution is.

UPDATE, AUG 12 – Denise Gibel-Molini has written one of the best articles on separation of church and state I’ve read in a long time (yes, including mine).  It’s about the War in Iraq, and is a little long, but is very well researched and I believe historically accurate.

Don’t like what the Bible says? Sue the publisher.

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Get a load of this:

“In Grand Rapids, Michigan, Christian publisher Zondervan is facing a $60 million federal lawsuit for allegedly homophobia and prejudicial translations of the Bible. by a man who claims he and other homosexuals have suffered based on what the suit claims is a misinterpretation of the Bible. Bradley Fowler has sued the publisher despite the fact that it is not the translator.

 

Fowler focuses on the translation of 1 Corinthians 6:9 — and notes that homosexuals are listed “wicked” or “unrighteous” and barred from the kingdom of heaven.”

Thank you Jonathan Turly for blogging on this.  This guy wants $60 million – and an apology – for the grief he has suffered over the last 20 years because of this translation of the Bible.  Unfortunately pretty much every translation of the Bible I’m aware of, no matter how lieberal, condemns homosexuality.  Even if we take First Corinthians out of the Bible, you can’t get around Romans Chapter One.  Fowler really needs to sue God, that’s who says homosexuals aren’t going to heaven, not the Bible authors and not Zondervan.  I guess Crossway, Thomas Nelson, and International Bible Society had better get ready; the last time I checked, their Bibles didn’t come out too favorably toward homosexuality either.  This case is like sueing the police officer who wrote you a speeding ticket on the grounds that paying the fine and losing your lisence caused you economic loss and emotional suffering.  OMG!

I’ve updated this story: click here.

Separation of Church and State

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I recently posted this article about the state license plates in Florida and South Carolina that have set off recent separation of church and state arguments.  I basically assert that to protect the division between church and state, we sometimes compromise our first amendment rights, namely freedom of speech and also of religious expression.  Again, you can click here for that article; for this post I have some new information.

I was discussing the establishment clause over dinner with my department head (it’s a small town).  I mentioned that “separation of church and state” is nowhere to be found in the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, etc.  He asked me if I knew where the statement did in fact come from.  I honestly did not.  I have been informed – by a history teacher with more education and experience than myself – that the term separation of church and state was first used in a private letter written by Thomas Jefferson.  Jefferson authored the Declaration of Independence, the document that first declared there was a  United States of America.  A Baptist church was concerned that the Federal government was going to institute the Congregational Church as the state appointed church, and Jefferson wrote a letter to their minister saying there was enough “separation of church and state” that it wouldn’t happen.  That letter was lost to the ages until sometime in the 1950’s when someone dug it up.  Since that time, because of that letter, the establishment clause of the Constitution has been interpreted to mean separation, and the Supreme Court favors that document – a private letter between two citizens – over the Constitution wording and other legal documents.

Here’s a good link for further research: http://everynation.wordpress.com/2007/04/09/is-separation-of-church-and-state-in-the-bible/

Licensed Believers

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The “I believe” license plate was not approved in the State of Florida, but representatives in South Carolina have approved a similar plate for their state, also depicting a cross.  The Lieutenant Governor is even willing to put up $4,000 of his own money in order to begin production.  This raises new arguments about separation of church and state, which I believe most people do not clearly understand correctly.

The U.S. Constitution says that the government shall pass no law regarding the establishment of a religion; a statement also known as the establishment clause.  The words “separation of church and state” or even just the word “separation” never appears.  Many of the original colonies were founded on principles of religious freedom and/or tolerance.  The framers of the Constitution did not want a government sanctioned religion.  The establishment clause is simply meant to prevent the U.S. Government from creating a state religion, one imposed by the government on its citizens.  Separation of church and state has come to mean something totally different.  So much so that I believe in many cases our First Amendment rights of free speech and religious expression are violated. 

Allowing students in school a time to pray is not the same as the school system requiring prayer.  The monument placed in the Alabama Supreme Court building recognized one of the oldest written law codes in ancient history, but it did not impose Christianity or Judaism on the people of Alabama.  Even people in government have a right to express their religious views withous forcing everyone listening to them to believe the same way.  Since when does “freedom of religion” equate “freedom from religion.”  If a person chooses to not believe, that is their God given and U.S. government protected right to do so.  By the same token, however, no one has the right to tell others they cannot profess their faith; to do so violates the believers First Amendment rights.  It seems today we swap the misguided “separation” clause for our legitimate First Amendment rights.

Will the S.C. plate be struck down as well?  Was Florida right or wrong to try to create their religious plate?  Do you agree/ disagree with my assessment of the establishment clause?  Let me hear from you.

Lessons from the Garden of Eden

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7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. 8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.    -Gen. 2:7-9

Lesson 1: We are special to God. Human beings are made in God’s image and likeness (Gen 1:26-27).  What does that mean exactly?  I’m not even sure.  People will tell you what it means, but truthfully, we don’t really know for sure.  We do that no other being in creation is described this way.  Continue reading →

On the lighter side…

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The last couple of posts have been kinda’ heavy, so enjoy the following courtesy of Joke of the Day. 

A Catholic school teacher was asking her students what they want to be when they grow up.

“I want to be a fireman!” said John.

“Oh, very good John. Community service for the Lord!” the teacher praised.

“I want to be a nurse!” said Jane.

“Excellent! You can be a healer just like Jesus was!” the teacher cooed.

Then little Mary stood up and said: “I want to be a prostitute!”

At this, the teacher fainted on the spot. After a while, she regained her senses. She marched right up to Mary and demanded: “WHAT.. DID YOU JUST SAY?”

“I said, I want to be a prostitute!” replied Mary.

“Oh, thank heavens! For a moment, I thought you said you want to be a Protestant!”

Christ Centered Preaching

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I’ve thought some more on what Christ centered means, and wish I could say this to every preacher everywhere: Preach the gospel.  Are you preaching on the Law being given to Moses?  Great; just make sure to mention how Christ fulfills the Law and the Prophets, and perhaps include Paul’s statement that the Law is like a tutor to him.  Teaching from Job?  Be sure to include “I know my Redeemer lives,” before you’re finished.  The story of how God deals with fallen man is the central thematic element that runs through the entire Bible.  Continue reading →