Category Archives: religion

Creeds of the Christian Faith

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I wrote a post a couple of months back about answering questions that kids/youth might ask about the Apostles Creed.  I mentioned both the Apostles Creed and the Nicene Creed in the article, but did not include the text nor link to the full text of either one.  Someone hit my blog searching for the Nicene Creed, so I thought “Hey, you should link those things.” 

The Apostles Creed, and the longer Nicene Creed, are statements of belief.  They come from the early centuries of the Christian church, and represent the common ground that all believers in Christ share.  You can link here for the Apostles Creed,and read a couple of different incarnations of the creed, as well as view it in Latin and Greek.  Click here for the Nicene Creed.

I hope these links provide a valuable resource.  If anyone finds the information inaccurate, please let me know.  The post I wrote on May 1st entitled Tough Questions is about what it means in the Apostles Creed that Jesus “descended into hell.”  Go to Tough Questions to weigh in on that issue.

Aladdin’s Lamp Christianity

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There are children starving in Africa.  3-year-olds are raped and then murdered.  Millions of people in the world have cancer, HIV, and other diseases for which we have no cure.  Gasoline is over $4 a gallon.  I can’t believe in a God that would allow all these things to happen in the world. 

Have you ever heard an argument like this, or some variation thereof?  We live in a screwed up world, there is no argument about that.  I believe in working to find a cure for AIDS, feeding the hungry of the world, and any other humanitarian cause you can think of.  But none of these problems can be put together in a equation that equals God does not exist.  Continue reading →

Give us a sign.

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The Pharisees ask Jesus for a sign on two separate occasions, in Matthew 12 and again in Matthew 16.  Both times Jesus replied that a wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign.  In the second case, Jesus had just miraculously feed a crowd of 4,000; but if he showed them one more sign, then they would believe.  Continue reading →

Son of God or cult leader?

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We shouldn’t be surprised.  Jesus himself told his followers that many would come in his name, claiming to be Christ.  In my lifetime, I’ve witnessed the likes of Jim Jones and David Koresh lead hundreds of followers astray.  This video is about a man in South Florida who calls himself “Jesus Christ Man,” and claims to embody the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Get a load of this guy.

Vodpod videos no longer available.
 

 

 

Pearl of Great Value

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It is important to remember what we have.  There is an old saying that you don’t know what you have ’till it’s gone.  I hope that’s not always true.  I’ve known people that were getting ready to sell a car, and wanted it to look it’s best to fetch the best price they could get.  After vacuuming and cleaning the interior, washing and waxing the finish, ArmorAlling the tires, etc. they decided to keep the car.  Sometimes it’s tough to recognize what we are in possession of, but it’s more important for Christians to be able to than anyone else. Continue reading →

“Evolution is a Proven Fact” -Dilbert

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Defending Contending has tons of stuff like this. I couldn’t help it.

Passover Becomes the Lord’s Supper

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When Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, he was taking an ancient Hebrew tradition and giving it new meaning.  (Matt. 26) For the followers of Jesus, taking communion reminds us that Jesus’ body was broken and his blood shed just like Passover reminded the Jews that the death angel passed over Egypt.  Jesus is the Lamb of God that was slain, much like the sacrificial lamb was slain in the Old Testament; the difference is that Jesus was the perfect sacrifice so that no more is needed. (Heb. 9)

If you listen to this sermon, remember that I’m speaking to middle and high school students.  LOTS of backstory and explanation is given, and I am well aware that I often repeat myself.  I believe the message is the truth of God’s Word, and the Gospel is clearly presented.  Click here to listen (mp3)

Update for “Sue the Publisher”

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“Don’t like what the Bible says?  Sue the Publisher” is one of the more popular things I’ve written lately.  On Saturday, more people viewed that post than hit my site searching for Outrigger Island.  I’ve learned a little more about this story in the mean time:

Pictured above is Bradley Fowler.  In my original article, I mentioned several publishers that had better get ready to be next, and one of them was Thomas Nelson.  It turns out Fowler has already filed suit against Thomas Nelson as well.  Zondervan says Fowler is putting fault in the wrong place, pointing out that none of the translation they publish were translated in house.  Fowler’s claim is that these publishers intentionally crafted a religious judgment that homosexuals were sinners.  I wonder if Fowler ever read the King James Bible?  In the case of the KJV, it has been around so long it is public domain; there were no copyrights in 1611.  There’s no one to sue if you don’t like what the KJV has to say.  Of course, my original premise has not changed:

HOMOSEXUALITY IS A SIN, IT DOENS’T MATTER WHAT TRANSLATION YOU’RE READING! 

I’ve also learned that people having been sueing publishing companies in Canada – and winning – so we shouldn’t be surprised that it finally happened here.  Fowler is representing himself in both cases, and you know how that usually turns out.  Will someone please hurry up and throw this case out of court so the overworked system can move on to a real case.  May God have mercy on us all.

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.