Jesus’ Example: Resisting Temptation

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temptation-of-jesusThe temptation of Jesus is recorded in Matthew 4:1-11.  We will be referring to these verses many times.

Walking the earth as a man subjected Jesus to all things common to humanity.  The Epistle of James teaches that God is not tempted by sin, and does not tempt anyone to sin.  But Jesus is God in the flesh; he experienced all the things we experience and can thus empathize with our weaknesses, feelings, emotions, frustrations, and so forth.  Whatever we experience, Jesus himself has been there.  And so it is with temptation.  Continue reading →

Answering Tough Questions

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question_mark_3dRichard Dawkins and Sam Harris are raising an army of New Atheists who are ready to do battle with the people of faith.  It is no longer enough to simply not believe in God; the “New Atheists” don’t think anyone else should have the right to either. 

The issues of creationism, evolution and Intelligent Design have been pushed into the forefront of debate in recent years, thanks to films by Ben Stein and the opening of the Creation Museum.  The battle of words takes place not just in pulpits or auditoriums, but in board of education meetings at the state and local level that determine curriculum and policy.  In both issues science, reason and logic are dragged through the mud by both sides in order to “prove” one side is right and the other wrong. 

Abortion is and perhaps always will be a hot topic in this country.  Continue reading →

Answering Tough Questions: Abortion

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question_mark_3dI’ve just read a blog post entitled “How to stump an anti-abortionist with one simple question.”  The question is this: If abortion were illegal, what should be done with mothers who get one?  According to the post, asking anti-abortion protesters this question draws puzzled looks and poorly thought out responses.  If Christians can’t articulate a well constructed response to this simple question, we need to work on that.  I responded thusly: Continue reading →

A Bit of Historical Perspective

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Obama InaugurationThis is not a “Hurray for our side” nor a “He’s not my President” type of rant.  There is not anything here you can’t find somewhere else.  I’m writing this post for three reasons:  1) I watched the inauguration live  2) I’m a history teacher, and 3) I blog, that’s what I do.

The presidential campaign was historic in and of itself.  It was the first time that two current senators ran against each other for the highest office in the land.  Of the last 5 presidents, 4 were first state governors.  Only the senior President Bush had just served as the V.P. for eight years.  We knew that on election night, we would either be choosing the first African American to serve as President ever, or the first woman to fill the role of Vice President. Continue reading →

Commandments and Traditions, Jesus in Mark 7

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jesus_teachingThis lesson is from Mark 7:1-22.  Jesus is being questioned about why his disciples eat without washing their hands.  Jesus’ response says a lot about first century Jews’ attitudes toward the Old Testament Law, and how they lived out their convictions in real life. 

Jesus’ immediate reply to their criticism is to quote from Isaiah “this people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”  Jesus tells them that they ignore God’s commandment to keep the commandment of men.  Continue reading →

Jesus’ Example: Growing Up

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child-jesusWhile it’s true that the whole Bible is about Jesus, what we know about his life on earth is found in four books, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.   The story of his birth (Christmas) is only recorded in two of those, Matthew and Luke.  What we know about his childhood is very limited, basically one paragraph in Luke 2.  Yet even in this short story Jesus provides us with an example we can learn from.  Continue reading →

Israel, Hamas, and My Friend That Lives There

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isreali-tank-in-gazaUPDATE:Israel has announced a unilateral cease fire, Hamas has pledged to keep fighting.  Read the full story here. 

I have somehow avoided blogging on the Israel/Hamas conflict, at least mostly.  I mentioned that there was a conflict in my Welcome 2009 post, and I’ve commented on other blogs about the situation.  I plan to be brief.

Peace in the Middle East: It’s a catchy slogan, rhymes well, and became very popular back in the 80’s.  It is also highly unlikely.  Correct that; according to the Bible it is not going to happen.  Continue reading →

Let’s go to the map…

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mapI just kept seeing blogs that had a Cluster Map.  My curiosity was tweeked.  I know how many people each day read my blog, but where are they?  I added my own map on Jan. 11th, at the bottom of the right-hand sidebar.  You can click the map (at the bottom) for a detailed list of how many viewers are from each country.

WordPress has a big following in Australia, so I was not surprised there.  I’ve had comments from Israel before, so I’m still expected “thatdudeyouknow” to dot my map.  The surprises for me come from South Africa, India, and the United Arab Emirates.  I didn’t expect Pakistan to be on my list, nor Spain for that matter.  It’s been fun.

Perhaps the new will wear off after a while, and I will quit checking daily to see what new countries have appeared.  To add a map of your own, visit the Cluster Map website.  It’s as simple as entering your blog URL, then copying the code into a text widget.  Maybe I can someday travel the world and meet each person that reads my blog.  Until then, enjoy the map.

Rapture Index = 158

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rap-indexmap3It shouldn’t surprise anyone that there is a website called Rapture Ready that has a vast menu of things to read on endtimes prophecy, current events, and more articles on how Russia is Magog than you can shake a stick at.  But on the Rapture Ready mainpage is a link to the Rapture Index, and this thing is a hoot. Continue reading →

Jesus on Abraham

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abrahamMoses tells the story of Abraham, Paul mentions Abraham several times, but did Jesus ever talk about Abraham?  He does at length in John 8.  Jesus is explaining that God the Father has sent him, yet the people do not listen to his words but instead do the will of their father, the devil.  His Jewish audience insists their father is Abraham.  Jesus says that if Abraham were their father they would do the things Abraham did, such as rejoice when he saw the Day of the Lord.  Jesus contends they are not sons of Abraham. Continue reading →